26 April 2024
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
Charities and Community Groups invited to apply for €137,500 worth of donations in what is ALDI’s 25th anniversary in Ireland
ALDI Ireland has launched its 2024 Community Grants programme, which features an expanded offering to mark 25 years of ALDI in Ireland.
ALDI is calling on charities and community organisations in County Cork to nominate themselves for a €500 ALDI gift card by visiting their local ALDI store. Staff from each of ALDI’s 161 stores, its two distribution centres and corporate offices will then vote for a charity or community organisation in its local area to make the award to, enabling ALDI’s staff to help the most worthy and impactful causes they care most about in their local communities.
For 2024, to coincide with ALDI Ireland’s 25th anniversary, the retailer will also be selecting 26 charities or community groups, one per county, to receive an additional support of €2,000 worth of ALDI gift cards.
This means that in total, ALDI’s Community Grants Programme for 2024 will amount to €137,500 of donations being provided to charitable organisations across Ireland that contribute vital work and services to their local communities.
To date, ALDI’s Community Grants programme has donated €620,500 to over 1,000 local charity branches and community groups across Ireland since its inception in 2016. Receiving charities and organisations have ranged from rescue teams to animal sanctuaries, disability support to mental health support, and everything in between.
Launching the campaign, Rachel Nugent, National Sustainability Manager, ALDI Ireland said: “It is with great pride that we announce the return of our Community Grants programme for 2024, which has to date seen us distribute over €620,500 to worthy charities and community groups in every county in Ireland. Giving back to the communities we serve has always been hugely important to ALDI.
“Every year, we continue to be amazed by the fantastic work carried out by charities and community organisations and we again look forward to supporting their work.
“2024 is a special year for ALDI as we mark 25 years of operating in Ireland. To mark that milestone moment, we are expanding our Community Grants programme this year. On top of our €500 donations to all chosen charities, 26 selected charities will receive an additional €2,000 worth of ALDI gift cards, meaning in total we will be supporting worthy organisations right across Ireland to the tune of €137,500 worth of donations.
“Today, we would like to invite charities and community groups to nominate themselves for the scheme through their local ALDI store.”
ALDI IRFU Ambassador, Paul O’Connell, added: “I am delighted to be part of the announcement of ALDI’s Community Grants programme for 2024.
Charities and grass roots groups across the country play a critical role in the communities they serve and ALDI’s expanded Community Grants programme is a key source of support.
I wish all the groups applying the best of luck and applaud the valuable work they continue to do in towns, cities and villages all over Ireland.”
Operating 161 stores around Ireland, ALDI is deeply involved in the local communities its stores serve. To date, ALDI has donated a total of 3.5 million meals to FoodCloud, equating to a saving of over 1.4 million kgs of food from going to waste. The retailer has also raised over €1.5 million for its charity partner Barnardos since partnering in November 2020.