Direct support

In 2023, we provided more than 87million euros in direct support to more than 2,100 organisations. The around 6% increase vs. 2022 follows the trend of increasing the support offered in recent years and is justified by the need to respond to the growing context of economic and social difficulties.

Food surplus that meets food safety standards but which cannot be sold, are donated to social welfare institutions, guaranteeing that it reaches people in situations of socioeconomic vulnerability. This practice, common to all Companies, enables products to fulfil their primary mission: to feed people. In 2023, we donated approximately 19,300 tonnes¹ of food, 12% less than in 2022. This decrease is explained by the growth in the “markdown” programme (selling products with huge discounts) to maximise the sale of products approaching their sell-by date at Biedronka, which led to fewer products available for donation.

Corporate areas

The Group’s holding supported 75 entities, five more than in 2022, corresponding to over 2.9 million euros. Most of these entities (55%) focus on social work. Other projects were also supported, namely covering structural topics such as education, environmental protection² and culture. We continue to provide regular support to 21 institutions, most of which we have supported for more than a decade. However, the amount of support fell by more than 70% compared to 2022, given the last year extraordinary support of 5 million euros aimed at the Ukrainian refugees who fled their country after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Most notably among the continued support provided is the investment of 40,000 euros in 19 social scholarships to students in Portuguese schools from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, currently being supported by EPIS – Empresários pela Inclusão Social (Businessmen for Social Inclusion), an organisation we are members of and that we have been supporting since its establishment in 2006. In the “Sustainability and Active Citizenship” category, five scholarships were awarded to students and their 3rd cycle schools, acknowledging the merit and feasibility of projects to raise awareness, mobilise and transform behaviour and practices at school and/or in the education communities, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the strategic pillars of the Group’s Corporate Responsibility. Another 14 scholarships, awarded in the second edition of the special category “Jerónimo Martins Academic Merit”, aim at supporting students who have achieved good results in secondary education, bachelor’s and master’s degrees who wish to continue their studies.

Biedronka

Biedronka channelled approximately 64 million euros to support social campaigns and projects³, a 15% increase compared to 2022. More than 650 institutions benefited from in-kind donations and monetary support.

Surplus food donations exceeded 13,000 tonnes⁴, 15% less than in 2022, as explained above by the success of the programme to sell products approaching their sell-by date. 2,701 stores were involved in these donations (over 75% of the Company’s store network), close to what happened in 2022, when the food surplus donation programme was implemented in 2,550 stores, thus achieving the commitment of involving at least 70% of stores in food donations in the period between 2021 and 2023. Among the 155 institutions that benefited, the Federation of Polish Food Banks, Caritas and Mar-Kot association were the most relevant.

Regarding healthy eating habits, Biedronka was the main sponsor of the 30th and 31st editions of the Olimpiada Zdrowia PCK z Biedronką (Polish Red Cross and Biedronka Health Olympics), with the approval of the Ministry of Education. In the 30th edition, 17,894 students from 1,311 schools took part, and in the 31st edition there were 16,348 students, from 1,150 schools. These Olympics consist of tests taken by young people and the presentation of projects to promote healthier eating habits and lifestyles in their communities. The winners will be able to study at the nutrition faculties of the Medical University of Lodz or the University of Opole, both honorary sponsors of the initiative, after finishing secondary school, regardless of their final exam score. Biedronka offered a total of 45,000 euros to support the 30th edition and the expected value of more than 50,000 euros to support the 31st edition will be available in 2024.

In 2023, the monetary contribution to the Biedronka Foundation exceeded 20.6 million euros, mostly used to provide food support to vulnerable senior citizens – the Foundation’s primary mission.

Hebe

Hebe’s responsibility strategy focuses on supporting young women, namely through feminine entrepreneurship and supporting young women living in orphanages in the transition to a more independent life. In 2023, seven organisations received direct support from the Company, mainly through the donation of cosmetic and personal hygiene products, valued in the amount of more than 30,000 euros.

Pingo Doce

In 2023, the Company responded to the request of more than 1,350 charities⁵ operating in the surrounding areas of its stores. In-kind donations, accounted at cost price, and monetary donations (which includes fixed support, gift cards and the sponsorship of environmental conservation projects), surpassed 18 million euros⁶, 28% more than in 2022.

Food donations from stores surplus totalised 5,301 tonnes, 9.8% less than in 2022, explained by the increase in markdown sales, the same that happened in Biedronka⁷. These donations reached over 520 institutions and are estimated to have impacted more than 100,000 people.

