Environmental
36%
Our Growing Community of Ambassadors
Swire Properties strives to take a leading role in creating positive community impacts, and our people are vital to creating connections with our communities. The Company encourages our employees to actively “give back” to the community with a spirit of philanthropy and volunteerism.
The Swire Properties Community Ambassador programme unites our families and friends, Swire retirees, our business partners, office workers at our managed portfolios, our customers, and the service users of our charity partners in the spirit of giving. Together, we create sustainable value through innovative programmes that enrich people’s lives and whole communities.
The ever-growing Community Ambassador network works through our Hong Kong, Chinese Mainland and Miami developments. Programmes focus on creating positive impacts through placemaking, youth development, social inclusion, community-building and sustainable development.
We also provide tangible benefits to our Community Ambassadors. For every 10 hours of voluntary service completed, our employees are eligible to receive one extra day of leave, capped at two days per year.
Community Ambassador Programme Volunteer Hours, by focus area
48
2,185
7,544
Community Investments and Contributions in 2023
HKD39million
HKD9.9million
BOOKS FOR LOVE @ $10 Raises a New Record and Expands to Miami
BOOKS FOR LOVE @ $10, one of Swire Properties’ largest and most popular annual community outreach events, achieved a new milestone in 2023. In February, over 6,000 Community Ambassadors and other dedicated volunteers sorted through more than 250,000 books donated from across the city in preparation for two book sale events that took place in March and April. The online sale ran throughout March, offering 10,000+ Chinese and English second-hand books for children and young adults. The physical book sale was held at Taikoo Place on the last two weekends of April and attracted over 40,000 visitors.
The 2023 edition of Book for Love @ $10 brought in even more funds than 2022’s record-breaking event, raising HKD1,147,950 for our longstanding NGO partners. The initiative also won the Excellence in Construction Industry Volunteering Project Gold Award at the Sixth Construction Industry Volunteer Awards in July 2023.
Inspired by BOOKS FOR LOVE @$10, Brickell City Centre in Miami held its own charity book event – a “Reverse Book Fair”. This multi-day event in late July at the Centre’s Garden Deck gathered the community in a book donation drive, collecting a total of 1,500 books. These were then sorted and categorised by our Community Ambassadors and donated through various partner organisations to public schools and underprivileged families in Miami.
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Community Ambassadors’ 2023 Hong Kong Volunteering Initiatives
Community Ambassadors' activities in Hong Kong focus on youth development, social inclusion, community-building, and supporting the elderly. In 2022, our Community Ambassadors’ efforts won the Outstanding Volunteering Group Award at the Hong Kong Volunteer Awards organised by the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau and Agency for Volunteer Service, with the award presented in 2023. This year’s Community Ambassador activities included:
My Construction Hero
This youth engagement initiative provides an eye-opening opportunity for youngsters to explore various construction and engineering topics. This year, they learned about Swire Properties’ pioneering green building technology, the importance of health and safety, and how these are put to work in our buildings.
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BOXFUL OF LOVE
This festive-themed initiative invited staff and their families to prepare a Christmas gift box and fill it with toys, stationery and other items to spread love and happiness to children in need. The programme came back for the second year and received extensive support from our office and retail tenants. In 2023, more than 200 Christmas gift boxes were collected for the children in need and distributed via our NGO partners in the festive season.
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“Together We Care for Stroke” Exhibition
In October, in partnership with HKU Stroke, The Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation and The Hong Kong Stroke Association, the Community Ambassador team hosted this three-day exhibition to raise awareness about stroke prevention and wellbeing. The exhibition provided free health check-ups and consultations to the public and gained strong support from the community. The exhibition was part of the ongoing Community Ambassador efforts to raise awareness and enhance understanding of the importance of caregivers in our community.
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Swire Support Station at Oxfam Trailwalker
In February and November, Ambassadors once again staffed a 48-hour Swire Support Station at the Oxfam Trailwalker event. This stop is now a famous highlight for the participants – walkers can recharge with hot dogs, soda, a variety of hot drinks and fruit before continuing their 100km walking challenge. This year, our Ambassadors served almost 6,000 walkers.
