B&Q event raises over £227k for Shelter, & more partnership news
Melanie May | 24 October 2023 | News
A round up of partnership news including brands such as B&Q and VOXI by Vodafone fundraising and donating through a variety of activities, as well as choosing new charity partners.
Brooks Macdonald employees pedal their way to more than £23,000 for charity
A team of cyclists from Brooks Macdonald embarked on a 400km journey across the length and breadth of Mallorca, raising £23,000 for The Wave Project and Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity. The charities were nominated by Brooks Macdonald employees and selected through a company-wide vote.
Over four days, the 16 riders travelled around the whole island, conquering challenging terrains and steep inclines. Participants had the option to choose between a ‘standard’ or an ‘elite’ route, catering to varying levels of cycling experience.
Advertisement
VOXI partnership with Teenage Cancer Trust lets customers choose where donations go
VOXI by Vodafone is partnering with Teenage Cancer Trust and providing an £80,000 donation to the charity on behalf of its customers. This will be made up of a series of individual £3 donations which VOXI is making on their behalf. Customers will also be given the chance to choose which areas of the charity they would like the donation to support – including:
- Places: supporting Teenage Cancer Trust units which are spaces where young people facing cancer can feel at home.
- People: supporting Teenage Cancer Trust Nurses and Youth Support Coordinators.
- Peer Support: supporting the charity’s events for young people with cancer.
To get involved, VOXI customers must log into My Account, tap the VOXI Drop button, claim their £3 donation code and choose the key area they would like to support on Teenage Cancer Trust’s website. VOXI will then donate £3 with 26,667 donations to claim.
World Vision UK Helps Milton Keynes Food Bank Break a Guinness World Record
World Vision UK was part of a Guinness World Record set by Milton Keynes Food Bank for their MK Can event, smashing the record for the longest continuous line of cans of food. World Vision UK provided 350 cans as a part of this drive along with 269 other businesses and community members resulting in a grand total of 102,447 cans of food for the ‘Walk the Line’ record breaker. The cans will provide more than half of the canned food that the food bank will need for the entire year.
World Vision UK, which is based in Milton Keynes, was one of the local businesses, community groups, and organisations contributing to the formation of the line of cans, with staff bringing in cans to be placed and then donated to MK Food Bank. CEO Fola Komolafe MBE DL was present with World Vision colleagues to participate in the record-breaking achievement, while also showing support and meeting the neighbouring businesses and the local community at Campbell Park.
Eurocell cements charity partnership as fundraising reaches over £20,000
Eurocell has already exceeded its fundraising target for charity partner Maggie’s. The team set the target of raising £10,000 before the end of the year but has already raised over £22,000 for Maggie’s following a number of fundraising events in the last few months.
Eurocell presented Maggie’s with a cheque for £20,000 at its head office in Alfreton on 17 October, with the funds raised at a recent corporate charity golf day. This also coincided with a business-wide “Go Outrageously Orange” fundraising day, where employees were encouraged to dress in orange. Individuals at Eurocell have undertaken a range of fundraising activities including cycling 250km as part of Maggie’s virtual Gran Fondo, 10k runs, a 5k walk, car boot sale and walking a mile every day throughout August.
Wickes’ partnership with The Brain Tumour Charity passes the £400,000 mark
Throughout the two-year partnership, which has now raised over £400k, colleagues at Wickes are embarking on a series of fundraising missions across its 230 stores and digital channels in a bid to raise funds for The Brain Tumour Charity. During September Wickes held a range of activities and events that included a ‘Fish & Wickes’ summer party that raised £900, colleagues took part in the ‘Beat the Bay’ challenge in Morecambe raising £10,000, and all the company’s 230 stores took part in The Big Bake and a 50p ask – raising another £88,000.
Naomi Woodstock, who is the Wickes ‘Charity Chair’ and manages the Wickes Community Programme, has also shared her family’s own experience of brain tumours to help drive awareness.
