Communities
We’re not owned by a wealthy few, we’re owned by our member-owners who have a say in how we spend a share of our profits to support local communities across the UK. Through member participation, co-operation and bringing communities together, we’re delivering lasting social value for our member-owners and their communities.
Download the 'Communities' section of the Sustainability and Social Value report 2024 (PDF, 1.4MB)
Supporting local causes across the UK
Our Local Community Fund supports causes in all our members’ communities. Since it launched in 2016, the fund has donated £114.8m to more than 36,500 unique community projects, with the share of funds driven by the choices of our members.
Community partnerships
We know that co-operation is vital in tackling the key challenges in our members’ communities. We partner with like-minded organisations who can help to deliver positive and lasting change on the big issues our members care about and create social value in their local communities.
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Since launching our partnership with Barnardo’s in 2023, our members, colleagues, and customers have raised £4m supporting over 200,000 young people so far.
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Through our partnership with Mind, SAMH and Inspire, we generated over 2.5 million conversations about mental wellbeing on Time to Talk Day in 2024.
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We continued to reduce food waste and improve food redistribution with our partners Hubbub and Your Local Pantry. Since 2021 we’ve helped to double the size of the Hubbub Community Fridge Network, which now has more than 700 locations, and since 2021 we’ve supported Your Local Pantry to grow their network to more than 121 pantries serving 35,000 people each year.
Co-op Academies
The Co-op Academies Trust (CAT) is one of the largest multi-academy trusts serving the North of England, with 38 academies. The Trust provides an education based on Co-operative Values and Principles for over 20,000 young people. We’ve enhanced our contribution to our Academies, enabling greater support for the students who need it most; providing £1m funding annually targeted at supporting pupil premium students, and CAT's community team.
Co-op Foundation
Our charity, the Co-op Foundation, is building communities of the future together. Through funding organisations across the UK, the Foundation is helping create kinder, more inclusive communities with fair opportunities for everyone. The Foundation involved youth voice across their work in 2024. This included 32 young people from across Co-op Foundation and Co-op’s youth networks getting involved in an online Hackathon to find out what meaningful youth participation looks like.
In 2024:
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over £576,000 was awarded to young people and youth-led organisations through the Young Gamechangers Fund
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£933,000 was awarded to organisations working to protect peatlands across the UK through the Carbon Innovation Fund
