New Co-op fund to support local communities

The society, which also trades nationally through its Co-op Travel, Co-op Childcare, Co-op Energy and Co-op Broadband and Mobile businesses, aims to do even more to give back to the communities it serves, working in partnership with its members to give local causes a helping hand.

The fund will provide small grants to support local good causes from dinner and dance sessions for those with dementia to plants for parks, from biscuits for book clubs to kits for cricket teams and much more.

Every time that members shop in their local Midcounties Co-op food site, they will earn points that will increase the money available for local causes, with the first 1,000 points contributing directly to the Doing Good Together Fund. To make it easier and more affordable for members to make ethical and sustainable choices, members now earn more points every time they purchase Co-op own-brand products and services, such as own-brand, Fairtrade and Co-op Holidays.

This is the next stage of Your Co-op’s Doing Good Together membership proposition, which launched last year to provide members with enhanced offers and discounts across all its businesses, alongside pledging a greater proportion of the society’s profits to local communities.

This includes a £11,500 donation made earlier this year to charity partners Black Country Women’s Aid, based in Walsall, and deaf-led Wolverhampton charity Zebra Access.

Phil Ponsonby, chief executive of Warwick-headquartered Midcounties Co-operative, said: “Our members have told us how important it is for them to know that each time they spend money with us, they are helping to do good within their communities.

“Whether it be helping the creation of a dementia support group, a neighbourhood allotment, or supporting a local food bank, the Doing Good Together Fund is going to make sure that all of us can do just that. Every time a member buys their dinner in our food sites, books a holiday, takes out a broadband contract, or puts one of their children into one of our nurseries, a proportion of what they spend will be going directly back into the causes that they can champion and put forward for funding.

“By launching the fund, we are going further to deliver on our purpose to create a fairer, more sustainable, and ethical future and support communities by doing good together.”

For information on how to become a member of The Midcounties Co-operative and the Doing Good Together Fund visitmidcounties.coop/membership