North-east charity ball raises more than £50k to support projects
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AAB, the tech-enabled business critical services group, has announced that the first ever ball for its own charity – AABIE – was a resounding success.
An incredible £52,631 was raised at the AABIE Ball, which took place at the Marcliffe Hotel and Spa in Aberdeen, with all funds going directly to the charity.
The support AABIE provides is varied and widespread. Through it, charities, projects and local causes are invited to apply for grant funding and volunteer time.
Its trustees then review these applications and distribute funding on a quarterly basis.
This approach gives AABIE the opportunity to support a broad variety of charities across the communities where the AAB Group operates.
To date, it has supported more than 135 charities, community projects and other worthy causes.
The latest grant round in March of this year, saw AABIE donate more than £18,000 to 18 charities across Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and West Lothian – their highest grant round to date in terms of both the number of charities and the amount donated.
The charity also issued top-up funding to four team members across Aberdeen, Leeds and Belfast to support their own fundraising.
As part of the most recent grant round, AABIE donated £2728 to Aberdeen-based Miscarriage Services Charity (MISS), to cover the cost of a bench with a plaque in the early pregnancy loss garden.
A further £1000 has been pledged to Grampian Disability Sport in Aberdeen, to support the Parasport Festival in September.
Following these donations, AABIE reached the milestone of pledging more than £200,000 of vital grant funding since the charity was founded in 2016.
Providing volunteers is another important aspect of the charity, with AAB Group donating a full day of paid volunteer time to every team member. To date more than 4600 hours have been donated to support community projects.
Sheena Anderson, AABIE chairwoman said: “We are absolutely thrilled with the outcome of our first charity ball.
"Raising more than £52,000 is a wonderful result and will enable AABIE to continue to support local charities and causes across the UK.
“The support and generosity we received from our clients, contacts, auction prize donors and AAB team members made this all possible, and we can’t thank them enough.
"AABIE is unique – augmenting the total we have available for grant funding gives us the opportunity to continue working with those who most need it.”
Graeme Allan, AAB Group chief executive and AABIE Trustee said: “What makes AABIE special is that AAB team members truly make the work that AABIE does possible.
"Almost all money donated from grant round funding is raised by our team members, and it is our teams who carry out all the volunteer time.
"Giving something back has always been an important part of our culture across the group, and AABIE is how we continue to make this happen.
"All this work has now been enhanced through funds raised at our charity ball and we are delighted with the result.
“Our business has experienced substantial growth over the past few years, and we continue to expand into new locations which gives AABIE the opportunity to support even more charities and worthy causes in our new communities.
"We are excited about the opportunity to continue the work of AABIE, and we are looking forward to kick-starting the process for our next charity ball.”
More information on how to apply for funding or volunteer time can be found at aab.uk/about/aabie
The current AABIE grant round closes on Saturday, September 30.
