The Midcounties Co-operative, which operates 218 food stores across the West Midlands, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire alongside travel, childcare, energy and broadband and mobile businesses, has launched a new fund which allows members to apply for grants to support local causes.
The society said the Doing Good Together Fund was created in response to members, who wanted to be able to give back more to their local communities.
“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 society,” said Midcounties CEO, Phil Ponsonby.
The society said the move is the “next stage” of its Doing Good Together membership proposition, 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”.
Members will be able to apply for grants through the Your Co-op membership app, while store managers will be empowered to approve grants or when needed recommend them for approval to a dedicated Doing Good Together panel.
“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,” added Ponsonby.
“Every time a member buys their dinner in our food stores, 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.”
