Corporate Volunteering Opportunities
We are happy to hear from local companies who wish to invest in their community and volunteer with Hammersmith Community Gardens Association.
We can offer challenges at all times of the year and tailor activities to suit the size of your group. We manage several sites across Hammersmith & Fulham, Westminster and Kensginton & Chelsea, and on each site there will be several tasks to be completed and so individuals are able to work in areas of interest or skill. Corporate volunteering days can be offered either as a full or half day with lunch included.
We invite you to visit us beforehand if you would like, and can arrange corporate volunteering days at short notice at certain times of the year so please get in touch.
Companies we work with include: Timberland, Taylor Woodrow, Brook Lyndhurst, British Standards Institute, HSBC, BBC, The Football Association, Virgin Media and Google.
We have found that companies often like to develop an on-going relationship working on specific sites and come back year after year to help it develop.
Corporate volunteering makes a big impact on our work, the local community and green spaces across West London. For more information please view our corporate volunteering leaflet.
Recent projects include:
Mulching the rain garden in White City
Planting an edible hedge at a primary school
Building a pond at Ravenscourt Park Glasshouses
Restoring a woodland in Ealing
Building new compost bins at Phoenix School Farm
‘I would like to say a very big thank you on behalf of our MBA volunteers who had a wonderful time last week.’
Tracey Bloomfield, Vice President, Corporate Philanthropy and Sponsorship, JP Morgan
‘We had a very enjoyable and productive day, which was well supported and facilitated by the HCGA team. We feel we achieved a lot to the positive benefit of the school and community.’
HSBC Private Bank
‘Great friendly staff who obviously knew their stuff, let us get on with it at our own pace. Great day!’ ‘Really lovely day, great team, and great lunch!! It was good to be out of the city, and really felt like a day away. Thank you and good luck for the future!’ ‘Enjoyed every moment! Even the stinging nettles!’
– NKD Learning, revamp of Ravenscourt Park Wildlife Garden.
Frequently asked questions
Please fill in the enquiry form once you have a rough idea of dates and numbers. We’ll confirm availability and once you’re ready to book, we’ll send you an invoice. We require upfront payment to confirm your booking. A month before your volunteering day, we’ll send you joining instructions.
A full day is usually 10am-4pm, and includes lunch and refreshments. A half day is usually 10am-1pm and includes refreshments. Lunch can be arranged for an extra £5 per head for half day bookings. We provide all materials and dedicated members of staff to work with the group.
A full refund will be given up to a month in advance of the volunteer day. Within a month of the volunteer day and up to 14 days in advance of the day, we can give a 50% refund. Unfortunately if you would like to cancel within 14 days of the volunteer day, no refund can be given as we would have made arrangements for staffing and materials. We are happy to rearrange dates, subject to availability, but we ask that you give us as much notice as possible.
Normally we would be able to take a group with a maximum of 30 people. In the past we have split large groups into smaller teams and had them working on adjacent sites (e.g. two places in the same park). The group would get back together for lunch and tea breaks. We’ve found this to be a good way to manage a large number. If your volunteer group is larger than 30, please do still get in touch to discuss our options.
We can arrange corporate volunteering days at short notice at certain times of the year so please do get in touch.
On each site there are several tasks to be completed and so individuals are able to work in areas of interest or skill. Examples of past volunteer projects include building a pond in a school, planting a hedge in a local park and building raised beds in a care home. We also need lots of help with ongoing maintenance at our sites, and that might include weeding, mulching, pruning, harvesting, bulb planting and repairing beds and edging.
We manage four community gardens in Hammersmith & Fulham but also work in several schools and parks across West London as well as assisting other local organisations with the management of their green spaces. The location of your volunteering day will depend on the requirements of the charity during the season, and will be confirmed at least one month in advance of your volunteering day.
Our sites are used daily by the community and we run several programmes working with people who are long-term unemployed, socially isolated, have mental or physical health issues or are carers. The sites we manage are precious green space for many people who do not have access to a garden. The work of corporate volunteer groups really does make a difference as we are able to complete large tasks which we simply do not have the capacity to do otherwise.
Yes, unless there is an exceptional weather event such as extremely high winds that would affect the safety of our staff and volunteers, in which case we would postpone the day. Some of our sites have covered spaces such as glasshouses and polytunnels, so sometimes there are options to do tasks out of the rain. However, we believe that there’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing! We have a limited number of waterproof jackets and wellington boots available for use at some of our sites, but we expect our volunteers to come suitably dressed for the weather.
