Sainsbury’s to donate £1 million to support black communities and social enterprises
Sainsbury’s is to donate over £1 million to charities, businesses and social enterprises that support the UK’s black community.
The move follows last year’s commitment by the supermarket to take action and stand together with its black colleagues and customers to tackle racism and drive change.
Over the last year, the retailer has joined the Black British Network to help improve inclusivity and representation across the business. It has also set new black, ethnically diverse and gender targets for 2024 to improve diversity in senior roles, and tripled its investment in the development of ethnically diverse colleagues. In addition, 1,400 senior leaders within the business have completed race fluency training to help them to talk confidently about race and ethnicity and understand the experiences of ethnically diverse colleagues.
In a first donation, Sainsbury’s is partnering with anti-racism educational charity Show Racism the Red Card to help it provide new educational resources to every school in England, Scotland and Wales for the first time in its 25-year history.
This will be the first of over £1 million in donations that Sainsbury’s will make over the next year to organisations tackling racism, social mobility, food insecurity and supporting black education and businesses. Any remaining funds will be invested through local partners tackling food poverty within black communities.
Simon Roberts, chief executive of Sainsbury’s, said: “Making progress against the commitments we have made to our black colleagues and customers is something that we are focused on all year round, but I always look forward to us coming together in October to show support and to celebrate the Black community. As one of the UK’s biggest retailers, we know we can use our size and scale to make a real difference to black communities, driving education and long-term change in our society. We’re delighted that we can play our part and support through donations which have real impact.”
Sainsbury’s has also recently adopted The Halo Code, the UK’s first black hair code, which protects employees who come to work with natural hair and hairstyles associated with their racial, ethnic, and cultural identities. It is also working to ensure its ranges reflect the local communities it serves and will add over 50 new products to its African and Caribbean ranges from March next year. Products include a range of snacks, drinks, condiments and spices.
As part of its Future Brands programme, Sainsbury’s is providing mentoring, advice and guidance to smaller black owned businesses at critical stages as they grow. In addition, it is working with black owned businesses to launch new ranges of health and beauty products, such as the Dr Shea skincare range, which launched in June.
