UK businesses collaborate on winter support for local charities
Melanie May | 15 January 2025 | News
UK businesses including Aldi, Marks and Spencer’s, Motability Operations Ltd, Liberty Global, Capita, the Institute for Social Value and Certas Energy are collaborating to provide support for community groups and charities over the winter.
Neighbourly campaign, GoGive, which launched at the start of December, is bringing the businesses together to support its network of local good causes across the UK and Ireland through donating surplus, volunteering and providing financial donations. A winter fund has also been created for targeted financial support for the greatest areas of need.
The goal is to deliver £1mn in financial support, facilitate 5,000 hours of volunteering, and redistribute 18 million meals worth of surplus food, that will positively impact over 5,000 local causes between December 2024 and February 2025. Over £460,000 has been paid out to charities in the first month and a half of the campaign, with all support already totalling over £18mn in financial value including over 10.5mn meals worth of surplus food donated.
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Neighbourly community research has found that 78% of its small charity network have experienced increased demand over the last three months. Charities’ most requested products are non-perishable food items and fresh produce, while 50% say there are people they can’t help due to limitations in capacity and funding. The research also found that 66% of small charities worried about the availability of volunteers over the winter.
Marie Savin, Centre Manager from Netherton Park Community Association based in Bootle near Liverpool, said:
“The cut backs in services and increasing costs of living is bringing more challenges as people are struggling to keep warm and eat properly. As an organisation we are finding it hard to cover core costs, funding is becoming harder to get and monitoring/outcomes for reports has increased.
“The donations collected each day from our Neighbourly partners really are essential. The stigma of taking donated food is now a thing of the past – it’s become a way of life and how people manage limited budgets.”
Steve Butterworth, CEO of Neighbourly, said:
“As Neighbourly’s research shows, need is greater than ever – with 69% reporting that they fear demand for services will be worse this winter than last year.
“The campaign empowers businesses to amplify their impact, driving meaningful change for charities and community groups at a time of unprecedented demand.”
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.