Our Approach to People in Social Impact

Every year, our John Lewis and Waitrose stores make donations to local charities and community organisations.  

Throughout the year we have three rounds of funding, each one addressing a different theme – from health and wellbeing to nature and the environment. We donate around £2m to local causes each year, which are chosen by Partners from each of our stores.

Our Waitrose stores support thousands of frontline charities through our work with FareShare and their surplus food redistribution programme FareShare Go.

In 2022, we integrated the free sharing app Olio into our FareShare Go operation. Now, when FareShare is unable to collect surplus food from Waitrose, Olio Food Waste Heroes can step in and redistribute it instead. From 2017 to 2024, we donated over 10 tonnes of surplus food through FareShare Go – that’s tens of millions of meals.

Waitrose is one of the founding partners of The Royal Countryside Fund, established by the then HRH The Prince of Wales in 2010. Our funding has helped support rural communities and farming families across the UK, including the Fund’s flagship initiative, the Farm Resilience Programme. Since 2022, we’ve invested £150,000 each year to support two of the Fund’s other core grant programmes: sponsoring projects that promote social cohesion, tackle isolation and rural poverty; and encouraging sustainable farming practices.

Waitrose has worked with Trussell since 2011, when customer donation points were first installed in stores. These allow customers to easily donate products they’ve purchased in store to local food banks. 

There are now around 200 Trussell collection points in this network, which provide approximately 600 tonnes of donations each year – a vital and steady supply of food and other essentials. Alongside this, the Partnership also makes an annual donation to support Trussell’s network of food banks.

We’ve worked with the British Red Cross since 2004, and became a founding member of the organisation’s Disaster Relief Alliance on its inception in 2014.  

Through our partnership, we help the British Red Cross to support vulnerable communities, prepare for emergencies and respond rapidly when help is needed. Some of the events we’ve helped respond to include those affected by Cyclone Remal, Hurricane Beryl and the Sudan Crisis.

Waitrose has supported the King Charles III Charitable Fund since 2010. Each year, the Fund receives a donation of over £3 million, raised from the sale of Duchy Organics products. The Fund’s mission is to transform lives and build sustainable communities, awarding grants to UK-registered non-profit organisations in the UK, Commonwealth and overseas.

The John Lewis Partnership Foundation is committed to sharing the skills and resources of the Partnership. We’re focused on the social and environmental causes where we can have the biggest positive impact. 

Our work is delivered through funds that directly address the areas that we and our customers care strongly about – from supporting vulnerable young people in disadvantaged communities gain access to education and skills required to achieve sustainable employment to conserving habitats for local wildlife. Find out more about our funds and if you could be eligible for support on our Foundation pages.