Grocery and retail staff are, by nature, deeply connected to the communities around their stores.
They see first-hand the pressures on households, the charities stepping in to help, and the organisations holding local life together.
As such, many employees are keen to support the causes they know make a difference, yet participation in CSR (corporate social responsibility) and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) programmes can still vary widely across retail estates.
But the gap is rarely about motivation; it is almost always about access and awareness, writes Steve Butterworth, CEO of Neighbourly.
Head office retail teams typically have easier access to systems, schedules, and communication channels that make involvement in – and reporting on – corporate giving programmes easy. By contrast, many in-store colleagues face a very different day-to-day reality – often experiencing limited digital access, no central email, time-pressured shifts, and unpredictable workloads. Even when the intention is to create inclusive, estate-wide programmes, the tools used to deliver them and capture their impact often assume a level of access and flexibility that frontline teams don’t always have.
And as public and regulatory expectations rise for reporting on credible, auditable, estate-wide impact, this structural divide has become even more visible. Retailers are being judged not just on what they fund centrally, but on whether colleagues across sites can take part meaningfully. One of the most effective ways I’ve seen retailers address this is through employee-nominated donation programmes, which empower colleagues ‘on the ground’ to select local charities and good causes to get support (e.g. financial and product donations) from a national retail chain while removing the friction that prevents frontline participation.
A practical, locally led solution
Employee-nominated grants offer store teams the ability to put forward a good cause they know and trust, without navigating multiple internal systems or lengthy processes. These schemes can prove far more inclusive than many traditional CSR initiatives because they work with operational realities – not against them.
This model already underpins some of the strongest programmes in the sector, from the JD Foundation’s Colleague Charity Nominations and Lidl’s Community Fund to New Look’s in-store fundraising – both of which show what can happen when retailers put the agency in the hands of the colleagues that best understand the communities around them. The result is support that reflects genuine local need and staff engagement, delivered in a way that feels natural rather than prescribed. Some take it further and get their customers to vote for the causes staff nominate.
At Neighbourly, we see this every day; when colleagues choose the charities they support, participation increases, outcomes improve, and the data produced is more meaningful. And for central teams, the reassurance comes from having all the data aggregated into a single system that validates charities, disburses grants, and reports impact consistently across the estate. For store colleagues, the reassurance is simply that they can make a difference without adding to their workload.
Why frontline accessibility matters
The CSR and ESG landscape is shifting quickly, with an increasing focus on social value pledges by businesses becoming more common place and, thanks to the Procurement Act 2023, a necessity. Organisations must demonstrate impact with rigour – not anecdotes. What’s more, retailers must increasingly show evidence of how they are contributing to communities at every location – not only in regions with strong administrative access.
If only central teams can participate fully, retailers limit both cultural alignment and measurable impact. That imbalance becomes visible in reporting and undermines the authenticity of charitable donation programmes and CSR commitments. Colleague-nominated giving removes this tension by offering an easy, consistent mechanism that any location can use. Furthermore, it can create a valuable customer engagement opportunity too.
Accessibility is a strategic issue, and the more a programme relies on spare capacity or centralised sign-up, the more likely it is to exclude the very colleagues most connected to local community needs. Employee-nominated schemes avoid this pitfall and are fast becoming a cornerstone of programmes designed to reach entire retail estates, hyper localising the impact but at a national scale.
From our experience working with retailers across the UK and Ireland, several principles consistently underpin successful colleague-led giving schemes.
1. Make the entry point genuinely simple
Participation increases when colleagues can nominate a charity quickly, without navigating complex corporate systems. QR codes in staff rooms, a short nomination form, or a manager-led prompt during daily huddles can make a big difference.
2. Use the local insights colleagues already hold
Store teams often have long-standing personal relationships with community groups. Enabling colleagues to direct funding ensures support is anchored in real need, rather than assumptions made centrally.
3. Prioritise reporting from the start
Central teams require reliable data for impact measurement, procurement requirements, and investor reporting. A consolidated system that tracks, validates and reports outcomes removes administrative pressure from stores while providing the clarity organisations need.
4. Connect giving with other impact activity where appropriate
Some of the most effective surplus redistribution programmes now include elements of employee engagement. When a store regularly donates surplus products to a local organisation, a colleague-led grant can help that charity expand capacity or deliver additional services – strengthening both sides of the partnership.
5. Engage customers in the journey, too
Enabling customers to nominate causes in store or online is another meaningful step to ensure engagement reflects real local priorities. This opens up the vote to the local community, ensuring they feel heard and at the heart of the process. Strengthening culture, insight and delivery What is clear from our work is that colleague-led giving can also strengthen culture by signalling that the organisation trusts colleagues’ understanding of local needs. It encourages dialogue between store teams and head office, sparks new relationships with community partners, and reinforces the retailer’s role as part of local life.
The data produced is equally valuable. Understanding which causes colleagues nominate, how funds are disbursed regionally, and what outcomes are achieved enables retailers to shape future community investment strategies with greater precision. It also provides a clearer picture of community need across different types of stores, from urban high streets and rural centres to out of town retail parks and shopping centres.
Closing the gap between ambition and reality It’s no secret that retailers are facing mounting pressure to demonstrate credible, measurable, inclusive social and environmental impact. But as long as programmes depend on digital access or administrative capacity that varies across sites, participation will remain uneven.
Employee-nominated giving respects the operational environment of store teams, harnesses their community knowledge, and delivers outcomes that can be evidenced clearly and consistently. Most importantly, it gives every colleague – regardless of location or shift pattern – a meaningful way to contribute.
For a sector built on local service and trust, the most effective strategies will be those that align with how frontline colleagues actually work. When programmes are designed with that reality in mind, impact becomes easier to deliver and far more meaningful for the communities that retailers serve.
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