Why Citizenship at Edelman matters to me

My first experience of Citizenship took place at our London offices in Haymarket in 2005. We held a session with a group of charities to provide advice on how to improve their comms. Colleagues across the office were paired with representatives from these causes.

My client was Impact, a gun and knife crime charity that ran outreach programmes to help at-risk teenagers.

I remember my nerves ahead of meeting them. I was an account manager. The vast portion of my career had been spent working with technology companies. With little expertise and experience beyond this, how was I going to offer value to such an important cause?        

But it’s sometimes easy to forget how much value there is in our seemingly everyday work. Bringing even a fraction of this knowledge to organisations that lack these resources is not only rewarding but empowering. In addition to guiding them on the basics such as a good press list and strong media pitch, it forces you to think more strategically and creatively about what will really drive the most benefit.

Working with Impact helped me appreciate the skills I had developed, increase the confidence in my counsel and see purpose in our work as communicators. The experience was inspiring. Not long afterwards, I was given the opportunity to explore how the then London Tech team could engage clients in a conversation about social purpose. Through Impact I learnt that in order to do good, and be good, you’ve got to see good.

Forward to today, and I’m fortunate enough to see and be a part of the purpose conversation taking place globally across our Edelman offices. Learn how our volunteering and pro bono work is fuelled by community grants, training programmes and a growing collective of purpose experts who are also counselling our clients.

I get to see the amazing strides being made in our sustainability programmes.

So many people go above and beyond in their commitment to Citizenship at Edelman. And through their work I find new ways to engage my clients in a conversation about social purpose, trust, creativity and all the things that matter to us.

Sat Dayal is an Executive Director and Head of Diversity & Inclusion at Edelman UK 

Take a look at our charity partner, Media Trust's guide to volunteering here.