Supporting our communities, staff & environment

Groundsure takes its corporate social responsibility (CSR) very seriously. So much so that we have undertaken an organisation-wide review and acceleration of its already long tradition of giving and community support.

As well as reporting on environmental risk, we are also passionate about our collective impact on the environment and how vulnerable communities and causes can be better supported at both a local level to our teams and on a national and international basis.

Since 2016 Groundsure has worked together with HOT Mapping, otherwise known as Humanitarian
OpenStreetMap Team – an international team dedicated to humanitarian action and community
development through open mapping.

This provides map data to revolutionise disaster management, reduce risk and aid recovery methods,
through creating maps, making recovery efforts possible in many remote or disaster-stricken areas
around the globe. Each month, a Groundsure team maps areas previously unknown that helps shine a
light on communities that need access to aid and infrastructure.

We’ve dedicated over 1,000 hours and worked on tasks for multiple Red Cross divisions, the National
Centre for Disaster Prevention as well as local OpenStreetMap teams. Notable sessions include:

2016 – Haiti – Hurricane Matthew
2017 – Puerto Rico – Hurricane Maria
2019 – Papua New Guinea – Disaster risk reduction for volcanoes
2023 – Turkey – 7.8 magnitude earthquake
2023 – Morocco earthquake

We have hosted an annual charity golf day since 2016, pausing only for the pandemic, to support and
also remember a great industry friend and colleague, Peter Sowerby, who unfortunately lost his fight
against Prostate Cancer in 2018.

Each year, teams from across the conveyancing and property data industries, competitors and
collaborators, come together to raise money, generate awareness and support early detection to reduce
the impact of the highest cause of cancer deaths among men.

In 2022, we expanded the reach of the event to also include Breast Cancer UK. Year on year, the event
grows in numbers and contributions to these two vital causes, with the total exceeding some £64,000
and counting.

We are proud of our enduring connection to our Cornish community. Our mining searches and ground investigations team have been providing support for homebuyers and businesses for over 40 years.

But we also recognise some of the special challenges that these often marginalised communities continue to face. The town of Camborne, close to our office, has had its fair share of industrial decline, following the closure of tin mining that made the town prosperous. Inland from the tourist resorts it has been frequently overlooked but perhaps represents the most authentic spirit of Cornwall.

We passionately believe in supporting the town in its ambition to grow and thrive again and do this
through our direct connection with Camborne Rugby Club. A successful and well supported local club, it
is the pride of the local community. We initially sponsored the youth development team to give them a
sense of focus and purpose over and above what they gain from education. Our support has led them to
win their league and the cup in its first season as they played for the shirt and their town.

At the same time, the senior first XV has been promoted to the Western Premier League, the fifth tier in
the pyramid and we are now shirt sponsors – deepening our relationship and sharing in the pride and
spirit of Camborne as it now travels further afield to greater glories.

Education, particularly for more vulnerable or special needs children, has also been an important
focus for us. Our Chief Operating Officer Malcolm Smith is a trustee of two specialist arts colleges –
Great Oaks School and Rosewood Free School, both schools for young people with complex learning
difficulties. When we moved offices we donated all our old furniture and technology to these schools
which have helped with their growing numbers of pupils and have been used to set up new
workstations, offices, a meeting room and parents room.

In 2023, we also became corporate partners of the South Downs National Park, which has been on our
doorstep since our inception in 2001. A vital green lung for our home city of Brighton, but also an
ancient and beautiful part of our landscape heritage nationally. Part of this is conserving and protecting
that landscape and the Park is a key part of our company volunteering day programme.

We provide all of our people with a Volunteer Day per year to use how they want for either our
nominated charities or those close to their heart. This year, these have included spending time
hedgerow planting for Sussex Flow, golfing for the Rockinghorse Charity, clearing shrubland at Seven
Sisters Country Park and helping out at Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare.

We also match funds when our people are out raising money for their own chosen charities. This year
alone, our people have run 50 km in February for Mind, taken part in multiple Race for Life events for
Cancer Research UK, ran half marathons for Cornwall Air Ambulance and mountain bike 100 miles for
Prostate Cancer UK.

And if there is anything left over, we ask our people where the remainder of our dedicated charity pot
should go. At the end of our 2023 financial year (June 2023) we split the remainder of the pot amongst
a wealth of charities:

Our Commitment to the Community

Our North Star is helping individuals and businesses with advice to make sustainable decisions, both for
long term peace of mind and in how we co-exist with our changing climate. This means more than just
our core business, this is a deep-rooted commitment to our wider communities, protecting vulnerable
members of our society and providing a culture of giving. For all these reasons and more, we are close
to becoming B-Corp certified at the time of writing – a testament to our passion and drive to make a
difference in an uncertain world.