Community

1996 - Landmine Campaign
The Co-operative Bank calls on all other banks to support its stance on not financing the manufacture or sale of landmines. It takes out full-page advertisements in national newspapers to publicise the dangers of landmines.

1997 - Campaign to improve the portrayal of disabled people in the media
As part of its 'Customers who Care' initiative, The Co-operative Bank, together the National Disability Council, launches a campaign challenging top media executives in advertising and television production to portray disabled people in a more positive fashion.

1997- Community Dividend
Twice a year, some two million Co-op Dividend cardholders are paid a dividend on the Co-op brand goods they have bought. Every cardholder has the option of donating the odd pence earned between zero and 99p from his or her dividend payment to the Co-operative Group Community Dividend, a scheme that awards funding to a variety of groups that are carrying out projects for the benefit of local communities.

1998- Community Nutrition
Working in partnership with Greater Glasgow Health Board, the Co-operative Group supports the UK's first Retail based Community Nutritionist, operating at a local level in the Glasgow Barrachnie and Kingco communities. This was in response to the recommendations of the Scottish Diet Report and Scottish Diet Action plan where it was considered that practical problem solving was necessary at local and community level to achieve sustained and progressive changes in diet.

1999 - Social Exclusion
The Co-op initiates a huge drive to tackle the problem of 'retail deserts' in the UK's poorest and most isolated areas. The Co-op aims to persuade the government to lift political barriers in the way of successful self-help co-ops; whilst for its part it will pledge to tackle the practical barriers by committing management expertise and financial support to encourage the development of co-op food projects across the UK. This move is outlined in the Co-op's 'Breaking the Barriers' report, and is triggered by independent research amongst self-help food initiatives and community food co-ops in Scotland, where poor diet can mean people live 10 years less than the UK average

1999 - Charitable Support
Our charitable support is focused on a major bi-annual campaign programme. In 1999 a combination of staff fund raising and customer and supplier donations raised £440,000 for the NSPCC.

1999 - ATMs in cash machine deserts
Space-age technology enables Co-op stores, in partnership with The Co-operative Bank, to place cash dispensers in communities that would otherwise be regarded as 'Cash machine deserts'.

1999 - Community Involvement Programme
The CIS Community Involvement Programme demonstrates the Society's commitment to the community by reflecting the concerns and aspirations of customers and employees. It encourages people to achieve personal fulfilment and development through being an active and responsible member of the community. The four objectives of the programme are: providing employee volunteering opportunities that benefit communities and enhance the personal development of the employees involved; strengthening communities; fostering the positive development of young people; and offering support for medical research and medical charities.

1999 - Launch of Social Responsible Investment
CIS operates a Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) policy across its £20bn-plus investment portfolio. SRI works by CIS researching the performance of companies it invests in and persuading them to follow best practice. This helps identify areas where the company has exposed itself to risks, such as sourcing items from a Third World supplier that ignores proper employment practices.

2000 - Launch of Greater Manchester Cares
CIS become the founding member of Greater Manchester Cares, based on an initiative which has been successful in the USA for more than ten years. It combines high-profile volunteer 'Action Day' with a newsletter-style 'calendar of opportunity' which gives details of specific volunteering projects, to be matched closely with suitable volunteers drawn from local businesses.

2001 - New-look funeral homes
Co-operative Funeralcare takes a radical step away from funeral tradition by giving funeral homes a warm and welcoming new look. The Funeralcare premises in Hayes, West London set the scene for a new generation of Co-operative Group funeral premises, which use light and airy modern design techniques in order to help the bereaved feel more at ease.

2001 - Taking Fear our of Funerals
Co-operative Funeralcare publishes the report, Taking the Fear out of Funerals. It contains results from the biggest ever attitudinal study into death and funerals, identifies changing public needs, particularly in respect of taking fear away from the funeral arrangement process and the need to make each funeral a special tribute to an individual. Co-operative Funeralcare launches the Funeralcare Initiative, an action plan designed to ensure these needs are met.

2001 - Get Cooking Get Shopping
'Get Cooking, Get Shopping' is a resource pack for developing community based cooking and shopping skills. The scheme was originally developed and run in Scotland in the 1990's by the Co-operative Group, the Scottish Federation of Community Food Initiatives (SFCFI), Greater Glasgow Health Board, the Scottish Community Diet Project (SCDP), and Sustain; the alliance for better food and farming.

2001 - Access to Credit
The Co-operative Bank sponsors a hard hitting report, Access to Credit For Families on Low Incomes, which looks at the credit options available to Britain's financially excluded who cannot get loans from banks and other mainstream providers. The report's author, Paul Jones of Liverpool John Moores University, shows how families on low incomes gain extra money to finance basic needs like furniture of children's clothing, from a flourishing alternative lending market.

2001 - Community Nutrition Advice
The Co-operative Group is committed, as a responsible retailer, to providing the information to help and encourage people to improve their overall diet and health. One way of doing this is by acting as a networking resource for food & nutrition best practice and offering signposting to other relevant information sources via the website.

2001 - Marie Curie - Co-op Caring Together Campaign
The Co-op works tirelessly to supports is charity partnership in 2001 and raises over £680,000 for Marie Curie Cancer Care. This campaign is a great success and a finalist in the Business in the Community Awards, receiving a BITIC Big Tick endorsement.

2001 - Co-op Community Grants
CIS gives directly to community organisations through the CIS Co-operative Community Grants Scheme. Funding is awarded to grass roots groups and projects which have a positive impact on the development of young people and those which clearly strengthen local communities. Grants can e used to expand existing activities or start new ones. Larger grants are available for new co-operative enterprises, for economic or social purposes, leading to the creation of jobs or an increase in occupational training provision.