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Community Ambassador Activities in Quarryside
In 2023, our Community Ambassadors hosted a few activities at the newly open Quarryside. In partnership with the Hong Kong Red Cross, a first-aid training was offered for our Community Ambassadors in July, and a community workshop was extended to our NGO partners in September.
In December, the CA team held the “LITTLE FASHION FOR LOVE” in Quarryside for the first year, in partnership with Quarryside and St. James’ Settlement’s social enterprise Green Little, to support their mission to promote sustainable fashion, environmental education and female empowerment. Over 400 volunteers participated in the pre-loved kids wear collection campaign, pre-event Christmas activities, three-day sorting tasks, and the charity sale and Fun Day operations, attracting over 4,000 visitors to this harbourfront community space.
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Community Ambassador Volunteering Initiatives in the Chinese Mainland
Walk for Love
Organised by a provider of volunteer services for companies in the Foreign Enterprise Service Corporation system, the “Walk for Love” event has become Beijing’s largest charity walk for enterprise volunteers, supporting the healthy growth of disadvantaged rural and urban children since its launch in 2012.
The 2023 Walk for Love began in April with a 5km charity walk at Beijing Olympic Forest Park, with 90 Ambassadors participating. This was followed by online charity walks in July and August that attracted 836 Community Ambassadors from 12 business units. The two parts of Walk for Love raised RMB50,000, that was used to purchase 562 personal hygiene kits for boarding students at a primary school in Qinghai Province. In late August, 15 Ambassadors in Beijing packed over 4,000 healthcare items into the packs, preparing them for delivery to the children before school started in September.
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Helping Guide Dogs Move to a New Home
On 19 August, Taikoo Hui Guangzhou organised a Community Ambassadors activity to help guide dogs move to a new home. Thirty-three Ambassadors and their families helped the Guangzhou Guide Dog School move to new location and attended an interactive workshop where they learned how guide dogs improve the quality of life for visually impaired people. The event not only provided support to the school, but also raised awareness about guide dogs in Guangzhou and advanced social inclusion in the city.
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Love My Neighbour
In July and August, Community Ambassadors in Beijing supported the “Love My Neighbour” programme to help children with special needs. The “One Hug” initiative helps children with neurodevelopmental disorders keep up with school and community life by providing direct assistance, educational classes and activities to encourage understanding and care. The programme aims to promote inclusivity and acceptance by fostering a supportive environment at home, at school and in the community.
In October, a family-friendly sports day was hosted for children with special needs and Ambassador families at a Beijing park to further deepen understanding between the children, their families and the community.
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Together We Save the Mudflat!
On 11 March, 58 Community Ambassadors from Taikoo Hui Guangzhou and their families got together to continue the nature-based Arbor Day volunteer action that began last year. This year’s activity focused on clearing a waterway in Panyu District to help restore the nearby mudflat – an important aquatic ecosystem and habitat. The team collected about 55kg of recyclable waste and 75kg of non-recyclable waste during the hour-long activity.
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“Helping the Youth, Harmony in Diversity”
After a three-year pause due to the pandemic, our cross-city Community Ambassador team, made up of 33 members from Hong Kong and cities across the Chinese Mainland, gathered in Chengdu to participate in the four-day “Helping the Youth, Harmony in Diversity” programme. Divided into groups, the team provided volunteer services and workshops tailored to the needs of 11 university students from the Yi ethnic group, 20 individuals recovering from mental illnesses, 40 rural children, and 60 students from a non-profit vocational school. One day of activities was held at the Sichuan Community Centre where the team put on workshops – that included drawing, handicraft making, sports, and English classes.
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One Egg Charity Project
HKRI Taikoo Hui continued its cooperation with the Shanghai United Foundation for the fourth year of the One Egg charity project in the winter of 2023. HKRI Taikoo Hui made a donation equal to the value of a school year’s supply of eggs to children in remote areas (about RMB60,000), to encourage their growth and health and demonstrate our care for the next generation. The programme won the Shanghai United Foundation’s Long-term Public Charity Award in 2022.
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