Log in
Watch Our Video
Getting donations from companies is hard work so here's how to get UK companies to donate to schools and charity fundraisers. The free Help Finder enables any charity to find the best local companies willing to donate to charity and to sponsor events, or request donations to charities and schools, including companies with match funding and that provide other support. I've included a list of companies that donate to charity and schools at the bottom. The system is being extended and its capabilities improved. As at July 2024, we had 1,100+ providers and 28 search categories, of which 10 are for companies (see below). If you're new to securing donations from companies, read our guide to corporate fundraising.
Quick, simple and very effective.
Find Funding, Free Help & Resources - Everything Is Free.
To create a list of the best businesses and local companies that donate to charity and schools, login to Help Finder. Select UK Wide and your UK country, then select Donations - Funding from the Category menu, then click Search.
The system will display links and details of companies that donate to charity and the types of charity donation each makes. Some very large companies have 1000s of outlets, so I've included an office locator link in the text. Copy and paste this into your browser to find the company office or outlet local to you.
To get donations from local companies, use the England - City/County section to enter your county and/or city. Then click Search. The system will display details of each provider, with a link to the relevant section of its website.
You can refine your location search by using the Keyword box for countries globally and major UK cities, such as Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow. I'm Scottish, but I've also added in cities such as Belfast, Cardiff and Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds. I've also uploaded lots of other cities and towns but there are 40,000 in the UK, so it's worth a try but a bit of a lucky dip.
Types of Company Support. If you're looking for something specific, use the Category pull down menu for:
You can also search using:
Charity Sectors. You can also use the Keyword search box for getting donations from companies for specific kinds of charities. For example, terms such as young people (100 results), education (114), health (146) or disability (42).
Companies may use different terminology, so try several search terms. For example, not only poverty, but also social inclusion and disadvantaged.
Or drill down.
You can also search for other issues, such as employment (51) and justice (14).
Small Charities and Marginalised Groups. These are our priority. There is already Food (54) and Minoritised Groups (59) options in the Category pull down menu but you can also now use terms, such as disability, BAME, women and LGB in the Keyword search box, although these are still work in progress. As above, you can drill down from searches such as BAME (21) using 'asylum' or 'refugee' (15).
New functionality is being rolled out specifically to support local groups and small charities. I'm also creating simple How To guides in areas such as corporate fundraising, raffle prizes and GAYE Payroll Giving to help more 'smalls' develop these areas of fundraising. Links to these automatically appear in searches.
Ethics Note: Our ethics policy is that people should be called whatever they wish to be but for data, we use terms that everyone will recognise, even if they don't all always particularly agree with them.
More Coming. I am in the process of building up the numbers of companies on the system, developing new kinds of functionality and there will be major upgrades in the autumn. the end result will be a system that is far more capable but also much easier to navigate.
Applying for company donations to charity is usually fairly simple and often only requires an e mail or for you to complete a web form. However, you still need to ensure that you make a compelling and emotionally engaging case for your charity. Once logged in, you can use the in-system AI bunny to write a fundraising case for you. We'll be automating this soon to make getting donations even quicker and simpler.
Here are some companies willing to donate to charity and schools from Help Finder. Always enter UK Wide and your UK country, as many large companies that donate to charity and schools do so either UK wide or through their local outlets, some have 1000s - I include a location finder in the text for you.