Bairro Feliz (Happy Neighbourhood) is a programme that provides financial support to the causes proposed by the entities and residents of the neighbourhoods where Pingo Doce stores are located, and donates up to 1,000 euros to the causes most voted for by customers.

The 2023 edition, the third held nationwide, received 2,894 entries mostly from local institutions (91%), with the remaining 9% submitted by residents. After the public vote, Pingo Doce awarded more than 422,000 euros to the most voted project in each store. 59% of the projects focus on social inclusion and 30% on education. It is estimated that more than 15,200 seniors and 23,800 children have been impacted by the winning projects of the 2023 Bairro Feliz edition.

Recheio

The Company donated more than 1.1 million euros⁸ in in-kind and monetary support, 47% more than in 2022. Recheio supported 181 organisations, 21 fewer than the previous year. A total of 332 tonnes of food⁹ were donated, 15% more than in 2022.

Jerónimo Martins Agro-Alimentar

The various JMA companies have allocated more than 23,000 euros in support to eight socially orientated institutions located in the areas surrounding the production units, particularly in the region of Portalegre (Alto Alentejo, close to the Spanish border), where the Terra Alegre dairy factory is located.

Ara

Renewing its commitment to supporting Colombian low-income families, the Company invested around 863,000 euros in social support projects, 8% more than in 2022. The 11 organisations that benefited from the investment estimate that more than 38,000 people received support as a result thereof in 2023.

Institutions such as Asociación de Bancos de Alimentos de Colombia (Colombian Food Banks Association), which brings together 24 food banks and has been supported by Ara since the start of its operation in the country in 2013, and Fundación Alimentar Colombia, whose mission is to eliminate child malnutrition in the country, received most of the surpluses donated by 302 stores and 9 distribution centres (625 tonnes of food, 32% more than in 2022).

A new partnership, also with ABACO, for the promotion of the “Desayunos Saludables” (Healthy Breakfasts) programme began in June and ran until December, aimed to support 20% of the recommended daily nutritional needs of 920 children in Medellín, Cúcuta, Riohacha and Santa Marta, through food packs for breakfast consisting of 80 grams of fruit and 30 grams of bread or cereals. 15 tonnes of food were donated under this program.

Support was also provided to institutions that help young single mothers and their children, very low-income families, and homeless young people, such as Fundación A La Rueda Rueda and Fundación Malabareando las Calles.

The partnership between Jerónimo Martins Colombia, Caritas Polska and Caritas Colombia to provide humanitarian aid to vulnerable populations in Soacha, close to Bogotá, and Villa del Rosario and Cúcuta, two villages in the Norte de Santander region bordering Venezuela¹⁰, continued for the fourth consecutive year. More than 3,370 baskets containing basic food products (tuna, sugar, rice and other cereals) and non-food products (soap and household cleaning products) were donated, together with vouchers to exchange for food and hygiene products. Around 11,000 people from more than 2,190 families benefited from this initiative. Over the course of this three-year partnership, nearly 600,000 euros have been invested, around 200,000 euros each year, and more than 30,000 people have received support.

¹ Values calculated internally in accordance with proxies resulting from implementing the Food Loss and Waste Protocol, a methodology devised by the World Resources Institute and various stakeholders to be able to consistently calculate and report food waste and loss in the supply chain.

² For more information, see “Respecting the Environment”.

³ Biedronka’s annual responsibility reports are available at https://csr.biedronka.pl/.

⁴ Amounts calculated internally based on proxies resulting from applying the Food Loss & Waste Protocol, a methodology developed by the World Resources Institute and several stakeholders to consistently quantify and report food loss and waste in the supply chain.

⁵ Pingo Doce's Responsibility Policy is available at www.pingodoce.pt/responsabilidade.

⁶ Includes Lidosol.

⁷ For more information, see “Respecting the Environment”.

⁸ Includes Recheio Masterchef and João Gomes Camacho.

⁹ Values calculated internally in accordance with proxies resulting from implementing the Food Loss and Waste Protocol, a methodology devised by the World Resources Institute and various stakeholders to be able to consistently calculate and report food waste and loss in the supply chain.

¹⁰ In June 2022, the Statistics Office of Colombia published the results of the “Pulse of Migration” study on Venezuelan migration in Colombia. The results revealed that 7% of the population experienced violent events crossing the border, such as theft, bribery, abuse by representatives of Venezuelan and Colombian institutions, and physical assault.