5 Scottish SMEs – Contract Scotland Ltd., a recruitment consultancy based in Stirling; Design Links, a communications agency from Leith; Heart of Midlothian Football Club; Rangers Football Club and The Town House Company, the boutique hotel group were amongst a pioneering group of 21 UK businesses to be awarded the CommunityMark at Business in the Community’s Awards for Excellence Gala Dinner at the Royal Albert Hall, London last night. Please scroll down for case studies on each Scottish winner.

Colin Atkinson of Rangers Football Club, Colin Woodward of Contract Scotland Ltd., Mike Stevenson of Design Links Ltd., Vladimir Romanov of Heart of Midlothian Football Club and Peter Taylor of The Town House Collection collecting their CommunityMark awards at 10 Downing Street.

The CommunityMark is a new national standard that publicly recognises companies that are the best investors in their communities. Successful CommunityMark companies have passed a rigorous, independent assessment including scrutiny by their employees and community partners. In one year alone, the 21 CommunityMark companies invested almost £600 million in the community through employee time, funding and other contributions.

Shortly before the awards dinner, the CommunityMark was unveiled to ministers and business leaders at 10 Downing Street. John Denham, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, said: “The skills, strengths and sustainability of British business have never been so important to society. If the CommunityMark helps to bring about more effective partnerships between business and community groups, it holds out tremendous potential to deliver long-term sustainable solutions that will benefit us all.”

Samantha Barber, Chief Executive of Scottish Business in the Community, offered her congratulations: “It’s fantastic that 5 Scottish SMEs have achieved the CommunityMark. They are in the illustrious company of many FTSE-100 plc’s who have far greater resources at their disposal. It shows that if you are for and of your community you can punch above your weight on the UK stage. We look forward to working with our sister charity Business in the Community to support more businesses to achieve the CommunityMark standard.”

The trailblazing national mark was developed by Business in the Community with the support of companies, public and voluntary sector bodies, and was designed to be challenging and relevant to all concerned.  The CommunityMark is endorsed by government and the voluntary sector, and supported in Scotland by Scottish Business in the Community, the business-led charity which shares its president with Business in the Community - HRH the Prince of Wales, Duke of Rothesay.

The 21 pioneering businesses with the CommunityMark are: The Town House Company, Rangers Football Club, Heart of Midlothian Football Club, Design Links Ltd., Contract Scotland Ltd., BT, GlaxoSmithKline, HBOS, KPMG, M&S, PricewaterHouseCoopers, RWE Npower, Tesco, Zurich, Ernst & Young, Barclays, Deloitte, J. Sainsbury PLC, Axis, Blackburn Rovers Football Club and Elementus.

If you would like to get involved the CommunityMark programme, details will be published on this webpage when it opens for entry in September. Please bookmark this page and email the Programme Manager to register your interest.