More community groups to receive funding from Tesco’s £24m bag charge fund
Howard Lake | 28 November 2016 | News
Supermarket Tesco is changing the way it distributes funding from its Bags of Help initiative. It will give many more charities and groups the chance to share in the £24 million it distributes from the income it receives from charging for plastic bags.
From 1 December 2016 Tesco’s Bags of Help initiative will invite customers to vote for their favourite community projects every month. Until now the awards programme has been run every nine months.
From 1 December Tesco customers will decide on a monthly basis which groups get grants of up to £5,000, £2,000 and £1,000 in regions across the UK. The money must still be used by groups seeking to use and develop outdoor spaces in ways that will benefit their local community.
Voting for the first month’s groups will run in Tesco stores across the UK throughout December. Customers will be able to cast their vote using a token given to them at the check-out in store each time they shop. Each month 600 community groups will receive a grant, three in each of the 200 Tesco regions.
7,000 more projects
A community gardening project funded by Tesco’s Bags of Help initiative.
Tesco estimates that the monthly funding will mean more than 7,000 projects receive funding from the scheme every year.
Matt Davies, UK CEO from Tesco said:
Advertisement
“Over the last year, the money raised from our customers buying single-use carrier bags has resulted in £24 million being awarded to over 2,400 local community projects – all chosen by our customers. I’ve seen first-hand the diversity of brilliant projects, ranging from outdoor classrooms, sports facilities, community gardens, play areas and everything in-between.
“In order for even more local projects to benefit from this money, customers will now be invited to vote for their favourite community projects every time they shop with us.”
Groundwork
Tesco is working with environmental improvement charity, Groundwork, to help deliver its Bags of Help scheme. Groundwork’s national Chief Executive, Graham Duxbury, said:
“Now that the scheme will be permanently open for applications, we expect even more communities to benefit from fantastic projects that create or provide access to better, healthier and greener places.”
Nominations from community groups and customers can be made via Tesco’s BagsofHelp site.
Main image: Tesco by Gordon Joly on Flickr.com
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.