IHG Foundation Launched, to Run as Independent Charity

By BW Hotelier

INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS Group (IHG) has launched IHG Foundation, alongside details of its first beneficiaries. The IHG Foundation will run as an independent charity, and focus its activities on four key areas ’ helping communities to develop skills in hospitality, providing support for those impacted by disasters, facilitating local community investment and protecting the environment.

IHG has an established history of responsible business practices. The IHG Foundation will build on the hugely positive impact the company has driven through its award-winning corporate responsibility initiatives over a number of years. These include the pioneering IHG Academy programme, a global collaboration between IHG hotels, local education providers and community organizations, which offers education and skills training in hospitality to local people. IHG Academy celebrated its 10th year in 2015 and now has more than 1,200 programmes operating in 68 countries.

IHG’s successful group-wide sustainability programme, IHG Green Engage system continues to help hotels track, measure and report their carbon footprint, energy and water consumption. It became a global brand standard in 2015. IHG’s disaster relief programme, IHG Shelter in a Storm, has responded to 66 disasters in 26 countries since its launch in 2011, contributing both monetary donations and in-kind support to impacted communities around the world. IHG Academy and the IHG Green Engage system will continue to be delivered in IHG’s hotels.

Richard Solomons, CEO, IHG, commented (see photo), ’We have a long-standing commitment to Responsible Business practices, which underpin our strategy and are brought to life through our leading corporate responsibility initiatives ’ IHG Academy, IHG Green Engage and IHG Shelter in a Storm.

’We are proud to launch the IHG Foundation as the latest evolution of this and are delighted by the diverse nature of its first grant recipients. They provide a powerful early sign of the positive impact the Foundation will deliver, helping to set the foundations for stronger, healthier, and more prosperous communities around the world.’

The first wave of grant funding from the IHG Foundation will provide support to projects working across all four key areas of focus: hospitality skills development, disaster relief, local community investment and environmental sustainability.

The IHG Foundation will collaborate with CARE’s emergency shelter team to enhance its ability to prepare for and respond to disasters. Goodwill Industries International will receive a grant to develop, maintain and enhance the hospitality sections of its online career services and mentoring platform, ’GoodProspects’. The IHG Foundation is collaborating with Youth Career Initiative (YCI) to transform the lives of survivors of human trafficking. British Red Cross will receive funds to support a flood recovery programme for people impacted by the flooding in Cumbria, UK, in December 2015. The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) will receive support to enhance the visitor experience at its London Wetland Centre through the construction of a sustainable drainage system.