Waitrose & Partners Community Matters
We support good causes. You decide who gets what.

Online, Waitrose.com also shares a donation of £25,000 between 3 national causes. After checkout, you will be asked to vote for one of the national causes we are supporting. Each cause will receive a share according to the number of votes - just as we do in our branches.

Find out more about the good causes we support>

National causes we are currently supporting on Waitrose.com

Support Dogs

Jacob has a severe form of autism, and since the age of seven, his support dog Minta has been changing his life and opening up his world. From being an isolated and lonely boy, Jacob quickly became happier and calmer after Minta joined the family, with her by his side he is able to go out to the shops or on family days out.

School has become easier too, with Jacob being able to make the transition from a specialised autism unit, into mainstream education. And he and Minta remain the firmest of friends, Susan Jacob’s mum told us, “Jacob’s friends at school asked him what was the best thing about Minta, and he said ‘she makes me happy and I love her,’”

Susan said, “We’ve used Minta as a tool to make the world accessible to Jacob, and that’s what she’s done, she has completely changed his life.”

Support Dogs train highly skilled assistance dogs to transform the lives of children with Autism and adults with Epilepsy and Physical Disabilities. Our dogs are able to give independence to so many people, by providing help with tasks our clients may find difficult; or by giving them freedom by knowing when a seizure is going to happen; or by helping them to learn about themselves and how to cope with the world around them, just like Jacob and Minta.

Last year 3,500 families applied to Support Dogs for their own life changing assistance dog. With the help of Waitrose Community Matters and individual supporters like you, we hope that one day every child with autism can be as lucky as Jacob. To have a life changing friend who can help them to move into an adulthood without limits.

Royal Voluntary Service

86 year old Mrs Donald, relies on her local Royal Voluntary Service Transport service to help her get out and about, and alleviate her isolation.  She can’t walk far and has no family to help. Three times a week, volunteer Tony drives to her house, helps her into the car and takes her where she needs to go. If it’s a hospital or doctor’s appointment, Tony waits before bringing her home.

“I don’t know what I’d do without Tony. I wouldn’t be able to get out of the house. My pleasures were taken away from me when I reached old age. I used to do a lot of walking around the lakes, mountain climbing and ballroom dancing. I can’t do any of that now. “

Mrs Donald is not alone. Research suggests one in three older people find it difficult to get around, due to lack of mobility or access to public transport. 

This loss of independence and social connection often leads to loneliness and feelings of isolation – all factors which studies shows increase the risk of premature death and dementia.

Thanks to our volunteers, Royal Voluntary Service is able to offer invaluable transport services in communities across Britain. Our volunteers drivers take clients to GP, hospital and dental appointments, out on shopping trips and to local social groups and activities, also providing vital companionship.

“I rely on Tony to get me out of the house.  He takes me to my lunch clubs, the community centre and to do my weekly shop and is available at short notice and is so reliable. Before Tony it was terrible for me not to be able to get out.”

Your vote will help us recruit and train more volunteer drivers and ensure more older people can live the life they want.

The Children's Air Ambulance

Since The Children’s Air Ambulance (TCAA) first took to the skies with one helicopter in 2013, it has been fuelled by a determination to keep families together. Six years on - over 400 missions later - after helping save many young lives, the national charity now operates two helicopters from bases in the North and South, to reach even more babies and children in need of its lifesaving service.

TCAA is the first and only dedicated paediatric and neonatal transfer helicopter service in Great Britain, funded solely by charitable donations. When every second counts in the lifesaving treatment of a poorly child, the charity’s specially trained pilots are able to transfer their young patients four times faster than by road.

It’s a charity service whose advanced specialist facilities provide intensive care in the air for critically ill patients up to the age of 18, transferring them from local hospitals to specialist paediatric treatment centres.

In the Dix family’s hour of need, when their 7 month old son Blaize nearly died TCAA came to the rescue.

Blaize was at his nursery on the Isle of Wight when he choked on his lunch. He inhaled a piece of food and his left lung collapsed. Blaize was anesthetised and intubated before a 7 minute flight with TCAA to the nearest Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at Southampton General Hospital - a journey which would have taken 2 hours 15 minutes by road, dangerously long in this life and death scenario.

With help from public donations, TCAA aims to complete 300 missions a year to keep hope alive for children like Blaize, and make sure families are able to stay together to enjoy  milestone birthdays, their most wonderful Christmas or the arrival of precious little siblings.

Community Matters results

To see the results and amounts that we have donated to previous charities click here

Contact us

If you are a UK-registered national charity and would like to be considered for our Community Matters Online initiative then please post your applications on headed paper for consideration to:

Waitrose & Partners Community Matters Team
Waitrose & Partners
Doncastle Road
Bracknell
Berkshire
RG12 8YA

Please give a brief outline of the work your charity does along with details of any current projects that you are seeking funding for. This should be no more than one side of A4. The Community Matters Team will then only contact you if your application is successful or if they require further details.

If you are a local charity or not for profit organisation and you would like to be considered for Community Matters in one of our branches, please go to your local branch, complete a nomination form and hand it in at the Welcome Desk.  If you are successful the branch Community Matters Champion will be in touch.  All applications are held for 6 months.