Match Media’s corporate social responsibility program, SPARK, has been building momentum quietly since its inception 3 years ago. In 2015 the agency with the help of their media partners raised $46,907 for the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation; their greatest amount to date.

This money will go towards the funding of a much needed trauma machine for the hospital.

Joanna Stewart, partnerships account manager, corporate, Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation said, “SPARK is a fantastic example of a partnership focused on staff engagement with impressive results. Match Media staff at all levels are so engaged that they use their initiative to lead the fundraising with innovation, creativity and enthusiasm.

“The team are clearly motivated by the impact they have at Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick; this is evident not only through their fundraising efforts, but their significant donation and attention to where the funds are channelled. We are very lucky and grateful to have their support.”

Not content with this amount, the agency is now on a mission to add significantly to that figure and in 2016 will once again use their talent to raise even more. Last year’s challenge had the staff battling it out to organise the most profitable event of the year. Coming up with events like Dodgeball, A Casino Night, Kids’s Olympics Trivia and Go-Karting.

Once more, all of the staff at Match Media will be working together for the kids. This year they will be divided into 4 teams with each team having a quarter of the year to organise and run their event. Each team is aligned to one of Match’s four key values, No Fear, Create, Do it Together and Invest in Knowledge and they must create an event that is in line in with their Value.

John Preston, CEO of Match Media said, “What I love about the SPARK initiative is that it was born as a concept by two of the youngest members of Match and embraced by the whole agency. It was a response to the passion of the agency to do more for the community.

“The funds raised  to give back to Sydney Children’s Hospital has been phenomenal. In addition the gamification of FUNdraising has fuelled genuine collaboration amongst the Match teams and our media partners.”

For 2016 the teams have created logos and team names for their events.

The team names were recently unveiled and judged by GPY&R. Match now has The Wolf Pack (Do it Together), Picassos Cartel (Create), Beni and the Jets (No Fear) and Smarty Pants (Invest in Knowledge) all fighting it out for SPARK 2016 glory and to be awarded THE AGENCY CUP.

Last year saw an influx of interest from Sydney media partners coming along to revel in the fun of the day’s activity and support a great cause. Huge contributions came from the events Gold sponsors; LinkedIn, Val Morgan, ROKT, Exponential and Pedestrian TV. Not to mention the combined effort of the staff and all other Silver and Bronze sponsors that made SPARK such a success. The agency is expecting to see more sponsors wanting to jump on board this year.

Richard Crapp, people & culture director at Match Media said, “We put people first at Match and alongside this take our responsibility to the broader community with great importance.

Our Spark initiative runs throughout the year, it encourages collaboration across the agency and embodies our company values whilst having lots of fun along the way.”