Community is key to inVOYAGE and in recognition of our charity partnership with Meeting Needs, we interviewed Jason Wilcock, Chair of Worldspan as well as the charitable organisation to learn more about their upcoming plans for 2022, and the impact that they are making across local communities and beyond.

Jason, tell us more about Meeting Needs and the work that you do? 

Since Meeting Needs was founded by leading figures in the conference and events industry in 2004, we have distributed more than £1 million to worthwhile causes in the UK and around the world that do not have access to other funds. 

We support projects that make a direct impact on the well-being of people in the local community. Our board is made up of volunteers from the events industry, and our careful due diligence of projects ensure that donations go directly to those that need them most. 

Our Charity Partners are a cornerstone to our work and contribute to our growth and ability to fund more projects. We are incredibly grateful to charity partners like inVOYAGE for their consistent generosity and support. 

We also welcome Charity Partners to nominate charities to receive grants, subject to our due diligence, and work directly with them to support their CSR objectives. We particularly love working in partnership in this way.

Whether it’s through a direct grant to a project, a charity pairing or match funding: by Charity Partners choosing where the money goes and seeing the impact made, it’s an incredibly powerful and direct way to get close and connected to a cause.

What kind of direct impact do the projects you support make in local communities?  

Around 40% of our grants go to support projects in the UK, with the balance internationally. Many of the projects that we support are for small charities that seldom have a voice and where our grants can have a direct and lasting impact.

We welcome applications for support from charities with diverse objectives, but regularly support causes impacting local communities such as poverty relief, clean water and sanitation, homelessness and community and wellbeing. You can find some profiles of recent beneficiaries here: https://www.meetingneeds.org.uk/projects/from-our-beneficiaries/ All applications are put through our due diligence team, and we always ensure that we report feedback from grants so that everyone can see how much impact the donation has had. 

What projects do you have coming up? 

The charity is always looking for creative ways to raise funds and engage with the meetings industry. We are recruiting prizes for our annual online auction which will go live in April, just in time for our showcase event which will bring together Charity Partners and beneficiaries. We’re also looking for runners to join our Royal Parks Half Marathon team. 

We are proud of the way that we have united the Meetings, Incentive, Conference and Events industry behind a common cause. The industry's generosity and capacity to support those in need has been as ever-present as it was when the charity was set up in 2004. 

How can companies get involved and work with you to offer their support?

There are so many ways to get involved and support Meeting Needs. In addition to becoming a Charity Partner with an annual donation of £600, companies can also get involved with any of our fundraising initiatives. I should also say that we are incredibly open to working together in a way that supports a company's individual CSR goals. (To get started, you can contact our secretariat Margaret Mann - mmann@meetingneeds.org.uk – or speak to any of the Meeting Needs trustees.