Flex office operator, Cubo, has thrown its support behind a campaign aimed at transforming children’s lives through the joy of reading – and has launched its own fundraising campaign aimed at encouraging members and businesses to ‘Gift a Child a Book at Christmas.’
The company, which has nine sites across the UK including two workspaces in Nottingham and one in Derby, has adopted Bookmark Reading Charity as its annual charity for 2024 and is encouraging donations from Cubo members and the wider business community to provide books to children across the area.
Recent SATs results from July 2023 have revealed that one in four children leave primary school without the ability to read proficiently. In addition, the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers has reached its widest point in a decade (FEA, 2022).
Bookmark was founded by Sharon Pindar in 2018 and aims to change children’s life stories through the joy of reading.
A data driven, impact-focused charity, Bookmark works with children who face barriers to becoming readers by providing one-to-one reading programmes, both online and in person.
The charity also equips schools with dedicated resources to offer wraparound support, providing diverse, high-quality books, materials for extracurricular reading, and on-going support for teacher training and development.
As part of its mission, Bookmark aims to deliver 50,741 one-to-one reading sessions to children over the next year. This time, when scheduled back-to-back equates to three years of non-stop reading. The charity also aims to send out thousands of books and reading resources to children across the country, putting them directly into the hands of children who need them most.
Commenting on their partnership with Bookmark, Rebecca Brough, CMO at Cubo, said: “We’re thrilled to announce Bookmark as our annual charity for 2024 and are really excited to be launching our ‘Gift a Child a Book at Christmas’ fundraising campaign.
“We believe that access to books is fundamental to a child’s development, and through our partnership with Sharon and her team at Bookmark, we hope to make a difference to the lives of young readers.
“All our management team have young families and share Bookmark’s passion for fostering a love for reading and providing vital resources to children in need.
“We hope Cubo members, and the wider business community will support our Christmas campaign and the other exciting initiatives we have planned for 2024.”
Sharon Pindar, Founder & Chair of Trustees at Bookmark, added: “We are delighted to be partnering with Cubo as their chosen 2024 Charity of the Year and for the very special ‘Gift a Child a Book at Christmas’ campaign.
“With recent research from the National Literacy Trust showing that almost a million children and young people do not have a book of their own, it is more important than ever to fill this resource gap. This is vital to ensure that children have the tools they need to become confident and joyful readers.
“Giving a child a book is a gift that will last a lifetime and can be the spark that is needed to ignite the joy of reading.
“Thank you to the team at Cubo for supporting Bookmark’s mission. We look forward to working with you throughout the year!”
To donate to Cubo’s Gift a child a book this Christmas’ appeal, visit bit.ly/Donate-cubo.
