Global charitable initiatives

Since 2012, we have endeavoured to bring our people together virtually (and when we can, physically) in support of our global charitable initiatives. These are in addition to the many local charitable activities that our 50+ offices around the world support. Our global charitable initiatives are proposed and sponsored by a different region each year. Each region is asked to choose an initiative that resonates with the worldwide staff, enjoys broad support among staff members globally and motivates many of them to participate and take action.

We are committed to promoting environmental sustainability in our local communities by focusing on climate change, protection of the environment on land and below water, responsible consumption and supply, and sustainable cities. 

2019-2020

Building Sustainable Communities

Key objectives: We are working in alliance with charity ONF International (a subsidiary of the French National Forest Office) to transform a forest near Paris in July 2020 by planting trees. 

Our teams worldwide are free to interpret the environmental sustainability theme in a way that resonates with their local environmental sustainability focus, and to work with local charities.

Beneficiaries: ONF International
Sponsor region: EMEA

2018/19

The Global Food Challenge

The aim of the Food Challenge is to fight hunger and reduce food waste in our local communities globally. We are helping at foodbanks, organizing food drives, raising funds for homeless shelters and reducing food waste at home and at work. Learn more about the Global Food Challenge.

Beneficiaries: Food related charities
Sponsor region: Australia

2016/17

Challenge 67 – Breaking ground in South Africa 

A team of 167 volunteers from 24 of our offices spent the weekend of 10-12 February 2017 helping to build a facility for Menzi Children’s Home in the township of Tsakane. With the aid of Food and Trees for Africa, they also planted a sustainable food garden at Vuyani Primary School to help support the Home’s learner feeding program.

This build was part of the primary fundraising activity for our Challenge 67 initiative, which aimed to help change the lives of disadvantaged people in this community. The weekend’s events included digging foundations, making bricks and concrete furniture, painting doors and creating a mosaic statue of Nelson Mandela. Our volunteers paid their own way to Johannesburg or used donated air miles.

Beneficiary: Menzi Children’s Home
Sponsor region: South Africa

2015/16

Special Olympics - The Great Canadian Canoe Challenge 

We championed Special Olympics as our global charitable initiative in 2015/16, raising US$250,000 for this global social movement with one mission: people with intellectual disabilities can – and will – succeed when given the chance.

Our principal Special Olympics fundraiser was a sponsored paddling (canoeing) event – The Great Canadian Canoe Challenge. Paddlers each committed to raising a minimum of US$250 in sponsorship, and funded their own travel to Canada. We also hosted masterclasses in our offices, encouraging colleagues to share their skills with others – everything from cryptic crosswords to ceilidh dancing and a tour of Paris on a Vespa scooter – in return for donations.

We were delighted to have reached our fundraising target for this excellent charity, helping Special Olympics to continue its work in providing year round training and competitions to more than 4.4 million people in 170 countries.

Beneficiary: Special Olympics
Sponsor region: Canada

2013/14

BP MS 150 – Fighting multiple sclerosis 

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a progressive neurological disease which affects more than 2.5 million people worldwide, mostly between the ages of 20 and 50. There is no known cure and the cause is still unknown. Vital work is being carried out to help people who live with the challenges of MS, and we are proud to make a small contribution to this effort.

The BP MS 150 is a grueling 180 mile (290 km) two-day bicycle ride from Houston to Austin in Texas which is organized each year by the US National MS Society to raise money to help people with MS. The ride is a permanent fixture in our global calendar and, to date, our riders have raised close to US$1.1 million for MS charities.

Beneficiaries: Various MS Charities
Sponsor region: US

2012/13

Jubilee Sailing Trust – Sail the World Challenge 

We supported the Jubilee Sailing Trust, a UK charity which promotes the integration of people of all physical abilities through the challenge and adventure of tall ship sailing, on a two-year voyage around the world.

We joined a professional crew of eight as volunteers on board a square-rigged barque, the Lord Nelson, for an epic voyage as the first disabled-accessible tall ship to sail around Cape Horn and make landfall in the southern hemisphere.

The Lord Nelson has taken more than 24,000 people to sea, 10,000 of them physically disabled, among them 5,000 wheelchair users. The voyage won us Global CSR initiative of the year at the American Lawyer Global Legal Awards in 2013.

Beneficiary: Jubilee Sailing Trust
Sponsor region: Europe, Middle East and Asia

For more information about our global charitable initiatives, please read our Corporate Responsibility brochure