Charities We Support

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Who We Support

Our charitable giving programme is largely focused on supporting not-for-profit organisations that help people living in the Midlothian area of Scotland, where Cairn is headquartered, and which reflect our values of teamwork, fostering individual potential and encouraging entrepreneurial spirit. Selected charities are expected to demonstrate transparency, sustainability and measurable indicators of what charitable funding will achieve.

In 2010, we provided charitable funding to 10 new charities, bringing the total number of organisations we support to 26.

Opportunities for Young People

Project Scotland offers 16–25-year-olds full-time placements of up to six months in non-profit organisations working in the arts, sports or the environment. Young people gain experience which makes a positive difference in securing a job or getting into further education or training.
Inspiring Scotland aims to improve the lives of Scotland's most vulnerable people through partnerships and collaborations designed to tackle tough social issues.

Community

LifeCare is an Edinburgh-based charity that supports the independence of older people, helping them to live as normally and independently as possible within their given circumstances.
Cairn also made Christmas donations to Foursquare, Circle, The Grassmarket Mission and Edinburgh Cyrenians, who work with disadvantaged people in Edinburgh.

Arts

Traverse Theatre is supported by Cairn to run Scribble, a new writing and theatre skills programme for 14–17-year-olds from less socially and economically advantaged backgrounds.
Lyceum Theatre is supported by Cairn for a variety of projects including the Lyceum Connect Festival, a new programme that promotes social inclusion for approximately 160 young people through outreach and theatre-based programmes.
We also made donations to the National Library of Scotland, Scottish Ballet and the Society of Scottish Artists.

Education and Learning

Edinburgh Science Festival receives funding from Cairn to support its Generation Science schools touring programme and specifically sponsors the ‘Future Earth' show in which children learn about energy sources and sustainability.
Scottish Mining Museum is using funds from Cairn to develop an interactive educational schools programme linking fossil fuels in Scotland with energy use in our everyday lives, which is being offered to schools in the Lothians.
University of Glasgow is receiving ongoing sponsorship to support the five-day 'Advanced Sequence Stratigraphy' course for final-year geology students.
Edinburgh University receives a donation towards the School of Geosciences Graduate School conference.
Heriot-Watt University – see below.

Sport

Winning Scotland Foundation, previously known as The Scottish Institute of Sport Foundation, has a three-year funding agreement with Cairn to support its Positive Coaching Scotland (PCS), Champions in Schools and Work Out for Sport programmes. The Winning Scotland Foundation aims to develop young people's potential and positive attitude through sport. Its programmes focus on encouraging young people to stay in sport as they get older.

Sir Bill Gammell is Chairman of the Winning Scotland Foundation and Simon Thomson is Deputy Chairman.

Health

Prostate Scotland helps to raise awareness and provide information about prostate disease and prostate cancer across Scotland.
Sight Savers has funding to support its work to restore the sight of many cataract-blind children.
Macmillan Cancer Support helps to improve the lives of people affected by cancer.
Maggie's Cancer Centres offer psychological, emotional and informational support to individuals and their families who are affected by cancer.
St Columba's Hospice aims to improve the quality of life for people with progressive, far-advanced disease and to provide support for their families.

Environment

Edinburgh & Lothians Greenspace is an environmental charity that works to enhance the local environment, improving the quality of life for those living and working in the area.
Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) is an international conservation charity. Cairn's donation funds the Wild Bus Education Outreach project, an innovative programme run by Edinburgh Zoo that takes science and natural history to the wider community.
Royal Botanic Gardens receives funding from Cairn to support international biodiversity projects.

Strategic Alliance with Heriot-Watt University

Cairn has an ongoing strategic alliance with Heriot-Watt University, one of the UK's leading universities for business and industry. The University is at the forefront of innovative technology and research-based science, and its Institute of Petroleum Engineering operates one of the largest research programmes in its field.

A Joint Oversight Group meets regularly to oversee the alliance and explore new opportunities that may benefit both parties.

In addition to expenditure on charitable donations from the UK increasing significantly:

Cairn India has maintained a significant expenditure on social investment;
expenditure associated with Greenland last year was in support of a planned expedition that was not realised; and
expenditure in Bangladesh fell as our operations, and the projects we have supported in the past (such as turtle conservation in the Bay of Bengal), matured.

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