Hello! My name is Fauziya, and I'm the Community Engagement Advisor at Autotrader - in short, I work with the wonderful charities that we partner with and help lead one of our internal Employee Networks, which is called the Make a Difference Network. We focus on supporting and having impact in our local communities - which reach far and wide.

As you'll learn from this blog, there's strands of the network that positively impact our communities throughout all four of our UK based offices.

The Make a Difference Network is made up of four different areas:

• Payroll Giving - the tax-efficient way for our colleagues to give to charity on a monthly basis. Autotrader also matches donations of up to £5 per month, so the charity gets even more money!

• Volunteering - Everyone at Autotrader is given two days, per year, to volunteer. This could be as a team, individually and can either be skills- or field-based activities.

• Sponsorships - if a colleague is fundraising for a charity, a sports team requests a kit, or an external Partner is fundraising, we offer match donations!

• Community Funds - we contribute towards Community funds surrounding our four UK based offices.

In 2025, we're celebrating 10 Years of Making a Difference to our local communities.

Here's some stats that we're really proud of:

With over 300+ Sports teams supported with kit, over £2 million donated to charity, and 300,000+ people in Greater Manchester positively impacted through our community fund with Forever Manchester... We have some big numbers - but what does this really mean for our communities?

What does Making a Difference mean to us?

We love data because it helps show the great things our colleagues do. But we're always keen to learn how our skills make a real difference for the charities we support, in all the ways mentioned above. For us, making a donation is just the start — the real impact comes from the lasting change we help create.

For example, volunteering doesn't always mean physical work - a lot can be done with skills-based activities, such as school-outreach, where colleagues from across the business talking about their career journey paths to children from local schools. From our Resourcing team providing services such as CV building and interview skills, to our Product and Technology community helping with the 'This Girl Is Me' initiative by Automotive 30% club through mentoring at schools. This initiative helps break down misconceptions of roles in the Automotive Industry, providing real insight into working in tech and automotive.

Our Community funds are split between our four offices - Manchester, London, Hemel Hempstead and Southampton. These funds support charities and community groups in the areas that we operate in and help us to understand the diversity of support needed in different areas.

But, there's more! We also have Sponsorships, which are split into three areas: Partner, Sports and Employee. This is for our colleagues that make (literal) waves to raise money for charity, which we support by match-funding those efforts. Our Partners are important to us and to the communities they serve, so any charity they are fundraising for, we love to support with. Sports Sponsorships are generally for funding kits relating to our colleague's family members - getting fresh kit every year is always a plus!

Every year we hold annual Make A Difference Christmas parties in partnership with Forever Manchester and the Saint Pancras Community Association, who are based near our London office. These parties bring together elderly members of our community who we absolutely love getting to know. The festive celebration if filled with Christmas dinners, entertainment, and lots of Baileys!!!

Here's a quote from one of the attendees about the annual Make A Difference Christmas party:

'Did not get the chance to send you an email yesterday but hopefully I can put "pen to paper" as such to tell you once again a huge thank you for your hospitality on the day in question. It was certainly a memorable day, and renewed my faith in humanity, the young people who looked after us were wonderful to say the least, you are very good at your job and your company is a credit.'

Through our four areas of the Network, we have a blended approach to engaging with the charities that mean a lot to us both individually and in our teams.

Here is a reflection from our colleagues in our Partnerships community about their volunteering day at MENCAP:

'...We also took part in a variety of group activities. Everyone at Mencap, the staff and the members, was incredibly friendly and welcoming. We were encouraged to join groups based on our interests. I chose to help build a hanging basket for the community, which I thoroughly enjoyed!

But it wasn't just about the activities, it was also about the conversations and the genuine interactions we had with everyone there! I think we all agree that the day wasn't just enjoyable, but also truly meaningful and educational.'

We've recently been working closely with Forever Manchester on supporting initiatives that help Digital Inclusion. We have funded four charities across Greater Manchester to support them in improving access to Digital Inclusion in their areas. We have also supported the Greater Manchester Green Spaces project since 2023, providing funds to create and improve green spaces to communities - helping towards our commitment to sustainability, by Putting the Brakes on Carbon.

Whilst writing this blog, I've had time to really reflect on the last 10 Years of Making a Difference. I'd love to extend to everyone who has been involved with Make a Difference, a massive thank you for your time, expertise and selflessness - you really action all of our company values in different ways - in particular, our Community value.

Whether you've been a member of the network in some way, worked through logistics of volunteering or fundraising, liaising with charities, or simply spreading the joy of working together on this, thank you. Of course, our charity partners are so important to us and the communities they represent - we wouldn't be able to get to where we are without great collaboration, and great conversations.

Together, we've achieved so much, and we're so proud. The work we do really helps us Drive Change Together, Responsibly.