Page 36 Supporting our communities


Charities week
In 2007, Partners all around the business raised £316,000 during our Charities week. This included a £70,000 donation to help YoungMinds, our then Divisional Charity of the Year, to keep its helpline running, as well as support for many local good causes around the country. Fundraising activities ranged from abseiling and skydiving to bike rides and auctions, and by the end of the year, the total raised was £150,000. It wasn't just about money, as YoungMinds trained some of our Partners in aspects of mental health, and we were able to help them with IT support.


In 2008, we've been busy fundraising again, this time for Wallace and Gromit's Children's Foundation, which helps to improve the quality of life for children in hospitals and hospices across the UK. During Charities week, Partners in every shop got involved in the activities to some degree. £138,000 has been raised to date and more activities are planned this year, so this figure will rise further.

(World's Biggest Coffee Morning logo with the caption:)

We participate in Macmillan Cancer Support's annual event, the World's Biggest Coffee Morning, by supplying draw prizes, supporting Partner fundraising and making donations for every cup of coffee sold in customer restaurants.

(Pie chart of total charitable donations:)

Value of Partnership donations to charities and community groups in 2007/08
Cash donations £2,846,361
Partner time £1,525,332
Gifts in kind £741,008
Management costs £1,078,397
Total £6,191,098


Let's Get Cooking
The John Lewis Partnership is a key partner for the pilot scheme of the Let's Get Cooking project, a five-year, Lottery-funded programme that will invest £20 million in setting up 5,000 school cooking clubs. Addressing issues such as obesity, health, nutrition, education, skills and employability through employee volunteering, pro bono work and in-kind support, the aim is to inspire up to 1.5 million children to improve their food preparation and cooking skills, and increase their intake of healthy food. John Lewis has already donated £21,000 worth of equipment to the first primary schools to sign up to the scheme.


Laughter helps to make friends
In advance of a new shop opening, we seek opportunities to demonstrate that commitment through some significant activity in a community project. For example, in Leicester this year, we were the main supporter of the Make Me Happy community programme, an offshoot of the city's Comedy Festival, which encouraged people with disabilities and underprivileged young people to participate in a range of projects and performances. These include a Leicester-based version of theta sitcom Friends that seven Partners from the Partnership's Dramatic Society helped to create.


"The festival gave us a unique opportunity to be a force for good, contribute positively to the city and raise our profile in advance of opening our new shop."
Amanda Dammers Managing Director, John Lewis Leicester


Employee volunteering
We encourage our Partners to participate in employee volunteering programmes, actively forge links and become involved in the local communities in which they live and work. By giving their time and skills in this way, our Partners make a genuine difference to local people's lives. But employee volunteering doesn't just provide an opportunity to give something back to the local community, reinforcing our commitment to being a responsible retailer; Partners can also develop new skills and benefit from increased confidence and motivation.

During 2007/08, John Lewis Partners contributed 53,404 hours. An additional 22,500 were contributed through our Golden Jubilee Trust scheme (see page 38).While guidance and support is provided from the centre, Partners use their local knowledge and understanding of community issues to decide how best to allocate their support.

Other schemes include the Victoria time-bank, which enables John Lewis Victoria and Corporate Partners to undertake up to 30 hours of community or charity work a year during working hours. This creates another opportunity for team building and increased motivation, and reinforces our commitment to being a responsible retailer. In 2007, 114 Partners (up from 46 in 2006) gave over 1,200 hours to six charities, including the Vauxhall City Farm riding club for disabled children and the Kipper project, where purpose-built flats have been refurbished for young adults who have recently left foster care.