Community impact

Progress 2007 cont...

Community investment

Once a store is open we aim to make a contribution to the local community beyond serving customers and providing local jobs. Our involvement varies from country to country but we typically support environmental action, healthy lifestyles and children. Many countries also choose a Charity of the Year as a focus for fundraising.

We aim to give at least 1% of pre-tax profits to charity. In 2007 our total contribution came to £54.4 million or 1.95%.

Disaster relief

We respond to local needs following emergencies and disasters. In 2007 we made donations including £20,000 to the Red Cross appeal to support victims of the floods in Asia, £10,000 to bring relief to those affected by the hurricanes in the Dominican Republic where we source much of our Fairtrade banana crop, and £10,000 to a Red Cross appeal to support those affected by the unrest in the Rift Valley in Kenya where a we source several of our produce lines.

In February 2008 we donated £20,000 through our business in China to the local Government Ministry in the Guangzhou province, which was particularly hard hit by the worst snow storms in 50 years. We also donated food and daily necessities to local disabled people.

In the wake of flooding in Malaysia, Tesco provided £25,000 in aid for victims in three states, benefiting 6,000 homes. We provided basic necessities such as dry food items, drinking water, nappies and toiletries such as soap and shampoo. On 29 December, 48 colleagues from the Klang Valley stores and head office volunteered to clean up areas affected by floods in Pahang, such as a kindergarten, a library and a community centre. The team also donated food and books to local residents.

The British Red Cross is our official emergency partner and in 2007 we worked together to bring relief to the thousands of people affected by the floods in the UK. As the floods hit we acted immediately to deliver much-needed bottled water to the area, providing half of the emergency water supplies during the crisis. We also donated over £76,000 of essential items, including food, hygiene packs and sleeping bags, and our local staff worked hard to look after customers - sometimes overnight. We were also the first company to donate £100,000 to the British Red Cross Flood Emergency Fund and we held a customer collection in our stores which raised £52,000.

Education

We have a responsibility to contribute to the capabilities of tomorrow's workforce, which includes training and development (see Our people - Trading and development). Education is one of the key areas where customers believe our support is very important, and where we can make a real difference.

As we open and refit stores in China we provide sponsorships for local students to cover schooling and textbooks. Tesco supported more than 7,000 disadvantaged students in 2007. In Hungary, we have set up local partnerships with schools and colleges, making donations worth approximately £50,000 a year.

In Poland, Tesco for Schools ran for the sixth time in 2007. Half of all schools in Poland, approximately 15,000, have taken part in the programme. We provided more than 4,000 schools with equipment worth 6.5 million PLN (approximately £1.5 million). We also worked with the Teachers' Association and the Consumer Federation to educate young people in nutrition, helping them to make healthy shopping choices.

Computers for Schools ran for the 16th year in 2007 - making it the UK's longest running schools' programme. Since 1992 we have donated approximately £118 million worth of computer equipment to over 30,000 schools. In 2007 around 20,000 schools received equipment worth £7.5 million, including more than 1,600 computers. Customers receive one voucher (subject to some exclusions) for every £10 spent (every £5 spent in Express stores). They donate the vouchers to their local schools, which exchange them for free equipment from our catalogue. Since 2006, schools have been able to collect additional vouchers (690,000 vouchers so far) by recycling old mobile phones and inkjet cartridges.

Tesco Ireland has run Computers for Schools since 1998. Since the scheme began we have donated 3,000 computers and over 50,000 additional items, bringing the total invested in the scheme to over €10 million. The range of equipment and materials now includes items such as digital cameras, arts and crafts materials, and Irish language, literacy and numeracy software.

In South Korea we offer the largest environment programme for children, for free. The annual eParan Environment Education Programme educates children on the importance of protecting the environment. This programme has been offered since 2000 and 14,000 children have taken part so far.

Promoting healthy, active lifestyles

One of our priorities is to help customers live healthier lifestyles through offering the right opportunity, information and incentive (see Customer choice health and nutrition). In 2007 we launched active lifestyle campaigns in several countries, including Thailand, where we offered an aerobic exercise campaign to customers. In Turkey we worked with three NGOs to get 5,000 people active at walking, cycling or running events supported by Tesco.

As part of our UK Community Plan pledge to get two million people active by 2012, we support a variety of activities aimed at increasing participation in sport and other aspects of a healthy lifestyle. There are several programmes in the UK, including the following.

• FA Tesco Skills Programme - a three-year partnership with the National Sports Foundation and the Football Association, beginning in 2007. We aim to get a million children active and involved by 2010, providing them with top-quality skills coaching.
• Tesco Great School Run - children are invited to take part in the event, which is held simultaneously in schools across the UK and Ireland, as a fun exercise and to encourage them to think more about healthy eating and the importance of physical activity as part of a balanced lifestyle. The initiative also aims to persuade teachers and education chiefs to make sure that sport and recreational activity figure high on the academic agenda. Almost 700,000 children participated in 2007, the second year that the event took place.
• Cancer Research UK's Race for Life - supported for the sixth consecutive year in 2007, when 655,000 women, including nearly 22,000 Tesco staff, took part in events. We also supported the Cancer Research UK 10k runs for the third time in 2007 - 38,000 men and women helped to raise £3.8 million.

Charity of the Year Several of our businesses choose a charity to be the main focus for staff fundraising. Our business in the Czech Republic decided to work with children's hospitals, and we worked with the Red Cross in Slovakia and the Red Crescent in Turkey.

In Hungary we are working with the Salva Vita Foundation to provide training and opportunities in-store to help people with intellectual disabilities return to the job market. By the end of 2007, we had seven disabled colleagues working with us. We have extended the programme to more stores and aim to have 50 disabled colleagues in stores by the end of 2008.

In Ireland, the Charity of the Year 2007 was Temple Street Children's Hospital, which serves communities throughout the country. Over €1.4 million was raised towards the redevelopment of the St Michael's 'B' Ward, which cares for neo-natal patients, premature babies and those up to 18 months old. The children may have long-term debilitating illnesses, or be in need of surgical and medical care.

In the UK, our Charity of the Year 2007 was the British Red Cross. The theme of our partnership was 'Crisis Care in your Neighbourhood'. Money raised by our staff will help people at a local level by funding crisis care services in local communities around the country. We raised £4.55 million, more than double our target and a record fundraising total since Charity of the Year began in 1988.

KPI	2007/8
Regeneration	To initiate six regeneration partnership stores.
Brownfield sites	To develop 90% of our new stores on brownfield sites.
Charitable giving	To donate at least 1% of our pre-tax profits to charities and good causes.
Computers for schools	To increase the cumulative value of computer equipment to schools to £118 million and the number of new schools participating by 2,000.
Sport for schools and clubs	To supply sports equipment and coaching to schools to the value of £9.5 million, and to increase the number of new schools and clubs participating by 3,000.
Race for Life	To help recruit 800,000 women including 24,000 Tesco staff to participate and help raise sponsorship to £60 million.
Below target Close to target On target Above target	View the complete KPI table