Mercurytide gifts £10k charity website to mark 10th anniversary
A Scottish software development company has donated and built a website worth £10k as the prize in a charity competition celebrating its tenth anniversary.
Mercurytide ran the competition when staff decided that, instead of a birthday party, they wanted to truly embrace corporate social responsibility by giving something back to their local community. It was agreed that £1,000 would be donated to a charity for every year Mercurytide had been in business, resulting in the £10k website prize.
Revive MS Support, which provides support to people with Multiple Sclerosis, was chosen as the prize winner from 400 nominations for 150 charities. The judging process was rigorous and carried out by an impartial and prestigious judging panel including Liz Cameron from the Scottish Chamber of Commerce, Fiona Ballantyne from the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, and TV personality and nutritionist Amanda Hamilton.
The team from Mercurytide, which has offices in Edinburgh and Paisley, has worked closely with Revive to build the new website which launched last week at The Lighthouse in Glasgow.
Both teams have developed a strong partnership which has seen unexpected gains such as team building opportunities, employee engagement and shared learning. Mercurytide staff also completed a zip wire challenge over the River Clyde in aid of Revive, conquering some personal fears in the process.
Mercurytide’s Suzanna Harkness worked on the project and says:- “This is a great example of how even a small organisation such as ours can reach out and create a huge impact. It’s not just about our corporate social responsibility; it’s about making small but significant strides towards improving the lives of those around us, as well as our own.”
Tamlin Roberts, Mercurytide’s MD, says: “Working with Revive has been an eye-opening experience on many fronts. We have seen the impact MS has on people and the ways in which they are fighting back against the symptoms, as well as the passion which both teams have put into the project. Our team feels a great sense of worth and has developed a much better understandingof charities’ needs as a whole. It has been a great project to be part of.”
Revive had previously resorted to using social media for the majority of its messaging as the old website was not performing as they needed it to. The new Revive website www.revivemssupport.org.uk establishes the charity’s online visibility and improves access to its wide range of services available to people with Multiple Sclerosis.
Cara Doran, Fundraising Manager at Revive MS Support, says: “We were delighted to win the competition for a new website as the one we were using was outdated and difficult for both staff and clients to use. The process of developing a new site with Mercurytide has been more than we could’ve asked for, and it has been fantastic building a website which will last and that is designed around the different needs of our service users. The Mercurytide team has made the process fun and interesting, lending us their professional skills in a number of areas and engaging with the charity wholeheartedly. We can’t thank them enough!”
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