The line between companies and the communities in which they operate is not as defined as it used to be.

Organisations are increasingly recognising that the people who work with them and pioneer their success are also an integral part of the local community, with home lives and possibly families of their own. By extension, therefore, each organisation is also a vital component of its community and is responsible for the well-being of the families that each of their team members are working to support, as well as for those in need in general locally.

At RE/MAX Malta, the day that one of our own team members received the worst possible health-related news was the one that we decided to step up and step in for him and his family, through our own family-like dynamic. That day, the RE/MAX & Friends Foundation was born, and that day, our Corporate Social Responsibility as a company became personal to each of us.

Here’s why I believe moving CSR from a mere mention in your company strategy into the very heart of the organisation is so important.

Any organisation, no matter its industry, size or speciality, is only as good as the people in its team. These human beings, while vital to the company, are also dealing with the ups and downs of daily life alongside their work, and they rely on friends who will be there for them in the good times and the bad, as we all do.

In 2013, this simple concept was brought into sharp relief at RE/MAX Malta. One of our team members was diagnosed with cancer and given just months to live. It was universally devastating news for us, not to mention his family. We brought together the franchise owners and bandied together to raise a handsome sum of money.

Any organisation, no matter its industry, size or speciality, is only as good as the people in its team

The money assisted our colleague and we all felt hugely privileged to have been able to make a difference at that very difficult time. That effort came from our heart – not just for us as an organisation but for us as human beings who are interconnected by our working lives. With this idea in mind, the RE/MAX & Friends Foundation was established with the intention of being able to support others in the RE/MAX family when the going gets tough.

The RE/MAX & Friends Foundation today

In the years since that fateful time, the RE/MAX & Friends Foundation has grown from simply being team members raising money for each other’s hour of need, into something more far-reaching, making a difference to charities and causes across the Maltese islands.

Today, a percentage of every sale or lettings contract is donated directly to the foundation, and is topped up by regular fundraising events, so that 40 per cent of the funds raised are kept for the use of RE/MAX Malta employees as required, while the other 60 per cent go towards efforts at local charities.

Making a meaningful impact

Through the RE/MAX & Friends Foundation, RE/MAX Malta has turned making a difference in the community into something that’s more than simply a marketing exercise ‒ as CSR is so often viewed in the business world. We are changing people’s lives and, in the process, we are giving our own lives greater purpose.

RE/MAX & Friends has donated to Puttinu Cares Foundation – a local charity that offers care for families with children suffering from cancer, and we even sponsored a major project within the Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre for the charity.

In partnership with the ALIVE Cycling Challenge, we fully funded a specially designed space within the Adolescents Ward that offers somewhere for families to relax and play during treatment, as well as a jumbo playground in the courtyard outside.

We are also firm supporters of the excellent work of the Malta Foundation Trust – a charitable foundation operating under the auspices of President Emeritus Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca; Dar Tal-Providenza, a home for persons with disabilities; the Malta Community Chest Fund; and the ALIVE Charity Foundation, which supports health awareness and scientific research.

Our foundation also supports other individual causes that have come to us in the form of request.

How CSR boosts a company’s dynamic and its public image

The buzz of selflessly helping others is strangely addictive, wonderfully satisfying and intensely inspiring for every person involved in the RE/MAX team. It motivates us in our work and in our lives much more than any team-building event might hope to achieve. It has made us more tightknit as a team, bringing us even closer together as friends, as colleagues and as humans.

But if building up your team’s internal dynamic is not incentive enough, there’s also the knock-on effect this good work has on your customers. By reaching out into, and supporting your organisation’s local community, it is likely that you will be indirectly impacting the lives of some of your customers, and your own team and their families.

Through an organisation’s CSR activity, then, its engagement with its customers is boosted twofold: by offering direct support to those in need and by its team becoming public ambassadors for the brand by association.

Nevertheless, what takes CSR from corporate strategy to changing the world is never consideration of the marketing and branding objectives. I believe it’s something so, so much more than that.

The RE/MAX & Friends Foundation has shown me (and hopefully everyone involved in the fundraising efforts at RE/MAX Malta), that giving from our hearts as fellow human beings, out of our own time and using our own passion, gives life a purpose and a legacy unlike any other. It is our opportunity to take care of tomorrow’s generation and of our own family of people working at RE/MAX Malta, so that we can really ‒ really ‒ make a difference.

Speak to a member of the RE/MAX team today to find out more about the RE/MAX & Friends Foundation  or visit the foundation’s website at www.remaxandfriends.org.mt.  

Jeff Buttigieg, COO, RE/MAX Malta

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