Waitrose is marking a decade since the launch of its Community Matters initiative with in-store celebrations with partners and charities.
The charitable giving scheme sees Waitrose customers given a green token at the till, which they can place in one of three boxes. Each of these is allocated to a different local cause, and a £1,000 donation from full-range stores and £500 from Little Waitrose branches is shared among the three charities as a proportion of the number of tokens they have received at the end of each month.
Partners can mark the 10-year milestone in October through a celebration alongside the good causes and charities they have supported through Community Matters. Stores can organise their celebration however they see fit, with Waitrose suggesting in-store celebrations with balloons and cake after closing time.
For customers to get involved, branches will feature charities that have been popular with customers over the past 10 years in its Community Matters boxes this month.
As Community Matters is replicated online, with three national charities taking part every quarter, customers can vote for the charity they wish to receive the next quarter’s donations between now and November on Waitrose’s website. The charities are the three that have received the highest number of online votes since Community Matters began - Alzheimer’s Research UK, Bowel Cancer UK and Contact the Elderly.
More than £30m has been donated to about 100,000 charities across the country through the scheme over the past 10 years.
“We’re very proud to able to play our part in the community and support those causes that matter most to our customers,” said Waitrose head of sustainability and responsible sourcing Tor Harris. “We’d like to thank all the charities who have been part of the scheme over the past 10 years, as well as our partners who do so much for their local communities.”
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