| DFS | About 130 stores UK wide. The company donates to charity in 3 ways. Staff have 1 paid volunteering day per year. They donate up to 1% of their products to local charities and community organisations and up to 1% of their profit to charity. Part of that is a Match Giving Scheme where they match fund colleague fundraising efforts. Head office is in Doncaster, store locator. |
| Card Factory | The company supports local charity causes, and provides match funding for donations raised by colleagues for charity. Head office is in Wakefield, West Yorkshire and they have 1000+ stores In the UK and Ireland. Paste this link into your browser for their store locator - https://www.cardfactory.co.uk/storefinder/ |
| Bentley’s - Advancing Life Chances Small Grants Programme | The company donates to charity (income under £1 million). In 19 locations across the UK. There are 18 Bentley UK retailer locations and their HQ and Manufacturing site in Crewe. Charities and schools must be located within a 20-mile radius of the sites. Grants are decided on a quarterly basis. Site locator - https://www.bentleymotors.com/en/apps/dealer-locator.html/country/GB-UNITED-KINGDOM |
| Amazon Giving Locally | Staff at each location select the local charities the company will donate to and the local Charity Committee then creates a shortlist of charities which employees vote on each month. They also provide volunteering opportunities for staff. In the UK they have operations in Cambridge, Edinburgh, London and Manchester and 20+ distribution centres. Distribution centre locations. |
| Barratt & David Wilson Homes | The company has national charity partnerships, but also a Community Fund that allows each division to donate £1,000 each month to a local charity. They have 5 English and 1 Scottish regions. |
Here are some companies that donate to charity and schools locally from Help Finder. Don't forget to include your major UK city or English county in your search criteria, if applicable. If not, you can always try using the Key Word search box to see what comes up.
| Crerar Hotel Group | Funded by the company, the Crerar Trust makes donations to charity of more than half of the company’s profits. These charities have links to where Crerar Hotels are based or have interests. The company has donated over £4 million in the past 10 years. They're based in Edinburgh and have 7 hotels, mostly in the north of Scotland. |
| Champneys | The company has donated specialist equipment such as wheelchairs, play and sensory room equipment, computers and car seats. They also hold fundraising events and organise high-profile charity challenge events. They particularly like to support charities nominated by guests. Applications for charity donations can be made by email or in writing. They have 6 resorts in Hampshire, Bedfordshire, Leicestershire, Cheshire, Kent and Hertfordshire. |
| Alton Towers | Alton Towers Resort donates to a number of charity projects in Staffordshire and the Staffordshire Moorlands every year either through financial donations or complimentary tickets. |
| British Sugar | The company donates to local charities and schools across East Anglia and the East Midlands and also donates time and skills. They allocate funds to their factories in Bury St Edmunds, Cantley, Newark and Wissington and head office in Peterborough. Individuals (staff?) apply for charity donations. They also match fund up to £250 money raised by staff. In Peterborough, they nominate a charity of the year and the company has donated food via its Christmas Appeal. |
| Headland Hotel | The company has a community fund managed by Cornwall Community Foundation. Funds are raised by inviting guests to make an optional charity donation at check out, and through staff and local community fundraising events. They support local grassroots charities in Newquay. Average grant is £3000, although higher awards may be available in exceptional circumstances. |
| Arnold Plant Hire | Arnold Plant Hire Ltd hires plant and machinery. They operate from 2 locations, Bredbury, Stockport and Four Ashes, Cannock. The company supports a range of charity activities both for large national charities (maybe local branches) and local ones in Cheshire and Staffordshire. |
| J Dickinson & Sons | A Bolton based bin, skip hire and recycling business, they support local charity events close to their heart. They've provided skips, vehicles for parades and flowers, so a bit of everything. Fill out their enquiry form or call them on 01204 696446. |
| Kettle Foods Ltd | Based in Norwich (Norfolk) the company supports 2 local charities, but also have a charities committee and support local charities nominated by their staff. |
| Roys Department Stores | Raffle and product donations and raising money in other ways such as wearing fancy dress on special days. The company says it donated to 179 local charities in the previous year. Based in Wroxham, Norfolk, they have 14 stores in Norfolk and Suffolk. |
UK limited companies and businesses pay less Corporation Tax when they make donations to charity:
Companies can claim tax relief by deducting the value of their donations from their total business profits before they pay tax.
A registered charity ourselves, we provide 8 online health checks, the huge information hub, Quality Mark and 2 other online directories.
Quick, simple and very effective. Nearly half our ratings are 10/10.
Find Funding, Free Help & Resources - Everything Is Free.
To access help and resources on anything to do with running a charity, including funding, click the AI Bunny icon in the bottom right of your screen and ask it short questions, including key words. Register, then login and the in-system AI Bunny is able to write funding bids and download 40+ charity policy templates as well.
