Community
Next believes it is important to develop and maintain healthy and positive relationships with the local communities in which we operate. Our aim is to provide a positive impact by contributing to their wellbeing through a programme of support achieved by offering donations of funding, products or the time and expertise of our employees.
Our priorities are to:
- focus our resources on projects that support the communities in which we operate
- offer support to charities and organisations of all sizes with a donation that is of most benefit to them
- work to identify and develop new relationships with charities and organisations
Our Approach
With over 500 stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland, we offer support to a wide range of charities and organisations of all sizes, by working to offer them donations that are of most benefit to them and their particular cause, whether it be a financial donation, or the offer of products that can be used to realise additional funding. Our aim is to make a difference, so we do not support a single 'Charity of the Year', as we believe we are able to make a greater impact by working with a wider group of charities and organisations. As well as supporting individual charity requests, we also agree to support some charities for an agreed number of years with a specified donation. This commitment helps the charities to be able to plan their work with confidence.
In addition to the support we offer in the United Kingdom and Ireland, we have continued to work with overseas organisations, to support local communities by offering the longer term benefits of training and the development of skills, in addition to a donation which we know can make an immediate difference. Our aim is to combine social and economic development with real business opportunities by helping to provide the opportunities people need to develop and be in control of their own future.
To ensure we can measure and monitor our overall community investment, we calculate the value of our non-financial contributions gained from products donated from within the business. This figure is added to our financial contributions, to arrive at the total sum contributed for the year.
Our charity and sponsorship programme is made up of donations to:
Registered Charities - we have offered support to 384 charities of all sizes during 2009 who have asked for contributions to support their work in the areas of children, care for the sick and people with disabilities, healthcare and medical research and community support.
Individual requests/ local and national groups and
organisations - we are able to help groups and organisations who do not have charitable status through these donations.
Commercial Support and Sponsorship - we offer commercial support and sponsorship to a small number of organisations, which provides Next with the benefit of raising awareness of our brand. We also support local sporting teams of all ages, especially where there is direct employee involvement with the team.
PROGRESS ON OPPORTUNITIES FROM 2009 REPORT
KEY
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Achieved
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Ongoing/on track
= Not
commenced
| Opportunities identified in 2009 | Status | How we have progressed |
| Work with charitable organisations to identify value from products that Next can no longer use | |
We have developed new relationships with charitable organisations and have been able to help them create value for their cause by providing them with products we are not able to sell through our retail stores. For more information on all our charity support and a case study about our new initiative, please see page 33 |
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