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Encourage greater employee participation by providing them with information about our community programmes and how employees can get involved

We published information on our intranet inviting applications from employees for a place on a field trip to the Maldives to see UNICEF reconstruction work after the tsunami. Talk, our staff magazine, carried updates about our response to the Asian tsunami and encouraged employees to come up with innovative fundraising ideas. Our Community Futures Awards event, giving money to deaf and blind charities, was attended by 16 'Charity Champions' - Orange employees who help promote and develop our charity partnerships. Over 3,000 employees voted for our new charity partner, Sense, and through the intranet we've given employees a calendar of Sense events and ways to get involved.

During 2004 we plan to develop a more formal employee volunteering framework to support staff who want to get actively involved with charities.

Our employee volunteering policy allows paid absence of up to four days per annum on volunteering activities. By the end of 2004 we had trained 54 Ambassadors (Orange Employee Volunteers) to go into schools in 2005 to assist with 'employment preparation'. 44 employees volunteered for the Chatterbooks – a children's reading scheme run through public libraries. In 2004 our Charity Champions took an active role in the Community Futures Awards which made awards to 21 projects helping people with sensory disabilities

Continue to involve our employees in charity support.

Research among our employees during 2003 told us that we need to raise awareness of opportunities for employees to volunteer time to support charities. More and more Orange employees are giving up their free time to support community projects near Orange offices.