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Transco Grassroots
Transco came to Kallaway to develop ideas
that would help the company demonstrate
its commitment to protecting the environment,
its desire to work closely with communities
and its support for education.
To help Transco achieve these goals, Kallaway
created and implemented Grassroots, an environmental
sponsorship programme that offered £100,000
per annum to secondary schools, community
groups and charities for environmental projects.
Kallaway promoted the scheme nationwide,
among special interest groups, councils
and MPs and secured regional, national and
specialist press coverage.
The scheme encouraged applicants to review
their local environment and propose strategies
for improving it. Transco awarded funds
to those schools, community groups and organisations
that would bring people together to improve
their environment.
Proposed projects were judged by an independent
panel made up of educators and environmentalists
and chaired by Bill Oddie. Between forty
and fifty awards – ranging from £250
to £25,000 – were made each year.
Projects ranged from planting 29,000 trees
in the Scottish Highlands through to clearing
rubbish from waterways to return them to
community use. All the projects provided
practical opportunities for stakeholders
to learn about global environmental issues
through tackling and examining such issues
on a local level. The scheme enabled physical
interaction with the environment and provided
a focus for community involvement across
age groups and backgrounds.
Grassroots proved to be Transco’s most
successful community initiative. The activity
provided a platform that enabled the Transco
to communicate directly with its target
audiences. In 2000, independent research
found Grassroots to be among the top five
environmental schemes operated by a company.
In the same year, the scheme accounted for
more than half the company’s positive
media coverage.
Over the ten years of the project the interest
from schools and other groups grew to a
database of 4,600 organisations which received
Transco Grassroots information every year.
Over 75 per cent of MPs invited attended
constituency based activity and, since 1996,
220 schools received awards totalling £500,000
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