Community - Pipster Solutions

Charity of the year

Pipster Solutions selects a charity to support each year. In 2024 it is Dorothy House Hospice, a Wiltshire based charity, set up to help anyone facing a life-limiting illness and support their families. They provide an inpatient unit for palliative care, support for ‘hospice at home’, a community palliative care team, a 24/7 advice line, and lots of support sessions on how to deal with illness, prepare for death, bereavement, and grief. Pipster has helped to raise valuable funds this year through participation in the Bath 10k Midnight Walk, the Frome 10k run, the Avon Big Paddle and the 5K Winsley Paws in the Park.

The Dorothy House Event Organiser said: “Thank you SO much for taking part in the Midnight Walk on Saturday.  What a legend!  From the bottom of our hearts, we can’t thank you enough for your amazing spirit, good humour, enthusiastic walking and sheer fabulousness.  We loved how up for it you were!”

Social value

At Pipster, as part of our commitment towards social value, our team are provided one paid day annually to volunteer towards a charitable organisation or cause of their choice.

Bid Writer Sajia chose to support her local school – The King Alfred School Academy in Burnham on Sea to conduct mock interviews for 250 Year 10 and 12 students. The event provided students the opportunity to meet potential future employers, practice their interviewing skills, increase their confidence, and receive constructive feedback to help them prepare for their future careers. Sajia witnessed how ambitious, eager to learn, and motivated the students were, and strongly encourages others to join in supporting initiatives like this, empowering students to enhance their readiness for the future and thrive in their chosen careers.

Volunteering

Jo Brassington, Catherine Pattinson and Hannah Thorne decided to take their volunteering day at Dorothy House Hospice in Winsley – our chosen company charity for 2024. The team spent the day working in the hospice garden space to clear vegetation and help prepare for a charity outdoor event later in the year.

The Dorothy House Community and Events Fundraiser said: “It was such a pleasure to see you all, thank you so much again for lending your time and getting through a literal mountain of work for us, it’s a huge help and we’re very grateful to you!”

Internship

In 2021, Pipster launched its first internship focused on human resources, marketing and business development. Three interns were hired over the summer to give them valuable work experience following their university degrees, and to help Pipster create a digital employee handbook, a marketing plan and business processes. One intern (Sajia) later became interested in the bidding profession and secured a bid coordinator role at Pipster taking on the Bid and Proposal Coordinator Apprenticeship and is now a flourishing Bid Writer. Following the success of this initial internship, Sajia decided that she would like to create and lead a specific intern programme to attract and promote the bidding career, this is an industry first programme and is proudly launching later in 2024 as the Pipster Bid Writer Insight Programme. Insight will promote bidding as a conscious career choice, aimed at young people new to the profession, those uncertain about what it involves and those considering an industry apprenticeship.

Mentoring programme

Pippa has been a proud member of the APMP UK Rapport Mentoring Programme since its creation in 2020. To take part, Pippa trained to achieve the Mentoring Level 3 standard and joined the very first cohort to roll out the programme. In this time, she has worked with five mentees on a one to one basis to promote confidence, increased engagement, personal and professional growth and career direction. Helping individuals to be the best they can be and providing a platform to help achieve aspirations is celebrated by Pippa who is extremely dedicated to promoting the bidding career and using her understanding to help others.

One mentee said, “My mentor has really opened my eyes to different ways of thinking and unlocked an element of professional and personal development that I lacked beforehand. I have gained confidence in my ability to do my job, broaden my network, better understanding of the career options available in the bidding industry.”

Bidding community

During the pandemic, Pippa helped to develop a new bidding community initiative, Thursday Throng. At a time when working from home was the norm, and feelings of isolation were increased this weekly online lunch hour provided much needed company, conversation and relief amongst bidding professionals. Over the years it has provided a safe space, friendship, humour and an understanding of the life of a bid writer, bringing people together and discussing relevant work and non-work related topics. In 2024 the first in-person Thursday Throng meet up was organised in Bath, a successful social gathering which we hope to replicate annually.

In addition, Pippa also created BidBites – a monthly online session focused on niche bidding topics, where experience and opinions are shared with industry peers to create informative articles which are posted on LinkedIn to share the knowledge within the bidding community. Topics have included social value, portals, public procurement notices, storyboarding, AI, bidding ethics and time management.

STEM

Pippa and Jo have both registered to become STEM Ambassadors through the Mineral Matters initiative, helping to promote education and careers in highways, construction, quarrying and engineering to school children based in the south west. As Ambassadors, they will volunteer time to plan and present interesting and educational activities at schools, to excite young people on available STEM careers and advise teachers on suitable routes to gaining experience and qualifications. Inspiring young people to engage in these under promoted and understood subjects will help to bridge the skills gap and build the UK’s economic future.

Enterprise Advisor

Pippa has signed up to become an Enterprise Advisor through the Somerset Careers Hub and the Careers & Enterprise Company. She has been paired with Oakfield Middle School in Frome to share her knowledge and experience with teachers and students about entry level positions, future job roles in the bidding sector, skills needed, career pathways, linked school subjects, and available apprenticeships. Pippa will use this opportunity to promote bidding as an intentional career path.

Sponsorship

Pipster was inspired by a local student of the Clarendon Academy, Wiltshire when she announced that she wanted to travel to the Borneo jungle to take part in community development work and assist with environmental projects. To help her get to Borneo, Pipster agreed to be a lead sponsor to start her fundraising journey, donating £500 to get her started. She is currently planning her expedition and is taking part in events to generate additional donations ready for travelling in 2025.

Chloe said: “I am so grateful…. when I saw your reply my face dropped I was honestly shocked! Thank you so much for this, this means everything and makes me believe even more I can do this so thank you.”

Sands sponsorship

Pippa actively supports the Sands baby loss and stillbirth charity which was set up to support bereaved families and save babies’ lives. Through monthly donations and participation in charity events, Pippa helps to raise much needed funds to ensure that the charity can continue to help families and reduce the number of baby deaths. This charity holds personal importance to Pippa, who lost her first child to stillbirth in 2006. Sands helped Pippa through this incredibly difficult time and continues to show great appreciation for her ongoing fundraising activities. In 2023 Pippa took part in the Santorini Circuit – a 60km race around the island on foot and by kayak, raising £3,700.

The Sands Community Engagement and Supporter Events Officer said: “We wanted to take this opportunity to once again thank you for embarking on this fundraising journey in aid of Sands. We honestly couldn’t do what we do without the help of our amazing supporters like you.”