InterContinental Hotels Group has launched the IHG Foundation, alongside details of its first beneficiaries.
The company says the IHG Foundation will run as an independent charity, and focus its activities on four key areas – helping communities to develop skills in hospitality, providing support for those impacted by disasters, facilitating local community investment and protecting the environment.
IHG has an established history of responsible business practices. The IHG Foundation will build on the hugely positive impact the company has driven through its award-winning corporate responsibility initiatives over a number of years.
These include the pioneering IHG Academy program, a global collaboration between IHG hotels, local education providers and community organisations, which offers education and skills training in hospitality to local people.
IHG Academy celebrated its 10th year in 2015 and now has more than 1,200 programs operating in 68 countries.
IHG’s successful group-wide sustainability program, the IHG Green Engage system, continues to help hotels track, measure and report their carbon footprint, energy and water consumption. It became a global brand standard in 2015.
IHG’s disaster relief program, IHG Shelter in a Storm, has responded to 66 disasters in 26 countries since its launch in 2011, contributing both monetary donations and in-kind support to impacted communities around the world.
Across Asia-Pacific, these have included:
-Christchurch Earthquake 2011;
-Japan Earthquake and Tsunami 2011;
-Fiji Floods and Cyclone in 2012;
-Japan Hiroshima landslide 2014;
-Vanuatu Typhoon 2015; and
-Tahiti Floods 2015
IHG’s CEO, Richard Solomons, said the IHG Academy and the IHG Green Engage system will continue to be delivered in IHG’s hotels.
He said disaster relief activity previously activated through IHG Shelter in a Storm will be incorporated into the IHG Foundation, to provide assistance to communities impacted by disasters on a broader scale.
“We have a long-standing commitment to Responsible Business practices, which underpin our strategy and are brought to life through our leading corporate responsibility initiatives – IHG Academy, IHG Green Engage and IHG Shelter in a Storm,” he said.
“We are proud to launch the IHG Foundation as the latest evolution of this and are delighted by the diverse nature of its first grant recipients.
“They provide a powerful early sign of the positive impact the Foundation will deliver, helping to set the foundations for stronger, healthier, and more prosperous communities around the world.”
The first wave of grant funding from the IHG Foundation will provide support to projects working across all four key areas of focus: hospitality skills development, disaster relief, local community investment and environmental sustainability. These include CARE International UK; British Red Cross; Youth Career Initiative (YCI); Goodwill Industries International and The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT).