Charities are being invited by independent retail co-op Scotmid to become its new charity partner for 2022/23.
The society says it is looking for an organisation that shares its values and passion for supporting local communities and would like to build a creative and fun partnership to encourage participation and fundraising from staff, members and customers.
With the co-op operating in northern England and Northern Ireland, as well as across Scotland, the partnership must be able to span a wide geography.
Over the last 20 years, the charity partnership scheme has raised millions of pounds for organisations including the Scottish SPCA, Samaritans, ChildLine and Alzheimer Scotland.
Scotmid CEO John Brodie said: “Our charity partnerships are incredibly important to us. Partners benefit from both an exceptional level of fundraising and extended support in their cause from our colleagues and communities.
“We are excited to hear about projects that can benefit our communities from new potential charity partners.”
The society’s current charity partner is Children’s Hospice Association Scotland, better known as CHAS. Funds raised through the partnership have supported the vital development and expansion of its outreach service, CHAS at Home, helping the charity on its ambitious mission of reaching every child and family that needs its help in communities across Scotland.
Three other children’s hospices across Scotmid’s trading areas have also benefited from funds raised: Jigsaw, Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice and St Oswald’s Hospice.
Staff working in Scotmid’s food stores, Semichem stores, Scotmid Funerals and Lakes & Dales stores across Scotland, Northern Ireland and Northern England take part in physical challenges, events and traditional in-store fundraising.
Community engagement is also a key element, says Scotmid. At the end of last year, children throughout Scotland were invited to design a mascot to represent Scotmid’s charity partnership. The winning designs, Cuthbert The Fox and Tildy Toadstool, were then brought to life.
Angharad Low, corporate partnerships manager at CHAS, said: “It’s been great working with Scotmid to raise awareness and funds for our outreach service, CHAS at Home.
“The passion of Scotmid colleagues, members and customers makes the partnership really special. We’re so thankful for the funds that have been raised, which will help families receive quality care in the comfort of their own homes. We would absolutely recommend other charities apply.”
Kirsteen Campbell, CEO of Scottish SPCA, said: “Our 2018/19 partnership with the Scotmid Co-operative family was our most successful charity of the year partnership in Scottish SPCA’s history, raising an incredible £325,000. Support from Scotmid colleagues enabled us to deliver our ‘Prevention through Education’ programme delivering workshops to 1818 schools and 124 community groups, reaching over 60% of Scotland’s schoolchildren. With Scotmid’s support we were able to spread the joy of the human-animal bond further than ever before.
“We’d encourage all charities to apply for this exciting opportunity to be Scotmid’s next charity partner. You’ll be combining forces with an incredible organisation who really cares about making a massive difference in local communities.”
