Tesco raises over £4.4 million for British Red Cross
Howard Lake | 10 March 2008 | News
Supermarket Tesco raised £4,428,000 in 2007 for the British Red Cross. This is the most successful charity of the year partnership that Tesco has had, and the company believes that it represents the largest amount raised through a single corporate partnership for a charity in just one year.
The British Red Cross was the focus for staff fundraising during the year, and benefited from a 20 per cent ‘top up’ from the Tesco Charity Trust. Money was also raised from donations on products sold in store, collection tins at tills, recycling schemes, Clubcard mailings and a Christmas charity single recorded by Katie Melua and the late Eva Cassidy.
The money collected by each Tesco store, head office, customer service or distribution centre will be spent by the Red Cross within the county it was raised.
Tesco staff fundraising focused on various themes throughout 2007. These included Neighbours Week in March, where Tesco staff did ‘good deeds for their neighbours in need’, fancy hats were paraded during A Day at the Races coinciding with Royal Ascot in May and shiny rhinestone outfits were worn at the 30th anniversary of Elvis’ death in August.
Donations on products sold in-store included a two-week ‘One of Britain’s Favourites’ promotion in September where 5p from over 60 products went to the British Red Cross. Other contributions came from a 10p donation on Tesco charity greeting cards raising £250,000 and a £5 donation for every red Canon PowerShot A460 digital camera sold in Tesco, raising £25,000. Two pounds from the sale of every red Prestige kettle and toaster raised a further £10,000.
‘What A Wonderful World’, a duet by Katie Melua and the late Eva Cassidy was sold exclusively in Tesco, with all profits from the single going to the British Red Cross. It entered the Official UK Singles Chart at no. 1 on 16 December 2007, and raised over £134,000 for the British Red Cross.
Tesco’s Charity of the Year 2008 is Marie Curie Cancer Care.
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.