B&Q Foundation
About B&Q Foundation
We believe that everyone needs a place to feel at home. That's why we set up the B&Q Foundation - so that charities can easily access the funding they need to create better, safer places in our communities for those that need them the most..
The B&Q Foundation supports registered charities with a combination of grants, volunteering time and home improvement resources. It concentrates its efforts on local charities helping to create better, safer places for people who need them most.
More than £7.2 million has now been donated to over 1,300 charity projects, helping to support more than 600,000 people in local communities.
From improving the safety of a home for someone with a disability, to providing residential support for people with no home of their own – the organisations it backs are making a difference to those who don’t have access to what most of us take for granted. And that helps build better communities for us all.
How B&Q supports the Foundation
Along with our customers and colleagues we support the B&Q Foundation through product sales, donations, and fundraising events. Our colleagues have taken on the three peaks challenge and marathons, held bake sales and tombolas all to raise money for the B&Q Foundation.
Fundraising weekends are held throughout the year in our 300 stores and each year certain products are selected to support the Foundation.
This year, we want to raise over £2 million to support even more causes. Because when we roll up our sleeves, together we can do it.
Video transcript
At the B&Q Foundation, we believe everyone needs a place to feel at home.
So we’re putting our efforts behind charities who share our vision, helping to create better, safer places for the people in our communities who need them most.
Jeanie Pitt, B&Q Foundation Manager: The B&Q Foundation was set up by B&Q in 2020. And this was really to build on B&Q’s commitment to make a positive difference to people in the local communities. The B&Q Foundation is all about making it really simple and easy for charities to access funding so that they can improve spaces to make them safer for people in need, in our communities. We believe that everyone needs a place to feel at home, and when we’re talking about home, it’s actually that place where people feel a sense of belonging in their communities. So all of the projects that we support are really about helping to create that space for people.
Becky McGregor, Director of Operations Mountbatten Hampshire: I’m Becky McGregor, and I’m the director of operations at Mountbatten Hampshire. We are the local hospice who delivers care and support. The hospice buildings have been really under-invested over many, many years. The B&Q Foundation have been amazing with their support. We’ve been able to purchase some new furniture for our new café area and also for our small quiet room, just off our inpatient unit.
Michele Jones, Live in Support Worker Herts Young Homeless: My name’s Michele and I’m the live-in support worker at Future Roots. So this project was set up for five young people who, at some point in their lives, have experienced homelessness. The funding has enabled us to furnish the house and turn it into a home. It was really important that we got like domestic furniture and things and made it feel warm and cosy. It was somewhere they wanted to come back to and that they would want to bring their friends to.
Lee Fabry, Head of Housing YMCA East Surrey: Hi, I’m Lee Fabry, I’m the head of housing at YMCA East Surrey. So we house eighteen to thirty year-olds in this house. The funding was for furniture. So really useful things that maybe you and I take for granted, but for our young people, something that they’ve never had. So this is now a place they can call their home rather than a place that they call a house they’ve moved on into.
Jeanie Pitt: The Foundation has donated over £2.5 million to over 500 charity projects. I’m so proud to work for the B&Q Foundation because it’s amazing when you hear about the difference that the grants have made to charities and the people that they support. At a time when our communities really need us, I’m really looking forward to the Foundation growing and helping to make life better for more people.
Video transcript
At the B&Q Foundation, we believe everyone needs a place to feel at home.
So we’re putting our efforts behind charities who share our vision, helping to create better, safer places for the people in our communities who need them most.
Jeanie Pitt, B&Q Foundation Manager: The B&Q Foundation was set up by B&Q in 2020. And this was really to build on B&Q’s commitment to make a positive difference to people in the local communities. The B&Q Foundation is all about making it really simple and easy for charities to access funding so that they can improve spaces to make them safer for people in need, in our communities. We believe that everyone needs a place to feel at home, and when we’re talking about home, it’s actually that place where people feel a sense of belonging in their communities. So all of the projects that we support are really about helping to create that space for people.
Becky McGregor, Director of Operations Mountbatten Hampshire: I’m Becky McGregor, and I’m the director of operations at Mountbatten Hampshire. We are the local hospice who delivers care and support. The hospice buildings have been really under-invested over many, many years. The B&Q Foundation have been amazing with their support. We’ve been able to purchase some new furniture for our new café area and also for our small quiet room, just off our inpatient unit.
Michele Jones, Live in Support Worker Herts Young Homeless: My name’s Michele and I’m the live-in support worker at Future Roots. So this project was set up for five young people who, at some point in their lives, have experienced homelessness. The funding has enabled us to furnish the house and turn it into a home. It was really important that we got like domestic furniture and things and made it feel warm and cosy. It was somewhere they wanted to come back to and that they would want to bring their friends to.
Lee Fabry, Head of Housing YMCA East Surrey: Hi, I’m Lee Fabry, I’m the head of housing at YMCA East Surrey. So we house eighteen to thirty year-olds in this house. The funding was for furniture. So really useful things that maybe you and I take for granted, but for our young people, something that they’ve never had. So this is now a place they can call their home rather than a place that they call a house they’ve moved on into.
Jeanie Pitt: The Foundation has donated over £2.5 million to over 500 charity projects. I’m so proud to work for the B&Q Foundation because it’s amazing when you hear about the difference that the grants have made to charities and the people that they support. At a time when our communities really need us, I’m really looking forward to the Foundation growing and helping to make life better for more people.
To apply for funding support
If you’re a registered UK charity, looking for support to improve homes or community spaces, visit the B&Q Foundation | B&Q in the Community (bqfoundation.org.uk) website where you can register your interest in applying for a grant.
The B&Q Foundation is a charity and company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales (company number 11868617, charity number 1183275) and Scotland (charity no. SC051154) whose registered address is B&Q House, Chestnut Avenue, Chandler’s Ford, Eastleigh, SO53 3LE.
