At Woolworths Group we work with our teams, customers and a range of partners in order to create positive change in our communities. Our community programs are diverse but mainly focus on, healthy eating, food rescue for nourishing those in need, children’s health and wellbeing, and supporting farmers and regional Australia. Our national community partners include: OzHarvest, Foodbank and Fareshare in Australia, and KiwiHarvest and The Salvation Army in New Zealand.

Here are just a few of the ways in which Woolworths Group is working with teams, customers and a range of partners to create a better tomorrow:

• Donated a combined total of $122.1 million to our communities in F23. 
• Donated $75.8 million of surplus food and groceries from our stores and Distribution Centres (DCs) to thousands of local charitable organisations across Australia and New Zealand in F23.
• Together with our team and customers we have now contributed over $10 million to our S.T.A.N.D. Program (Support Thought Australian Natural Disasters) to help communities, particularly in times
  of natural disasters such as the devastating floods that hit WA, Vic and NSW in F23.
• In response to the Black Summer Fires of 2019/20 we also launched a new partnership with WIRES to support the rescue, care and feeding of sick, injured and orphaned native Australian wildlife. The Woolworths WIRES Food For Wildlife Program now sees Woolworths as the largest provider of food for wildlife.
• Dedicate funds to supporting farming projects across Australia. In F23 the Woolworths Organic Growth Fund delivered $1.5 million in grants to Australian organic growers, and the Woolworths Dairy Innovation Fund awarded $1.5 million in grants to support Australian on-farm projects to deliver innovation, efficiency and seasonal resilience.

We have a long-standing history helping fund health and wellbeing programs for Variety the Children’s Charity in NSW, ACT, SA and NT; The Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal in Vic; St Giles in Tas; Telethon in WA; and the Children’s Hospital Foundation in Qld. In F23 Woolworths Supermarkets raised more than $4.3 million for these partners.

In 2023, we partnered with Landcare Australia for the fifth Woolworths Junior Landcare Grants Program  round to help our future environmental champions. Over 1,100 projects were awarded grants of up to $1,000 each, engaging close to 105,000 children in primary schools and early learning centres countrywide.

To further encourage kids to stay active and connect us to local communities, Woolworths Supermarkets is a partner of Woolworths Cricket Blast, Woolworths NetSetGo and Woolworths Surf Groms and therefore  one of the largest supporters of grassroots sports in Australia.

Our Fresh Food Kids program which has seen over 100 million pieces of fruit given away and our evolving Discovery Tour program has seen thousands of school children visiting our stores to learn about fruits, vegetables and healthy eating.

Woolworths New Zealand

In Aotearoa New Zealand, our Countdown business partners with a number of key organisations and charities to support and deliver positive outcomes for its local communities and people. 

Using its community platform, Food For Good, Countdown sets out to support Aotearoa’s most vulnerable New Zealanders and protect the environment for the future. Its key partners include The Salvation Army, The Red Cross, KidsCan and the food rescue organisations it works with throughout New Zealand. 

Here are a few of the ways the Countdown team and its customers are working together to help make Kiwis lives a little better everyday: 

• Countdown is a key supporter of food rescue in Aotearoa New Zealand, We've partnered with food rescue organisations across the country since 2011, donating 100% of our unsold, edible food. Together, we've saved more than 5000 tonnes of food going to landfill every year. 
• We donated more than $450,000 (NZD) in food and funds to our partners on the ground and government organisations to support those affected by natural disasters across New Zealand in the first half of 2023.
• The Salvation Army is Countdown’s largest charity partner, working together across New Zealand through food rescue and The Foodbank Project. Countdown also supports The Salvation Army to provide food parcels to those in need. As well as food donations, Countdown also helps The Salvation Army raise money through public appeals with funds raised going towards food parcels and other support services for vulnerable Kiwis, especially during winter and Christmas.
• Each year, schools and Early Childhood Education Centres throughout Aotearoa New Zealand apply to Countdown's Growing for Good fund to help them undertake sustainability projects - many of which focus on growing edible gardens and orchards that can be used by the whole community. 
• Countdown has partnered with KidsCan for a number of years, including supporting their Christmas Cracker Appeal and helping them to provide food for more than 40,000 children around New Zealand every day who would otherwise go hungry.
• Countdown established its Free Fruit for Kids programme in 2015. Since then, the programme has provided more than 10 million pieces of fruit, giving children a healthy and free snack to eat while shopping with their parents.