Poundland partnership awarded for changing families’ lives

Our partnership with Poundland – which has raised £6 million in 5 years for Tommy’s, Make-A-Wish and Whizz-Kidz charities – is recognised for its life-changing impact on families.

We’re thrilled to announce that our partnership with Poundland has been recognised at a leading awards ceremony.

At this year’s Corporate Engagement Awards our collaboration with retailer Poundland, Make-A-Wish, and Whizz-Kidz received a Gold Prize for ‘Best alignment of brand values during a CSR programme’ and was highly commended in the category of ‘Most innovative collaboration’. The Poundland Foundation also received a Bronze award for ‘Best foundation’.

Now in its 6th year, the Poundland Partnership (originally known as #Proudland) is now part of the recently-formed Poundland Foundation which runs a community grants programme supporting charities and organisations working to support their local communities.

Support from Poundland, and its colleagues, customers and supplier, has been vital for us, particularly during the difficult financial climate. It helps fund our research to save babies’ lives and our information and support for thousands of women and pregnant people and their families. Support from the retailer also helps raise important awareness and break the silence around baby loss. 

We’re delighted to say that our partnership has now been extended until September 2023. 

The Foundation’s fundraising highlights this year include the Poundland Foundation Inaugural Golf Day in May and a second Golf Day in September. Alongside Poundland stores’ fundraising Big Weekend in July, a total of £250,000 was raised for Tommy’s and our partners.

After launching in October 2017, #Proudland beat its early aim to change 10,000 families’ lives within 3 years and has now grown and evolved further, raising more money and supporting more families across the UK than expected. 

The launch of the Pennies fundraising initiative in October 2020 was a milestone moment in our partnership, enabling Poundland to connect with their customers while raising £250,000 through donated pennies in Poundland stores in less than a year.

Kath Abrahams, Tommy’s Chief Executive, said: 

We are incredibly proud of our partnership with the Poundland Foundation and our friends at Make-A-Wish and Whizz Kidz. It’s a truly unique partnership and it’s fantastic to see these achievements recognised with 3 awards.

The Poundland Foundation is helping Tommy’s make strides towards our goal of halving the number of babies who die in pregnancy and birth by making sure everyone has access to good, safe maternity care. We have a huge amount still to do but through this partnership’s continued support, we can continue to fund lifesaving research and work for change which reduces inequalities and makes pregnancy safer for all.

Lucy Ruff, Poundland's Charity Foundation Manager, said:

This is such a brilliant achievement and one we are all really proud of. We don’t believe anyone has created a charity partnership like this before and thanks to the fundraising efforts of our colleagues, customers and suppliers, we’ve raised over £6 million for our amazing charity partners; Tommy’s, Make-A-Wish UK and Whizz-Kidz.

Our Foundation has got off to a cracking start too, and we’re delighted that we’ve been able to help communities up and down the country through our national grants programme, whilst continuing to support these 3 incredible charities, and the vital services they provide
 

Launched in 2011 by Communicate magazine, the annual Corporate Engagement Awards recognises the most successful and innovative corporate partnerships and sponsorships which excel and push boundaries, and the way these collaborations are communicated to the public. This year’s awards ceremony took place on 27 September in London.