Over £935,000 has been donated through Nisa’s Making a Difference Locally (MADL) charity to worthy community causes and charities across the UK in 2023, the symbol group said.
The charity reached over 180,000 people with 2,000 donations, it added.
This includes over £310,000 donated to shelter and security causes including Knit and Natter groups that tackle isolation and loneliness and SEN groups that bring together children and their carers and families. These donations supported over 66,000 people.
£175,000 was donated to food poverty initiatives which included breakfast clubs and warm spaces which support people choosing between heating and eating. These initiatives have helped over 25,000 people.
Over £300,000 funded wellbeing sport and social activities initiatives which reached over 64,000 people. Donations included sporting equipment, clothing and funding grassroots clubs UK wide.
Nisa raised over £2,000 for charity partner Barnardo’s whilst also launching the Club 15 initiative at the 2023 Nisa Expo – a charity initiative to celebrate MADL’s 15th year anniversary.
MADL opened its first Heart of the Community Awards for 2024 recently with food pantries across the UK set to benefit from donations.
Since its formation in 2008, Making a Difference Locally has raised over £17 million, with beneficiaries ranging from foodbanks, health and wellbeing charities and refuges to youth sports teams, to name just a few.
Making a Difference Locally is Nisa’s registered charity, which enables independent retailers to donate money to their local communities.
Nisa retailers and wholesale partners raise funds through the sale of specific products in their stores and then choose a local beneficiary for the money.
All own brand products from the Co-op and Heritage ranges sold in Nisa stores contribute to their Making a Difference Locally fund, and additional money can also be raised via Making a Difference Locally in-store collecting tins, coin spinners and clothing banks.
Kate Carroll, Head of Charity at Nisa, said: “A massive thank you to all our retailers and shoppers who supported their local communities last year and helped us to reach so many people across the UK.
“We know that our retailers play a hugely important role in their respective communities, and I’m delighted they work so closely with MADL to raise the funding to donate to some wonderful causes which are hugely significant in their own local communities.”
