Co-op hopes to raise around £30m for people struggling with Covid-19
Retailer Co-op has initiated a programme that enables members to donate shopping rewards to try to raise around £30m to help families struggling with the Covid-19 lockdown.
The plan also includes chief executives cutting their salary and putting it towards the fund. Steve Murrells, CEO of the Co-op said he would donate 20% of his salary for the next three months - more than £200,000 - to support food banks, funeral hardship funds and other charitable causes.
“Millions of people are suffering financial hardship at the moment and so it felt right for me to offer to take this pay cut and directly support causes which are very important to me and close to my heart,” Murrells said.
The food retailer estimates that its 4.6m members have built up points worth £30m by earning a reward of 5% every time they buy a Co-op brand or service. It is now encouraging them to donate these points to its new coronavirus fund.
Initially, the donations will be used to support food banks and a funeral bereavement fund.
The food retailer also scrapped its Easter TV advertising campaign to donate the airtime – worth £2.5m – to promoting FareShare, a food bank charity.
The Co-op also announced it had created an extra 5,000 jobs in its stores to cope with increased demand, and is offering temporary employment contracts to hospitality worker who lost their jobs over the lockdown period.