Charity Partnership
Charity Partnership 2026/2027 – Applications now open!
At Edinburgh Airport, we realise a sustainable future is for the Greater Good.
Working towards this "Greater Good” will ensure we are caring for our planet, for our friends and family, and for the communities that we serve.
Edinburgh Airport is committed to supporting change in our local communities – change that will benefit future generations and improve lives in the present.
As part of this commitment, we want to be a Trusted Neighbour. A neighbour that collaborates with and supports our local communities. A neighbour that shares business success with those that need it. A neighbour that invests resources in programmes and projects that benefits the many.
One of the ways we do this, is through our charity partnership.
Every two years, we select a charity and help raise funds and awareness for their cause. By focusing on one charity over a two-year period, we hope to maximise the impact we make, and deepen the level of collaboration we can achieve. Our partnerships are a true collaboration, not just a simple donation. Skill sharing, volunteering, fundraising, awareness building, integration, and much more, are all part and parcel.
The initiative has been running since 2012 to great success. It has brought myriad benefits to our business by engaging staff in a collective effort for the benefit of our wider community. In 2020, the two-year model was adopted to generate even greater impact for our Charity Partner.
Application criteria
As part of our commitment to supporting local communities, we accept applications from those based and operating in Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife, and Falkirk.
We are particularly keen to hear from charities that deliver services that support or align with the four pillars of our sustainability strategy:
Zero Carbon – charities that are seeking solutions to climate change and helping in our journey towards net zero.
Enhancing Scotland - charities working to improve local biodiversity, tackle waste, clean our water, or enrich local economies.
Scotland’s Best Business - charities that help people into employment, benefit mental and physical wellbeing, or support disenfranchised groups.
Trusted Neighbour – charities that build, enrich, or serve our communities.
Full details of the Greater Good can be found here (Opens in a new tab).
Expectations
Perhaps most importantly, we are looking for an engaged and active partner. A partner that will allow us to share our skills and knowledge and that will do the same in return. Joint fundraising events, volunteering opportunities, cross-skilling collaborations, social media collaboration and active engagement will allow both parties to get the most from this opportunity and will be a key consideration during the selection process.
Due to the scale of our programme and the capacity required for an effective delivery, we’re currently only able to partner with organisations that have the resources and processes to facilitate an engaged partnership. Therefore, this may not be the correct opportunity for micro-charities where, instead, our Community Fund (Opens in a new tab) might be more beneficial.
Criteria charities must meet:
Must be a registered charity.
Registered address must be in Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife, or Falkirk.
Provide services in at least one of the areas listed above.
Support our commitments in one or more of the four pillars of our Greater Good sustainability strategy.
Have a turnover of less than £5million per annum.
Have resource to dedicate a touch point or contact person throughout the length of the partnership.
Criteria that would be desirable to meet:
Cross-skilling opportunities.
Volunteering opportunities for Edinburgh Airport staff.
Experience partnering with other corporate organisations.
Opportunities for social media campaign collaborations.
Application process
The application process starts with filling in the form linked at the bottom of this page.
This is then reviewed by our team who ensure that the applications have met the relevant criteria. Our Charity Employee Engagement Group then shortlists the applications, with a selection going on to the final vote among the wider Edinburgh Airport staff. The charity with the most votes then becomes our newest charity partner (following any legal and financial checks).
Timeline
September – Applications open
23:59 Thursday 2nd October – Applications close
Friday 10th October – Shortlisted applicants notified
W/C 3rd November – EDI staff voting opens
W/C 24th November - EDI staff voting closes
Friday 28th November - Successful (and unsuccessful) charities informed
For charities that are shortlisted on the 10th of October, we will ask you to provide the following ahead of the staff vote opening on the 3rd of November:
Charity logo (high resolution).
Single shot, unedited, pitch to camera (90 seconds max). This is to ensure fairness across all applications.
200-400 word pitch to our staff on why your organisation would be a great partner for Edinburgh Airport.
What we do
We work closely with our charity partner to help create a calendar of events and activities for our staff to get involved in.
From skydiving to abseiling; running to cycling; baking to quizzing; and much more. Our people and teams also get their heads together to come up with innovative and creative ways to raise money. On campus, our foreign coin collection is reserved solely for our charity partner, and we have many other perks and gifts in kind that are donated throughout the years.
We don’t only raise funds; we raise awareness of our charity partners too. Helping to put them in the spotlight across our campus, the city, in the media, and online.
This year we want our partnership to be even deeper, more bespoke, and more meaningful than ever. We will be looking for more ways to mutually share skills and expertise and want our charity partner to be involved in engaging our EDI family. We also offer all our staff 2 days of volunteering leave per year, so are hoping our charity partner can provide meaningful opportunities for staff to get stuck in and making a difference.
To make the application process as straight forward as possible, we’ve pulled together our Frequently Asked Questions. If you still have a question that you don’t see here, please email [email protected] and we’ll do our best to find you the answer.
Edinburgh Children's Hospital Charity - Our Charity Partner
Edinburgh Airport's official charity partner for 2024 and 2025 is Edinburgh Children's Hospital Charity (ECHC) (Opens in a new tab).
The charity supports the life-changing work of Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Children and Young People (RHCYP). It helps support seriously ill babies, children, young people and families from the moment they begin their hospital journey.
More than 60 fantastic charities and organisations initially put themselves forward to be the airport's next charity partner when applications opened in October 2023, and ECHC was successful following a vote among airport staff.
Priority was given to charities that support or align with the four pillars of Greater Good, the airport’s sustainability strategy - Zero Carbon; Enhancing Scotland; Scotland’s Best Business; and Trusted Neighbour.
Throughout 2022 and 2023 the airport had been collaborating with West Lothian-based charity The Larder, providing almost £170,000 worth of support throughout the partnership.