Community Giving

• Donation Guidelines
• Donation Application

Thank you for thinking of Whole Foods Market in Kensington for your upcoming event.

Whole Foods Market believes in supporting the communities we serve. It is important that we make our resources available to a large and diverse number of organizations. Please understand that in giving this donation, it is not a guarantee of an ongoing support.

There are 3 way we are able to support:

1. Our Community 5% Days are one meaningful way we give back to our community. On designated days throughout the year a total of 5% of the day's net sales are donated to local non-profit organizations. Customers help support our selected organizations just by shopping on these 5% Days.
2. Till point donations is an opportunity to raise your charities profile to every customer In the store and give them the opportunity to donate directly to your cause.
3. Food sharing, it is a common miss-conception that we have a lot of food to throw away at the end of the day. One of the big differences between our stores & other more traditional supermarkets is the sheer volume of in-store production that we undertake. Back of house we have a full production kitchen), & a full production pastry kitchen which use much of the food from around the store.

Above & beyond this, we donate food for redistribution for the hungry via many charitable organisations.

• Fareshare, the UK's leading "food bank" charity collect from us.
• The Upper Room (no website of their own, but The Upper Room is based in and has a reputation for being able to help the most entrenched and difficult to care for rough sleepers - often taking on cases that most other organisations are not able to help). The Upper Room are at this time our principle partner, collecting with most frequency.
• The Missionaries of Charity (no website of their own, but they organise a soup kitchen for homeless people in the area)

I hope this helps assure you of our commitment to being a positive partner in the Kensington community.

How to apply for a donation

If your non-profit organization is looking to work with us, please review our guidelines prior to filling in the application form.

The application must be received at least 30 days before the event date and the "pick up" date in order to be considered (although please note Whole Foods Market stores receive so many requests we plan much further in advance). Applications should be delivered by hand to the Q desk, and are reviewed on a first come, first served basis. As the Donations Budget is limited, early submission of your application is recommended.

Who we have worked with:

• Cancer research
• We Are Macmillan. Cancer Support
• The Food Chain
• West London Action For Children
• Fareshare Community Food Network
• Food For The Brain
• Trinity Hospice
• Look Ahead
• Upper Room

Regular surplus food partners:

• Fareshare, the UK's leading "food bank" charity collect from us.
• The Upper Room (The Upper Room is based in has a reputation for being able to help the most entrenched and difficult to care for rough sleepers - often taking on cases that most other organisations are not able to help). The Upper Room are at this time our principle partner, collecting with most frequency.
• The Missionaries of Charity

Thank you for thinking of Whole Foods Market and good luck on your event.

Yours Sincerely,

Benjamin Woodgate
Marketing Team Leader

WHAT HAPPENS TO OUR WASTE?

Some of our customers have asked what happens to the fresh food left at the end of the day.

MINIMUM WASTAGE

We begin by keeping wastage to a minimum. Our teams daily revise their ordering to make sure that as little as possible is left over at the end of each day.

We also have an enterprising in-house team of chefs and bakers who need supplies of fresh produce, just like you the customer. They make sure that perishable items are used well before their sell-by date.

FOOD DONATIONS

We donate good s approaching the end of their shelf life to organizations that supply meals for those in need. Organizations such as:

The Upper Room, a hard-working West London charity that runs a free restaurant for the homeless; and Fareshare, a nationwide food redistribution charity which collects food and passes it onto organisations that provide meals for the country's most vulnerable people.

RECYCLING 

The majority of food waste in the UK becomes landfill, where it decomposes, releasing methane, which is 21 times more globally warming than carbon dioxide. We’ve teamed up with Cawleys, who process organic waste without releasing methane into the atmosphere, converting it into electricity. So our food waste becomes a clean, renewable energy that helps reduce all our dependence upon fossil fuels.

In the last few months we’ve been able to decrease our landfill by 20%, in part because we prepare many fruits and vegetable in-store, so can earmark the trimmings for Cawleys. At this time we are the only retailer in the UK working in this way.