2001 - Citizenship Matters Education Resources Pack
CIS showed its commitment to education through the development of a citizenship resource pack for Key Stage 4 pupils. Building and strengthening communities is at the heart of the business' co-operative ethos, which means that it is committed to education at all levels through mentoring, paired reading, school governors and education resources.

2002 - Community Food Discount
The Co-operative Group launch the Community Food Discount Card, which offers local self-help groups such as community cafes, food co-ops, breakfast clubs and not-for-profit village stores, the opportunity to get 10% discount off virtually everything they buy from one of the 1,800 food stores we operate in neighbourhoods across the UK.

2002 - Fight the Freeze
The Co-op supports Age Concern's campaign to raise money to help the elderly keep warm in winter. Co-op Staff and Customers donate £100,000 of foreign currency soon to become redundant as the Euro is launched.

2002 - Oxfam
The Co-op raises over £60,000 for African water projects and is instrumental in building awareness of Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign by major instore and direct mail activity.

2002 - Co-operative Action
In association with Chelmsford Star, Lincoln, Oxford, Swindon & Gloucester, Raunds, United and West Midlands co-operative societies, as well as The Co-operative Bank and CIS, the Co-operative Group launched Co-operative Action - a scheme that offers grants and loans to support a variety of community projects, including grants for the development of wind farms throughout the UK and loans enabling a number of organisation to become worker co-operatives. Since its inception, over £1.2m has been awarded.

2002 - The Funeralcare Forum
Co-operative Funeralcare becomes the first funeral director in the UK to establish an independent consumer panel, charges with suggesting ways in which funerals can be improved. Chaired by Claire Rayner OBE, the Funeralcare Forum is made up of national organisations whose members deal frequently with the funeral process. Co-operative Funeralcare pledges to use the Forum's findings to help shape its service.

2002 - Funeral Rights
After months of research and deliberation, the finds of the Funeralcare Forum are published in the Funeral Rights report, which highlights a number of failings in the funeral system; in particular, the fragmented nature of funeral provision and the regional differences in rules and regulations. Co-operative Funeralcare sets out an agenda for change as a result of the report's findings, including action to provide more information on funeral options and choices.

2002 - Cumbrian farmers' initiative
We help farmers in Cumbria and the North West benefit from changes in agricultural practices by establishing 'new-style' farmers' co-operatives in the region. The initiative brings together experts in the farming and food industries for mutual benefit by sharing knowledge and equipment, benchmarking, setting up joint ventures and funding and developing new markets.

2003 - Your Guide to Funeralcare
We publish Your Guide to Funeralcare, which brings together a wealth of practical information on issues surrounding death and funeral arrangements.

2003 - Well Chosen Words
Co-operative Funeralcare publishes Well Chosen Words, a guide on writing a eulogy. Prepared with help from the Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, the guide represents an important step in helping people to make funerals and individual tribute. Filling a major information gap, Well Chosen words receives a warm reception in the many hundreds of communities served by Co-operative Funeralcare across the UK.

2003 - Business in the Community Cause Related Marketing Award
The Co-operative Bank wins the prestigious Business in the Community (BiTC) Cause Related Marketing award for its cluster bombs campaign.

2003 - Farming the Future
farmcare unveils 'Farming the Future', a seven-point strategy promoting partnership between British farmers as a way of protecting their future in the face of decreasing subsidies and fluctuating markets. farmcare's seven steps to a sustainable future are: accept that farming has changed; recognise the need to adapt; consider working together; choose a partner you can trust; commit to a strategy for success; choose a flexible approach; and act now.

2003 - Association of Children's Hospices - Co-op Caring Together Campaign
Co-op members raise well over a million pounds for the Association of Children's Hospices during the summer of 2003.

2003 - Anti-social behaviour in the community
Co-operative Group chief executive Martin Beaumont leads our campaign to fight anti-social behaviour in the community, focusing on retail crime and coinciding with the publication of our retail crime statistics. These show an alarming 39% increase in violent attacks. The Group establishes new training programmes and security measures to support staff, and calls for retail crime to be included in police performance targets.

2003 - Dividend Partner Card
We launch the Dividend Partner Card Scheme, which enables our customers to donate their twice-yearly loyalty card payments to charity. Whether it's formally recognised organisations such as environmental projects, local or national charities, healthy eating initiatives and clean-up campaigns or something a little more ad hoc - for example, a group of local parents sprucing up the local playground - the Dividend Partner Card scheme allows our customers to contribute to improvements in their community.

2003 - Taking a Stand
Building on the success of our campaign to tackle anti-social behaviour, we team up with the Home Office, Crime Concern and the National Neighbourhood Watch Association (NNWA) to launch the Taking a Stand awards. The awards seek to highlight the contributions of individuals, local groups and local projects working to combat problems such as vandalism, harassment, damage to property and kerb-crawling. 30 awards of £1,000, plus a top award of £5,000, are available to be spent for the benefit of local communities throughout England and Wales.

2004 - Specialist Schools
The Co-operative Group provides £350,000 in sponsorship to schools aiming to specialise in business and enterprise, maximising the benefits of the co-operative way of doing business.

2004 - Socially Responsible Investment Policy
Consolidating its commitment to investing money for the long-term benefit of its customers, whilst also using its influence as an investor to take a stance on issues that concern us all, CIS becomes the first insurance company in the world to invite its customers to have a say in the development of its Socially Responsible Investment Policy.