Community engagement within Murray & Roberts has its origins in the 1950s, with the establishment of the Murray & Roberts Child Welfare Fund. Former director, Dr Andrew Roberts initiated the programme in response to the growing plight of children in South Africa. Partnering with Child Welfare South Africa at the time, Murray & Roberts supported projects aimed at improving the social welfare of society’s most vulnerable members. The primary focus of the fund was to respond to the needs of children
while also stimulating interest and engagement from employees.

Over the years, the Murray & Roberts Child Welfare Fund has evolved into an established programme and has been adopted as the Group’s fl agship employee engagement programme. Our employees have always been the human face of Murray & Roberts in the community and the Child Welfare Fund remains the conduit through which meaningful employee involvement and volunteering is facilitated.

The legacy instilled by Dr Roberts four decades ago is still evident in present day activities of the Child Welfare Fund. Although the programme structure and implementation has been re-engineered over time, the fundamental objectives and principles have remained intact.

The strategic objectives of the fund include:

• • Providing financial assistance to organisations that promote the interests and wellbeing of a broad spectrum of vulnerable children in South Africa;
• • Increasing employee involvement in community development with the aim of promoting awareness and driving ownership;
• • Building and sustaining relationships with the Group’s existing and potential stakeholders through mutually benefi cial partnerships;
• • Increasing client goodwill and loyalty by contributing to the development of disadvantaged people in our communities; and
• • Retaining and enhancing the loyalty and pride of employees by instilling a passion for the Group’s values.

In 2014 a new Child Welfare Fund committee was appointed. The committee has been mandated to raise the profi le of the programme, increase employee participation and consequently attract greater income to the fund. All committee members are passionate supporters of the Child Welfare Fund and serve the programme in a voluntary capacity. The Child Welfare Fund committee is representative of the South African operating platforms and has taken up the challenge to ensure that the maximum number of employees across the group pledge their

commitment to the programme. Funding for the Murray & Roberts Child Welfare Fund is derived from voluntary employee payroll giving, once-off donations, the annual golf day and complimentary fundraising activities. In the past, the fund has been able to support 20 small organisations per annum and this year the committee seeks to increase the number of organisations that will benefi t, thus positively impacting a greater number of children.