Alliance Boots is committed to supporting worthwhile causes that benefit the communities we serve. During the year the Group made charitable cash donations totalling £1.8 million. In addition to supporting partner organisations financially, we believe it is vital to assist them by building awareness of their mission and goals, and by inspiring our customers and employees to become involved.
We focus considerable time creating and developing partnerships with non-profit organisations to make a positive impact on the lives of our neighbours, our communities and our society. Our dedication to helping others is evident in the activities of our retail stores, distribution centres and offices. Alliance Boots is proud to be a Group that is dedicated to caring and making a difference in the communities we serve.
The Group has no affiliation to any political party or group in any country and makes no political donations.
Some examples of charitable support and giving are below:
The Managing Director of Alliance Healthcare (Distribution) in the UK wrote to employees with a guide to understanding prostate health. The team felt it was important to educate employees on this important subject and encouraged all employees to share this information with male and female family members and friends.
In order to spread the news to our pharmacist customers, our drivers were asked to wear ‘I’m Aware’ badges to raise awareness of this campaign. The team also created a news page and special home page banner on their website to encourage people to become aware. The news item also included a downloadable guide for pharmacy customers to use to educate themselves and their colleagues.
Alliance Healthcare (Distribution) in the UK also held a nationwide ‘Do it Blue’ day in March where many at the Chessington office dressed in blue and paid £1 for the privilege.
In November 2010, Boots Charitable Trust celebrated its 40th Anniversary. It has donated over £10 million over the last 40 years to local charities and community organisations in Nottinghamshire.
The Trust, which was established in 1970, has played an important role in supporting the voluntary sector in Nottinghamshire and in particular smaller organisations, which provide vital services to local people. Boots was founded in Nottingham over 160 years ago and today the business in the UK continues to play a valuable role in local communities through its charitable giving, charity partnerships, employee fundraising and volunteering programmes.
The Trustees visited Newark and Nottinghamshire’s Child Bereavement and Loss Centre, known locally as Sue’s Place, which provides individual bereavement support and play therapy for children aged 3 to 18 years in Newark and Nottinghamshire as well as Newark and Sherwood CVS, which provides information, training, advice, technical and practical services to local voluntary and community groups.
Boots Charitable Trust’s Chair of Trustees, said: “During the last 40 years the Trust has made significant donations to charitable projects and we’re delighted that it continues to offer support to local projects and recognises Boots’ long history with Nottinghamshire.”
Sue Tomlinson from Sue’s Place in Newark said: “Sue’s Place has received funding from the Boots Charitable Trust for the salary cost of a part–time children’s events organiser for two years. The organiser has proved a huge resource for us and has setup many workshops and activity days for the children, including a Mother’s Day workshop, crafts workshop, yoga and Newark Carnival.”
Il Comitato Assistenza Malati Tigullio, was founded in 1982 and now has about 1,500 members and many supporters. It is a medical charity responsible for providing information to patients on treatment facilities and our associate, Alliance Healthcare Italy is a long standing supporter of the charity. This year fund raising activities helped to purchase new rehabilitation equipment for the Sestri Levante Hospital.
Our Alliance Healthcare UK wholesale business has three charity partners, The Prostate Cancer Charity, Leonard Cheshire Disability and CLIC Sargent, all of whom are closely aligned to the core business – healthcare and the local community. By supporting these charities, we are raising awareness of the important issues affecting thousands of families across the UK each year and raising much needed funds.
Our fundraising efforts support people in the community through respite care, medical and social support and research. In addition to management time donated, our employees also undertook a number of activities that raised money for these charities.
In other countries, our wholesale businesses, including our associates, are affiliated with many local and national charities. These include Laço, Novo Futuro, Farmaceuticos Sin Fronteras and Humanity Education Love.
Alphega Pharmacy in France has a partnership with an association called Plus de Vie, raising funds to improve the living conditions of the 860,000 elderly people in hospitals in France. The association helps the elderly and ill in a number of ways: combating pain; helping elderly people maintain normal activity; bringing families closer to their relatives by funding the creation of more welcoming spaces in the hospitals and the creation of small apartments for families; developing activities for elderly people in hospital such as cooking, gardening, painting; improving services and well-being within the hospitals.
All Alphega pharmacies have taken part by promoting Plus de Vie in their pharmacies through poster and leaflet campaigns.
The NGO Banco Farmacéutico organises an annual Medicines Collection Day when pharmacy customers donate medicines to some of Spain’s poorest people. Banco Farmacéutico’s mission is to respond to the need for medicines and drugs among the poorest people in our society. The Day took place in 2011 on 12 February with Banco Farmacéutico collecting the medicines from pharmacies to be sent to people in need. Alliance Healthcare España plays its part in the campaign by helping with the communications campaign to pharmacists and distributing campaign material to participants.
On 17 October 2010, ten Megapharm employees completed the Drei-Brücken-Lauf at Bonn-Beuel, a 10km charity run organised in aid of children living with cancer in Germany. The Megapharm running team was accompanied by colleagues and friends, who came to cheer them on, despite the harsh wind, all wearing their Megapharm running shirts.
Founded by the violinist Yehudi Menuhin, MUS-E (Musique Europe) is a European project that aims to bring music to all children, especially the socially excluded. The MUS-E Italy Association was founded in 1999 in Milan with the task of promoting and coordinating the European project within Italy. Since then, MUS-E Italy has never stopped growing and today is one of the most important MUS-E in Europe. The MUS-E project is offered for free to all children in participating classes.
Our associate, Alliance Healthcare Italia has worked for years with MUS-E Italia supporting the creation of new classes and the start up of new projects.