YPO managing director speaks of ‘emotionally rewarding’ work with NSPCC after firm raises over £100,000
The managing director of Yorkshire-based YPO has spoken on the “emotionally rewarding” work the firm has done with child protection charity the NSPCC, after YPO announced that it had raised over £100,000 for the group.
YPO, which is owned by a consortium of county, metropolitan and borough councils in Yorkshire and North West England, supplies equipment including stationary, desks and chairs to schools.
The firm first partnered with NSPCC in 2022, when it agreed to a three-year partnership which would see it donating a minimum of £20,000 of all profits made on its annual YPO brand sales.
The Wakefield firm announced earlier this month that its total contributions to the NSPCC had reached over £100,000.
Speaking on the partnership, Simon Hill, managing director of YPO, said: “I think it goes back to our roots. 50 years ago we were created by 13 local education authorities across the North of England, so schools and young children are very much our heritage, that's who we were set up to serve, so there's a very natural fit there.
“If you look at what kids need to be able to learn effectively, it's high quality teaching. We don't provide the teachers, but we do help them by doing all the selection of resources and products for them so they can spend time on teaching.
“Turn a school upside down and shake it, you get pens, pencils, rulers, desks, insurance, grounds maintenance, you name it, that's what we do for schools.
“But children also need a safe environment in which to learn effectively, and obviously what the NSPCC has been doing for many years is helping kids and supporting them where they don't necessarily have that safe environment.”
As part of its 50th anniversary this year, YPO launched a “Craft and Chat” resource with NSPCC, with the aim of helping young people get in touch with their feelings then express and understand them using simple crafts.
In partnership with Pritt, the firm also held a “Craftathon” competition, with a winning school taking home a £500 YPO voucher.
Speaking on YPO’s first partnership with the NSPCC, Mr Hill said: “In times of austerity, you see with the supermarkets for example that they create their own slightly cheaper brand products as an alternative to the recognised brands. We started doing the same with our own YPO brand.
“We make more margin on those extra products, and we could keep that for ourselves, but we actually decided that a great way to enhance the contribution to society made by the company would be to donate a proportion of that extra margin that we’re making.
Speaking on what staff have taken away from the partnership, Mr Hill added: “When you visit the hub in Leeds, and see some of the calls they take from children that are in such difficult situations, it makes our work real.
“It's very easy to say we service education, but we don't actually get to see the kids that often, so working with the NSPCC and seeing first hand the work that they do and the difficult and challenging situations they get kids out of, it's so rewarding. It's emotionally rewarding.”