"It's not just about writing a cheque and it's not just about PR" Alastair Macphie chief executive

We place great importance on supporting and working with the communities in which we operate, and take our social responsibilities very seriously, whether they concern the people who live and work in and around our sites, or society as a whole.

We have a tradition of putting something back into the community and we do so in many ways. Whether it’s investing time, energy or resources, we are able to reach out to a diverse range of families and groups in our communities.

We have a very proactive Charities Committee who co-ordinate all of our community initiatives. A number of local projects that have benefitted recently include: CLIC Sargent, Breast Cancer Care, Cystic Fibrosis, Scottish Society for Autism, RNLI, Young Enterprise, the Boys' Brigade, Rotary Clubs, nursery groups, Galas, sports & recreation groups, Special Olympics, WRI, Agricultural groups and local homes for the elderly.

Examples include:
- A nine-strong team of staff took part in the Race for Life 5K run and raised £2,000 for Cancer Research UK

- We undertook research with customers and offered an incentive of a £50 donation to charity for every participant. This resulted in a donation of £1,500 to Marie-Curie Cancer

- With Grampian and Tayside Fire & Rescue we created a competition to educate the community about the importance of fire safety to prevent deaths and damage to the environment

- Legislation changed meaning that volunteers had to possess a Certificate in Food Hygiene to have coffee mornings in local churches. We invited them to use our training facilities to do a food hygiene course enabling them to continue to have coffee mornings and raise funds

- Worked with social enterprise, The Bread Maker, to train their bakery apprentices on the art of bread and cake making. This knowledge allows them to bake delicious bread and cakes every day, which are sold to customers

- Macphie has nominated Clan House in Aberdeen as its Charity of the Year for 2008/09. Employees will be fund-raising throughout the year to help local people who are suffering from cancer and their families and carers.

For more information please see www.clanhouse.org