It is still not to late to register for this event – covered by the BBC and taking place over the weekend of 14-16th March 2008.

Sport Relief is a fundraising event that takes place every two years. It aims to harness the power and passion of sport to change lives for the better.

Comic Relief spends the money raised through Sport Relief to help vulnerable people living incredibly tough lives both at home in the UK and in the world’s poorest countries.

For Sport Relief 2008 suggests that everyone could challenge themselves, their family, their friends and their colleagues to do something sporty and raise cash at the same time.

The ultimate challenge is doing the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile, where hundreds of thousands of people across the country will take to the streets and go the distance. The Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile now covers 1, 3 or 6 miles so you can get involved at any level! Just visit the web site at:
http://www.sportrelief.com to find out about an event near you.

Alternatively, you can seek a team to sponsor from the latter website.
If you have not exercised for a while or have health concerns I strongly recommend that you discuss the challenge with your Doctor first.

From the site I started looking at the number of sponsoring organisations involved, for example, a bank, sports club and supermarket chain – just to mention a few. This is great news for corporate responsibility and I’m certainly not knocking it. I wondered how great it could be if the whole initiative could be a continunum, i.e: encouraged through all they do and built into their core business processes. In that way Sport Relief could have something to celebrate too, i.e: Highlighting projects and international tie-ups.

Interestingly, I found the following definition for corporate responsibility also known as CSR. CSR is a concept whereby organisations consider the interests of society by taking responsibility for the impact of their activities on customers, employees, shareholders, communities and the environment in all aspects of their operations. This obligation is seen to extend beyond the statutory obligation to comply with legislation and sees organizations voluntarily taking further steps to improve the quality of life for employees and their families as well as for the local community and society at large.

For corporations getting involved in Sport Relief it is a great start. However, there are still multi-nationals that are fueling or simply unaware of the implications of their business practices on the poor and vunerable.

We can certainly make a change by getting involved with Sport Relief but I also suggest that we all look closely at our own organisations to see if there is something we can do everyday to make the world a better place.

Have fun.

Categories: 2008, Anti-Poverty, Corporate Responsibility