John Lewis Partnership plc annual report and accounts 2012

Business review Resources and relationships (continued)

Customers, products and suppliers (continued)

In June 2011, the Partnership joined the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), a collaborative arrangement between businesses, trade unions and NGOs which aims to improve the lives of workers internationally.

The Partnership has two supply chain foundations: the Waitrose Foundation established in 2005, which contributed £550,000 to projects supporting communities inWaitrose’s supply chain in Africa in 2011/12; and the John Lewis Foundation which has invested £58,500 in 2011/12 in projects which support and service the communities where John Lewis products are sourced.

Community

Local investment

 The Partnership believes it can play a vital role in creating vibrant and sustainable town centres and aims to create comfortable, attractive environments for customers, build stronger relationships with our neighbours and attract, train and recruit local people. The Waitrose Effect and John Lewis Effect documents (available on www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk) provide further detail on this approach.

Graph showing Charitable and community investment

Community programmes included:

• The Partnership donating over £3m in 2011/12 to a wide range of charities and community groups through Community Matters.

• Providing Community Rooms which was launched in 2011 whereby Waitrose and John Lewis shops make their meeting and training rooms available free of charge to local charities and community groups.

• The Partnership-wide payroll giving scheme which is well established enabling Partners to make tax-free charitable donations directly from their pay.

• The Golden Jubilee Trust which is the Partnership’s flagship employee volunteering scheme where any Partner can apply for a full- or part-time volunteering secondment with a UK registered charity for up to six months. In 2011/12, this scheme saw 21,000 hours awarded to 58 Partners for 57 UK charities.

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