Social Values & Volunteering
At C2S, we believe business success goes hand in hand with making a positive impact. Our members are leading the way in giving back — through volunteering, charitable partnerships, and social value initiatives that strengthen communities and create lasting change. This page celebrates their efforts and shows you how to get involved.
Why Social Values Matter
Social values are the foundation of responsible business. They go beyond financial success and reflect how organisations contribute to the wider world. By prioritising social value, businesses demonstrate their commitment to people, communities, and the environment. This not only builds trust and strengthens reputation but also attracts and retains talent, inspires collaboration, and supports long-term growth. At C2S, we believe that when businesses align success with positive impact, everyone benefits.
Volunteering
Volunteering is one of the most powerful ways to create meaningful change. It allows individuals and businesses to give back through time, skills, and expertise, while building stronger connections with the communities they serve. For teams, volunteering boosts morale, encourages collaboration, and develops new skills. For individuals, it provides a sense of purpose and achievement.
Giving Back Through C2S
As part of your C2S membership, you’ll have access to a dedicated platform that connects you with charitable organisations and community projects across the region. This benefit makes it easy to arrange volunteering days, support worthwhile causes, and demonstrate your commitment to social value and CSR.
It’s a simple but powerful way to make a real difference—while strengthening your business’s culture, values, and community impact.
Volunteering Opportunities
If you have a volunteering opportunity to share please get in touch with us.
Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal
Each year, C2S supports the Royal British Legion by managing the Poppy Appeal collection at Waitrose in Cheltenham. Thanks to the incredible generosity of the public – and the time given by our amazing volunteers – last year we raised over £21,000 during the 14-day campaign.
This year, we are once again looking for volunteers to help us make the Poppy Appeal a success. Your time and support can make a real difference in raising vital funds for serving and ex-serving members of the Armed Forces and their families.
How can you help?
There are several ways you, or you and your colleagues, can get involved 25th October – 8th November 2 hour slots:
Volunteering for a collection slot at Waitrose Cheltenham
Encouraging friends, family, or colleagues to sign up too
Helping us spread the word to ensure we have the support needed to cover all 10 days
Email: suzanne.hall-gibbins@c2sgrowth.com
Hamper Scamper Project
CCP’s annual Hamper Scamper campaign seeks to relieve some of the financial and emotional burdens of the festive season on families and individuals who are already struggling. We believe that nobody should go without. Our aim is to encourage our community to come together to provide hope to those in need.
How can you help?
There are several ways you, you and fellow colleagues can support CCP’s Hamper Scamper appeal:
. organising a food collection for hampers
. purchasing a gift for a child
. volunteering at Hamper Scamper HQ to sort and pack food donations.
Website: Click Here
Rubbish Collection and Planting
Do you enjoy walking and connecting with people? Join us in leading a friendly community group helping us keep the streets of Cheltenham town centre tidy and our flower beds looking great. We meet regularly, and everyone is welcome.
Give an Hour
Could you open the eyes of a young person to an
exciting career that they didn’t even know existed?
Your story, ideas, and real-world advice can help shape a young person’s
career choices. The Give an Hour programme invites you to give an hour
of your time to create new perspectives and inspire new ideas.
How can you help?
There are several ways you can help to inspire a young person in an hour:
. share your career journey in an assembly or classroom
. bring a subject to life by sharing an experience
. take part in mock interviews or CV workshops . speed networking, answer young people’s questions
. offer an experience day for students at your workplace
Mentoring That Makes a Difference
From Pro-Bono To Boardroom
How businesspeople can step into Impact Investing and deliver social value
From a few hours of skilled volunteering to a seat on a charity board, Gloucestershire Community Foundation’s new INVEST programme is giving businesspeople the chance to make a real difference — while building their own leadership skills.
Mentoring That Makes a Difference
In today’s busy world, giving back isn’t just about donating money. For many, the most valuable thing they can offer is expertise — the knowledge, judgement, and leadership built over a career.
Sometimes it starts small: a few hours of advice to a charity CEO, or a short-term project in your specialist field. That first step can lead to something bigger — even a seat at the boardroom table as a charity trustee.
That’s exactly what Gloucestershire Community Foundation’s INVEST Mentoring Programme is designed to do.
“It can be life-changing for a charity CEO to have someone there to listen and share insight,” says Talitha Nelson, CEO of GCF. “And for the mentor, it’s an eye-opening way to connect with a cause and see the real impact of your skills.”
Mentoring offers a unique, close-up view of how a charity works — not just reading reports, but seeing the daily challenges and decisions. A mentor might help a leader rethink their fundraising strategy, navigate HR issues, or explore new partnerships. Over time, these conversations can spark deeper involvement, from volunteering on a project to ultimately stepping up as a trustee.
Website: Click Here
Charity Shop volunteers
Disability charity National Star’s charity shops are critical to the ongoing growth and success of the organisation and the charity is always looking for volunteers to work in its shops in:
Honeybourne, Cheltenham
Up Hatherley, Cheltenham
Cirencester
Abbeydale, Gloucester
Brockworth, Gloucester
Hucclecote, Gloucester
Hereford
Tewkesbury
Volunteers come from different backgrounds and can offer different life experiences. We particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities.
You could help with sorting and steaming donations, working on the till serving customers or helping with merchandising and marketing. Whether you could volunteer for a few hours a week or could help for a day at the weekend we’d love to hear from you.
In addition, as new shops come on stream the charity is often keen to work with groups of corporate volunteers to help set up the new shops by labelling items for sale, stocking bookshelves and clothes rails etc.
National Star remains committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of young adults and children. We expect all volunteers to share this vision.
If you would like to volunteer in one of National Star’s charity retail stores, we’d love to hear from you. Contact Tina Walsh, Head of Charity Retail at National Star, at twalsh@nationalstar.org
Website: Click Here
Sunrise Walk marshals
Held annually, the Sunrise Walk is National Star’s flagship fundraising event. In 2026 the sponsored walk, being held on 12 April, is expected to be bigger and better than ever. With the recent introduction of a new accessible 3k route, the charity needs more volunteer marshals to help along the route.
This one-off volunteering opportunity involves registering and cheering on walkers and possibly staffing refreshment stations along the way.
There are other one-off opportunities in the pipeline to support National Star’s fundraising this year too, including street bucket collections and baking cakes and running a pop-up tearoom.
If you are interested in taking part in any of these opportunities, please contact Fundraiser Monica Farthing, at mfarthing@nationalstar.org
Website: Click Here
Sapling planting
National Star’s 84-acre site at Ullenwood is a haven for wildlife with the disability charity recently winning BBC Radio Gloucestershire’s ‘Make a Difference’ Green Award for its work in preserving the local hedgehog population.
Having planted 4,500 saplings to create hedgehog highways across the Ullenwood campus in the spring, the students are keen to continue planting in mid-November 2025.
The charity is keen to attract teams of corporate volunteers who would like to support this activity. All equipment will be provided; you’ll have expert tuition on how to plant the young trees and you’ll be rewarded with StarBistro cakes and coffee during the day!
This hugely rewarding opportunity could see your business or organisation leave a legacy to nature in one of Gloucestershire’s areas of outstanding natural beauty.
Interested in getting involved? Please contact National Star’s Sustainability Lead Elaine Hodgin at ehodgin@nationalstar.org
Website: Click Here
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