“I have a hectic and demanding work life, in a fast-moving business, so I felt it would be great to throw myself into something completely different – and with Chance, you really do throw yourself because it’s an intensive commitment,” he says.
The charity provides mentors to primary school children with behavioural difficulties who are at risk of developing anti-social or criminal behaviour.
Cameron says his involvement started with Twitter.
“One Saturday a friend of mine tweeted that she’d read an article about how amazing Chance was,” he explains.
“I read the article and checked out Chance’s feed, where they were asking for people to donate eight cycle helmets. I was so impressed and offered to pay for them. By the following Saturday I found myself on one of their mentor training courses. It all happened very fast, but I was excited and up for it.”
As
Chance UK’s CEO Gracia McGrath explains, becoming a mentor is a very big commitment.
“You have to go through a very thorough training process.
“People know what mentoring means in an abstract sense. In some people’s mind that might be taking an eight year old to the park and playing on the swings.
“We need them to know that the eight year old might be living in a gang area and being directly recruited.
“There is a level of commitment required in being a mentor for a year and seeing that child every week. There is 21 hours of training over three consecutive Saturdays, then there is a fairly intrusive interview.
“Mentors for us need to have processed their own childhood, and need to be doing it for the right reasons.”
Cameron says he worked with disadvantaged children while at university, “doing summer camps, swimming clubs … that was one of the most rewarding things I’d done, so this seemed like a very natural thing to explore”.
Chance takes highly screened and trained mentors and matches with a child who they see on a one-to-one basis, every week for a year.
Although mentors work for free, the cost of implementing and supervising the programme is £5,000 per child.
This summer, Cameron decided to launch an innovative fundraising campaign for Chance UK, called Change for Chance.
Passengers travelling through No.1 Traveller’s premium airside lounges located at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Birmingham will be able to make a donation to Change for Chance before they leave to catch their flight.
The idea is that Cameron’s customers will be given the opportunity to support the work Chance UK do by donating spare change in any currency.
“I offered the opportunity to Gracia because I wanted the business to be involved with a charity and I am doing everything I can to enlist financial support for Chance, during my year of mentoring,” says Cameron.
“The flying public are often asked to support an airline’s charity – the likes of BA and Virgin have their own children’s charity schemes, for example, so I felt we could do the same.
“I’m not sure our guests will necessarily think any better of us for doing so, but we know people like to give, so it’s only right that we should facilitate a charity benefiting from that willingness.
“It also allows us to spread the word about the good Chance is doing.”
For McGrath, the Change for Chance campaign is as much about raising profile as raising money.
“The people who use No.1 Traveller lounges may throw their change in and think nothing more about it, or they may say ‘gosh, the CEO is a mentor with Chance UK, I might like to find out more about them’ or ‘this is a great idea for my company’.
“When people hear about what Chance UK do, people who would never have thought of volunteering or being a mentor suddenly start to think of it.”
McGrath says Chance’s work is particularly attractive to business-minded people because the outcomes are plain to see.
“Early intervention work makes a difference. You can invest in Chance UK and the product is a child who is happier, has a more positive future and is not committing crimes - they can see there are outcomes.”
Cameron says the benefits to No.1 Traveller are equally clear, including the positive effect this has internally.
“It’s all too easy for business to trudge on with the day to day,” he says.
“Our connection with Chance, and specifically my involvement, brings a human side to the business and shows that we support work that extends to our community.
“I hope we can raise enough money to fund a mentor, and that we have someone in the business who’d like to take on that responsibility. I’d certainly support them in doing so.”
He adds: “I think almost any business could support Chance, because the work they do is relevant to society as a whole. Put another way, I didn’t think twice about our involvement.
“This campaign is specifically linked to the school holidays – so we’re collecting money for a children’s charity while more privileged families are starting their holidays in our lounges. That’s a very comfortable tie-in.”
Chance UKmentors work in a solution-focused way, focusing on the child's strengths and what they do well, rather than their negative behaviour.
Many of these children are on the verge of being permanently excluded from school. This is frequently the start point for anti-social and later criminal behaviour in a young person's life - early intervention work prevents this progression.
Mentoring works, and it also saves money – the £5,000 per child cost is offset by savings for the state of £100,000 over the child’s life.
Cameron wants other CEOs to consider how their companies can support charities like Chance.
“If you have access to consumers - or even your business only operates B2B - it costs nothing to use your contacts to raise money for a cause you feel strongly about. Your suppliers and clients won’t mind – they will probably think better of your business – and any costs are negligible. It also lifts the spirits of any business to know its contributing positively to society and not just taking money from it.”
For more information about
Chance UK, visit their website.