Welcome to York Cares
York Cares is a partnership of the city's leading employers committed to making York a better place through employee-volunteering.
Success stories
See some of the ways we've helped our employer members to deliver real, recognisable benefits to York communities » read more
We match the interests, skills and expertise of employers and their employees to community projects where they can have most impact. Our tried and tested quality programmes deliver tangible benefits for local people and opportunities for workforce development for employers.
We partner with over 200 local charities to build an engaging and co-ordinated volunteering framework that addresses York's community needs, particularly in areas of disadvantage.
‘Everyone benefits from their involvement with York Cares - businesses, employees and the community.'
Angela Darlington — Chair of York Cares and UK Life Chief Risk Officer, Aviva
We offer York employers, large and small, a wide range of volunteering opportunities all year round as well as through our special initiatives:
- York Children's University for disadvantaged children
- Starting Blocks for young people leaving care
- York Cares Enterprise Hub for charities
- Young York Cares with school and colleges, supporting youth-led community projects with expertise and mentoring
We are flexible
We have tiers of membership to make it flexible for employers to get involved and show their support. Our events and activities provide a unique networking opportunity for private, public and third sector businesses across finance, engineering, hospitality, professional services, local government and higher education to name but a few.
We have already achieved some amazing things since our launch in 2006:
- Over 1,500 volunteers annually from our 34 employer partners
- 1,000 young volunteers from schools, further and higher education
- Over 21,000 hours given annually in support of York communities
- Runner up in the Guardian Public Services Award 2008
- Regional Business in the Community Cares Community Impact Award 2009 for our Starting Blocks programme
- Starting Blocks featured at the national launch of fromcare2work, hosted by Ed Balls at Tate Modern
But we want your help to do more.
Want to know more?
Read about what the benefits of York Cares membership would be for your organisation.
Get involved!
To find out more about how your organisation can get involved with York Cares, just contact our dedicated team, based at The University of York. We would love to hear from you.
Call us ...
01904 323482
- You can join us
- York Cares makes volunteering easy for organisations of all sizes with a flexible, reliable and high-profile framework.
- Success stories
- Read about some of the ways we've helped our employer members to deliver real, recognisable benefits to York communities.
- York Children's University
- Your volunteers can help disadvantaged children from York primary schools learn key life skills such as finance or cookery — or you can deliver your own sponsored programme.
- Enterprise Hub
- Share your business expertise with charity and community organisations. Volunteers can offer support with specific skills such as IT or marketing or undertake a discrete project with an organisation, for example a policy review or a market research study.
- Starting Blocks
- Through this nationally-acclaimed, York-based programme you can provide supported work placements and skills workshops for care leavers aged 16-18.
- Team challenges
- Your volunteers can work together in a team to address York's community needs throughout the year, choosing from a menu of practical community challenges and seasonal challenges.
- Young York Cares
- Your volunteers can help us to engage over 1000 young people each year from schools, further and higher education in inspirational community projects around York.