Our CSR
We are responsible
And we care about our community
Our Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate Social Responsibility is embedded into our business strategy and built into our vision, mission, values, practices and culture.
A Carbon Neutral Business
As a part of this commitment, we have started our journey to becoming a carbon neutral company by partnering with Ecologi. Ecologi is a social enterprise that helps businesses to become a Climate Positive Workforce.
This means we will now:
Offset the entire carbon footprint of all our employees, including emissions from our homes, personal travel, holidays, food, and hobbies.
Offset all business travel undertaken across our business.
Plant groves of trees in the SP Forest and finance carbon reduction projects around the world.
Did you know that SP audit and mitigate our carbon footprint through our partnership with Ecologi, a social enterprise that help businesses to become a Climate Positive Workforce. Over the last 12 months we have funded the planting of 369 trees in ten countries and funded 17 projects across the globe including forestry, renewables and community projects. To date we have offset 9.67 certified tonnes of C02e.
Environment Policy
In 2010 we committed to:
Continuously improve our environmental performance and integrate recognised environmental management best practice into our business operations.
Reduce our consumption of resources and improve the efficient use of those resources.
Take action to reduce the carbon footprint of our business activities.
Manage waste generated from our business operations according to the principles of reduction, re-use and recycling.
Ensure environmental, including climate change, criteria are taken into account in the procurement of goods and services.
Comply as a minimum with all relevant environmental legislation.
Supporting Our Profession by Giving Forward
We actively help support skills development in the bid and proposal profession with the SP Bursary Scheme. This helps job seekers, apprentices and those working for charities or social enterprises and has two main components:
Free access to our acclaimed "Proposal Essentials" videos and book, for any UK-based bid and proposal specialist currently unwaged and seeking work, and for anyone enrolled in the Bid and Proposal Coordinator Apprenticeship scheme.
Two places on each of our online APMP Foundation courses free of charge, including the exam fee, to APMP UK members who work for registered charities or social enterprises.
Our Rising Star programmes take around 25 young people who are new to the bidding profession through four days of training, learning and one-to-one coaching at no cost to them or their organisation. A large number of each of the groups have learned new skills and built confidence to seek out promotions/new opportunities within the bid and proposal profession.
We are proud to support the development of our profession by being heavily involved with APMP. During 2022 and 2023 we led the creation of a new global APMP writing certification at no cost to the APMP or the bidding industry. Our board of directors have individually all given their time on a voluntary basis, to take on the role of acting CEO of the UKAPMP over the last number of years. We became the first business to donate the proceeds from pre-conference certification courses to the association and continue to do this on a regular basis.
Free tools
We have invested heavily in creating free-to-use tools such as My Proposal Coach and My Proposal Benchmarker easily accessible on our website.
Mental health and wellbeing in the bid and proposal profession
We support the mental health of the wider bid & proposal community by providing white papers and presentations on mental health and wellbeing. One of our team members is vice-chair of the APMP Mental Health Affinity Group which brings real value into the wellbeing discussions in our team and profession.
Mairi Morrison CPP APMP
Gender Balance in the Bid and Proposal Profession
We released a pioneering report, Gender in Work Winning, highlighting the gender inequality in the bid and proposal profession. This report led to the formation of Women in Bids and Proposals (WIBAP) in 2018.
Bid & Proposal Apprenticeship
Strategic Proposals initiated the project that created the bid & proposal apprenticeship scheme, led it in its early years and we now provide our time to carry out assessments on its behalf.
Our People
Equality, Diversion & Inclusion
We encourage equality, diversity and inclusion right across our team. This includes religion, race, ethnic origin, language, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age and any other potential factor of difference. Our Board is responsible for recruitment and adheres to our policies when attracting and selecting candidates.
We’re certified as Disability Confident Committed Level 1.
Human rights & equality
We ensure our business operates in an entirely non-discriminatory way as evidenced by the gender balance of our team compared to published proposal industry data. Though we're not obliged to sign up to the Modern Slavery Act due to our company size, we follow its principles.
Development Fund
We have a development fund set aside for our own team for training courses, subscriptions and books to invest in their wellbeing. We hold 'School of Life' sessions focused on work/life balance which is open to our team, our SP Alumni (people who have joined our Alumni for free as a result of attending one of our training courses) and the SP Rising Stars.
Charitable support
Both the company and individual team members regularly participate in charitable events and fundraising activities. At our internal events we run competitions, with the prize being a donation to a charity of choice. We also provide pro-bono support and advice on bid and proposal issues for organisations.
Our team also support many causes such as providing books for disadvantaged young people through the Book Trust, sponsoring accommodation for homeless people, contributing to cancer research and supporting education in the developing world. One cause always close to our hearts is motor neurone disease, which sadly took our friend and colleague Tony Wooding.
Centrepoint is our chosen charity this year and we have sponsored four rooms for them for the coming year. Each should provide young people arriving at Centrepoint with a safe and warm place to stay, so they can begin to turn their life around.
Community support
We recently sponsored a local football team and our team members volunteer time for local community activities including coaching local sports teams.
Our suppliers
When choosing suppliers, we consider diversity as part of our selection process. Agreement with any supply chain partners include adherence to our ED&I policies.
Strategic Proposals was delighted to sponsor Twickenham Rugby Football Club's (TRFC) under 14 tour of Dublin in April 2023. The team, coached by our own Graham Ablett, had a successful tour narrowly losing to Seapoint rugby club and winning against Blackrock rugby club. The team were well looked after by both teams and by the staff at the Talbot Hotel in Stillorgan. Special thanks to Kilmacud Crokes GAA club who hosted the team on Saturday evening. TRFC is a strong community club in southwest London, supporting the local children, helping them develop their rugby and associated skills.
