Waitrose to donate an extra £1m at Christmas
Howard Lake | 13 November 2012 | News
Supermarket Waitrose is donating £1 million at Christmas, in addition to the £600,000 it would normally give to good causes over November and December.
It has saved money by making a cut-down Christmas TV advert, featuring Delia Smith and Heston Blumenthal in an empty studio, rather than “a fancy, festive TV ad”. The money it has saved has been directed to its Community Matters ‘green token’ scheme which enables shoppers to choose a local charity to benefit from a donation.
Both Smith and Blumenthal waived their fees for the advert.
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Every three months, Waitrose.com shares a donation of £25,000 between three national charities. This Christmas those organisations are:
- RNLI
- Child Bereavement UK
- Multiple Sclerosis Society
Online shoppers can choose which charity to support with their ‘vote’ once they have completed their purchase at Waitrose.com. In the six months to February 2013 they will determine how £150,000 is distributed amongst the charities. This is £100,000 more than the amount Waitrose would normally donate on behalf of online shoppers in that period.
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.