Communities - Our Plan For Change

Serving our communities

With around 1400 restaurants across the UK and Ireland – and each one rooted in its local community – little changes add up to a lot.

Our Plan for Change brings multiple benefits to our communities. From food that’s sourced locally wherever possible, to a menu with more balanced options and less waste. But we know that how we’re stepping up directly for local people really brings it all home.

Through our longstanding partnerships and new initiatives we’re making a difference to thousands of people in every town in the UK and Ireland.

Ronald McDonald House Charities® UK

The Ronald McDonald House Charities® (RMHC®) UK enables families to stay together near specialist children’s hospitals when a child is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. It gives them a ‘home away from home’ where they can rest, cook and take time out while being supported by specialist staff. We have raised an estimated £100 million in the UK for RMHC® UK since 1989. Our shift to digital giving will help increase the funds we raise as we make it easy for customers to round up instore, drive-thru and on our App.

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Children in Need

In September we launched our new partnership with BBC Children in Need, the charity that funds around 2,500 projects across the UK, which directly support children and young people in communities. We will focus on supporting 11-18 year olds across the UK, improving outcomes for young people in our communities. We will fundraise in every UK restaurant, linking them to local youth services which will support pathways to better futures. This includes job opportunities for those at risk of falling out of education, training and employment as well as empowering our crew to support community groups and projects local to them.

Fun Football

Our Fun Football programme has been the proud community partner of all four UK Football Associations since 2002. We offer thousands of free coaching sessions in hundreds of communities across the UK and provide football kit and equipment to promote the game. Our latest programme, launched in 2019, set a target to provide five million hours of fun football for children across the UK by 2022 and to give over 500,000 children the chance to try football for the first time.

Food redistribution

As we emerge from the pandemic we will continue to support those in greatest need in our communities, funding the redistribution of food through partnerships with FareShare, Community Shop and Irish food waste charity FoodCloud. This ensures we get vital supplies to those in need from our distribution centres while ensuring precious resources don’t go to waste. We have also launched our new offer for NHS workers who can get 20% off when ordering through the My McDonald’s App.

Watch our video of Vicky Pattison and Pete Wicks visiting a FareShare centre.

Vicky Pattison and Pete Wicks pushing a trolley with food donations.

national-literacy-trust-communities-pb-full

Since 2013, our partnership with the National Literacy Trust has given over 100 million books to families without reading books at home. Together, we’re also providing exciting downloadable eBooks and the popular Book or Toy choice in our Happy Meal® across the UK.

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Supporting rural communities and family farms

In 2020, McDonald’s teamed up with The Prince’s Countryside Fund to support UK farming families and rural communities through a 3-year partnership. During the first year of the partnership, our funding helped to support farmers to adapt to change and make their businesses sustainable for the future.