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OUR CHARITY INITIATIVES

Find out how we’re making the world brighter with our charity partnerships and team volunteering opportunities.

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OUR CHARITY INITIATIVES

Find out how we’re making the world brighter with our charity partnerships and team volunteering opportunities.

Finding ways to make the world brighter is at the heart of Project Earth, and one of the key routes to this is through collaborating with organisations that share our values. This is no more evident than with our charity partners who we work with, together with our team members and customers, to make a positive difference. From innovative fundraising initiatives to volunteering days – find out how we’re continuing to support our charitable partnerships.

How we’re supporting our local communities

Selfridges has a tangible presence in the communities where our shops and offices are located – London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leicester – and it is vital that we continue to give meaningful support to those around us. This year, we’ve streamlined our community-giving strategy to focus on three key areas where we can have real impact: environment, social mobility and wellbeing. By offering support, donations and volunteering for charities and community groups that fall within these three categories, we hope we can truly make a difference within our local communities and help brighten their worlds.

Which charities are we focussing on?

FEASTING FOR GOOD

 

Selfridges is proud to partner with Centrepoint this Christmas to fund housing and support for young people across the UK. Over the festive period we'll be running initiatives including donating the proceeds from our giant 8kg panettone available to buy in the Selfridges Foodhall, plus a ‘donate as you dine’ scheme in many of our restaurants where you have the option to add a £1 donation to your bill. 

Cameron’s Centrepoint story

Meet Cameron: a young and spirited sous chef with a lust for life. Not many years ago, the hope and promise that Cameron exudes today, didn’t shine so brightly – but an encounter with youth homelessness charity Centrepoint changed all that.

A combination of key worker support and personal resilience put Cameron back on his feet. He pursued his love of cooking and found full-time work as a chef.

We invited Cameron to cook his favourite festive dish in the Selfridges kitchen and meet some of our chefs. Discover his recipe below.

Watch now

SOCIAL MOBILITY

 

Selfridges is known for empowering and supporting groups and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, and we’re dedicated to helping people access the tools that can really make a difference to them, from housing support for the homeless to career development programmes. So, along with our ongoing partnership with Centrepoint (including joining its annual Sleep Outs, donating gifts, running team-fundraising initiatives and installing Wi-Fi services for young people), we’re expanding our partnerships with local homeless and social enterprise charities to help make a real difference to the most vulnerable in our communities.

How we’re supporting our local social mobility charities

London: We’re exploring new ways to positively impact the lives of the women at the Marylebone Project, a social landlord supporting homeless women and offering essential facilities and support via its drop-in centre, by sending beauty product donations and providing suit hire for interviews.

Manchester: We work with Mustard Tree and the Booth Centre, which help homeless residents across Manchester to access essential facilities and offer support programmes; FareShare, which co-ordinates donations to food banks across the city; and the Wood Street Mission, which has offered essential services to families living in poverty across Manchester and Salford for over 150 years. Our teams have supported by handing out food donations to customers, providing CV workshops for those searching for work and sorting through piles of donations at charity shops. We also started working with Eat Well MCR which supports families living in poverty through a series of supper clubs as part of our Manchester International Festival partnership.

Birmingham: We’ve supported St Basil’s homeless charity since 2018, with fundraising events including a ‘Donate as you Dine’ scheme with Fumo, as well as Easter egg collections and donation drives.

Leicester: We work with The Bridge Homelessness to Hope, a charity dedicated to creating long-lasting change through housing, support and community projects.

 

Selfridges has helped Centrepoint to support thousands of homeless young people in the UK since our partnership began in 2015. This year, by donating to our Digital Inclusion project, Selfridges is helping us to ensure that all young people have the access to the devices and wifi that they need to stay connected and access important health, learning and employment opportunities.

– Jenny Bradley, Senior Corporate Development Officer at Centrepoint

WELLBEING


Mental health and wellbeing are concerns close to a lot of people’s hearts, and although support and awareness are increasing, there’s still a long way to go in reducing stigma and providing support to those in need. At Selfridges, our mission is to drive mental and physical wellness by enabling healthy bodies, minds, and routines. One way we do this is through our ongoing partnership with mental health charity Shout, organising fundraising through events such as our sponsored LOL-ATHON.

How we’re supporting our local wellbeing charities

London: We have team member volunteer text responders for Shout who have also provided mental health awareness training for our line manager and Head Office teams. 

Manchester: We’re continuing to work with 42nd Street which provides free and confidential support to young people who are experiencing difficulties and empowers them to campaign for social justice.

Birmingham: We’re working with the local branch of Mind to support it in creating mindful spaces for those who use its services. For our most recent volunteering, our teams put their gardening skills to the test, working on the charity’s mindfulness gardens. The team also works with suicide prevention charity Papyrus, raising awareness and being visible in city-centre-based ‘Hopewalks’.

 

We are very grateful for the incredible support we have received from Selfridges and the multitude of fundraising and awareness-raising activities in which staff have participated.

– Victoria Hornby, Chief Executive of charity Mental Health Innovations, which powers Shout 85258

ENVIRONMENT

 

Since 2018, our teams have taken part in seven beach cleans for Project Ocean, our 10-year partnership with the Zoological Society of London. We donate our surplus food to local community organisations who need it and donate surplus clothing to our partners Oxfam. We also have more than 300 dedicated Green Warriors who champion environmental issues and bring key sustainability issues to the forefront, creating opportunities for our teams to get involved and make a difference.

How we’re supporting our local environment charities

London: Every year since 2015 we have completed beach cleans along the Thames foreshore as part of our Project Ocean partnership and in conjunction with Thames21.

Manchester: We work with We Love Manchester, which was set up in the wake of the Manchester Arena bombing to raise money for the victims and their families. Since then, the charity has evolved to help make Manchester a cleaner, safer and friendlier city, and we regularly use volunteering days to work with them on organised litter picks and street cleans around the city. This year, we will be working with the Canal & River Trust to support the regeneration of waterways across the city.

Birmingham: We have recently started partnering with BABMAG on its ‘Don’t be a Wasteman’ community clean-up campaign, enabling our team members to look after their local area with Digbeth-based community litter picks and clean-ups.

 

Oxfam is enormously proud of our partnership with Selfridges during Second Hand September and throughout the year as part of Project Earth. We hope that this collaboration helps to raise awareness about the huge impact fast fashion has on our planet and the people who are being pushed deeper into poverty by climate change.

– Danny Sriskandarajah, Chief Executive of Oxfam Great Britain

OUR TEAM MEMBER VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES

As well as partnering with charity groups, we also offer up to five days for team members to volunteer with specific partner organisations, with activities ranging from beach cleans to sorting donated clothes for charity shops. Discover more about how our teams are getting involved in volunteering activities below.

Find out more

WORKING WITH US

To get in touch to apply for support from Selfridges community volunteering and charitable giving programme in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leicester, please send an email to [email protected].

Read our charity policies

DISCOVER OUR SUSTAINABILITY JOURNEY

The past, present and future of sustainability at Selfridges.

OUR SUSTAINABILITY LEGACY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR FUTURE COMMITMENTS
DISCOVER PROJECT EARTH
OUR DIVERSITY BOARD