Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
This weekend (July 21) Waitrose celebrates the fifth anniversary of its ‘Community Matters’ scheme.
To mark the occasion, the upmarket grocery chain has released figures showing how much money it has donated to local good causes – and has called for more charities and community groups near its shops to get in touch.
A total of £14 million has been donated by Waitrose since 2008, which has benefited 40,000 local good causes and charities across the UK and Channel Islands.
These have included homelessness charities, wildlife charities, hospices, schools, local theatre groups and regeneration projects.
Every month each Waitrose shop donates £1,000 to three local good causes (£500 in Little Waitrose shops). Customers vote for the share that each charity receives by dropping a green token into one of three transparent ‘towers’, each marked with the relevant organisation’s name.
In addition to this, online customers choose between three national charities, to which Waitrose donates a further £100,000 a year.
Waitrose Sustainability and Ethical Sourcing Manager Tina Varns said: “Our Community Matters initiative has brought our shops much closer to the needs of the local community, and our customers tell us they really appreciate a say in where we donate our charitable giving.
‘We’re always looking for more good causes to support through the scheme, so customers who know about a good cause – or charities themselves – should pop in to their local Waitrose and complete a nomination form.”
