Corporate partnerships in April 2025
Howard Lake | 16 April 2025 | News
Featuring Marks & Spencer with Neighbourly, wagamama and FoodCycle, In Kind Direct and Tesco and six other brands, Royal London and Turn2Us, and Supermalt and the Windrush Generation Legacy Association, here’s our latest round-up of charity and corporate fundraising partnerships.
M&S Food and Neighbourly donate 100 million meals in surplus food
M&S Food has donated the equivalent of 100 million meals in surplus food from stores to good causes over the last decade through partnership with Neighbourly. The partnership has benefited more than 4.7 million people through through more than 3,000 local charities and community organisations.
This year has seen over 30 million meals donated, the highest in the partnership to date.
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Around 98% of M&S stores support a local good cause each week, with many stores partnering with at least two charities or community organisations. For example, at M&S’ Clapham Junction store surplus food is donated to Ace of Clubs, a day centre that provides hot meals and essential services for vulnerable and homeless people. Each day the charity serves up to 200 people, ensuring those in need have access to nutritious meals when they need them most.
Wagamama to support FoodCycle
Wagamama is partnering with FoodCycle to tackle food insecurity and loneliness. The £30,000 donation will cover the cost of 5,000 three-course meals in the charity’s community dining projects.
Its suppliers have also pledged to donate approximately 10,000 items of food, drink and retail kits to FoodCycle’s community meals this year.
Each month through 2025 wagamama chefs will also support volunteers to deliver a three-course, pan-Asian-inspired community meal at one of FoodCycle’s projects across the UK for its guests. In the month following each of these events, FoodCycle’s guests will be welcomed to dine with wagamama each week for free, no questions asked, with a bespoke member voucher. The first event will take place in Leeds.
In Kind Direct and Tesco with other major suppliers in hygiene poverty campaign
Charity In Kind Direct has launched their fifth multi supplier campaign with Tesco, working with six manufacturer partners to provide access to basic hygiene essentials to those living without. All six manufacturer partners will donate one product to In Kind Direct for every two purchased in-store or online by Tesco shoppers. The products donated to In Kind Direct are then distributed to those in need through their network of over 4,000 charitable organisations.
P&G has joined the partnership between some of the UK’s biggest personal care and household brands: Unilever, Essity, Haleon, Kimberly-Clark and Edgewell.
The campaign has launched in over 1,300 Tesco stores across the UK as well as online at Tesco.com
Since the partnership began, the campaign has yielded over 3 million essential products donated to In Kind Direct. This has enabled them to support more than 4,000 charitable organisations, helping families across the UK who are experiencing hygiene poverty.
Royal London extends its support for Turn2us with £2 million commitment
Royal London, the life, pensions and investment mutual, is to extend its support for Turn2us, the charity dedicated to ending financial insecurity in the UK, by a donation totalling £2 million over three years.
The company has already contributed over £1.4 million to the partnership since the collaboration began in 2021, primarily supporting the Turn2us helpline, which provides immediate assistance to those struggling financially.
Royal London’s social impact strategy focuses on helping people to build financial resilience through its Changemakers programme, its initiative with Cancer Research UK, and its partnership with Turn2us.
Supermalt and the Windrush Generation Legacy Association
Malt drink brand Supermalt has launched a new campaign together with the Windrush Generation Legacy Association (WGLA), with the aim of giving emerging designers an exciting opportunity to showcase their work.
The brand’s ‘Design Your Can’ competition will help support up-and-coming creatives who are often underrepresented, with a focus on the Supermalt fanbase and Global Majority communities, to give the 500ml can format a summer upgrade. The three winning designs will feature on a limited edition run of Supermalt Cans in supermarkets including Tesco and Morrisons, as well as independent stores.
The winning designs will also feature on a 2025 charity merchandise range, with the winners also getting a prize package to support their careers in the creative industry, including a mentoring programme and more.
Individuals are invited to submit their original designs, and base their work on one of three categories:
- What community means to you
- A celebration of your culture
- A personal memory associated with Supermalt
Submissions are open from Friday 14th March to Sunday 27th April.
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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.