Virgin Media O2 & Good Things Foundation partner on free digital skills workshops
During Get Online Week [16-22 October 2023], Virgin Media O2 and Good Things Foundation are hosting hundreds of free digital skills workshops across the UK.
A poll of 2,000 UK adults by the two reveals that most are confident using Facebook and email but many are stumped when it comes to more complex tasks like booking medical appointments or making a video call. Using PowerPoint, photo editing tools and playing games console are other tasks people struggle to do online. 38% said they face challenges because of their lack of tech skills, resulting in more than fifth (21%) feeling like they’re being left behind. 14% said there have been points in their lives where they could have considered themselves ‘digitally illiterate’.
Warburtons & Morrisons team up to bring back free crumpets for half-term
This October half-term Warburtons and Morrisons are once again teaming up to bring back ‘Ask for Ellen’ across all Morrisons Cafés. As part of this year’s National Crumpet Week celebrations, from next week, both adults and children can ‘Ask for Ellen’ at any Morrisons Café to receive two toasted crumpets, with butter and jam for free. The offer will be available all day, in any of Morrisons 395 Cafés from 23 October to 5 November, while stock lasts.
The initiative is back after the school summer holidays saw 200,000 portions of ‘Ask for Ellen’ crumpets asked for across the UK. The initiative is named after Warburtons’ founder, Ellen Warburton. The Warburtons Foundation supports families and communities across the UK and has donated over 1 million bakery products to schools and food banks since October 2022.
Miller Homes to donate £7,500 to North Tees & Hartlepool Together
In partnership with North Tees and Hartlepool Together, the charity of North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, Miller Homes is to make a donation of £75 for each house sold at its Pearwood Gardens development in Eaglescliffe. The amount reflects the 75th anniversary of the NHS in 2023. Pearwood Gardens will see 100 homes created at the development, which will result in £7,500 being donated to the charity.
Law firm partners with Social Mobility Foundation
Law firm Clarke Willmott LLP has announced a national charity partnership with Social Mobility Foundation (SMF) to launch the firm’s focus on a community strategy support for social mobility.
The firm will be supporting SMF with volunteering efforts over the course of the next year. Regional charity partners will also be announced for each of its seven offices soon, so that they can engage more closely and add social value to their local communities. The announcement launches the firm’s new community strategy to support social mobility, an initiative brought in by CEO Peter Swinburn who took over leadership of Clarke Willmott in May.
75Media donates digital billboard space to Breast Cancer Now’s Wear It Pink
Outdoor media operator 75Media has donated space on more than 50 digital billboards across the country, including London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow with a creative advert they’ve designed especially for Breast Cancer Now’s Wear It Pink campaign.
Breast Cancer Now is encouraging people to raise money by wearing pink at school, at work or at home. The campaign has been running for over 20 years and has raised more than £39 million, which is used to help Breast Cancer Now fund research into the disease and campaign for better treatments and care, as well as enabling more support for those impacted by breast cancer. Wear it Pink Day is 20 October, but people can take part in the event throughout the month of October.
B&Q’s Raise the Roof raises over £227k for Shelter
B&Q stores across the nation have come together for a UK-wide event to raise funds and awareness for B&Q’s charity partner, Shelter. This year’s B&Q’s ‘Raise the Roof’ event has raised over £227k so far with more donations still coming in. The jewel in the crown of the celebrations was the 24-hour themed dance-a-thon, which took place at the B&Q head office in Southampton.
In addition to this, B&Q colleagues across all corners of the UK took part in a fundraising extravaganza of activities, peppered with themed merchandise, as well as local communities letting loose in a fun-filled ‘house party’ themed celebration. Complete with glitz, glam and fancy dress this year’s events smashed last year’s £220k fundraising record all in aid of Shelter and its partner charities Shelter Scotland, Shelter Cymru, Housing Rights and Focus Ireland.
Related posts
12 corporate partnerships benefitting UK charities
Lounge campaign raises over £350,000 for good causes & other corporate partnership news
Street Child named London Book Fair charity of the year, & other partnership news
Dunelm launches store donation initiative with Hubbub, & more partnership news
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.