Thank you for your interest in group volunteering with The Felix Project. This growing interest is incredibly exciting for us, as it shows a strong desire from businesses to make a positive impact.
Due to a significant increase in requests from companies looking to engage their employees through volunteering and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, we have made the decision to prioritise Corporate Volunteer bookings for our Strategic and Corporate Partners, recognising their vital support and commitment to our mission.
Read on to learn how your company can become a partner and enjoy the various volunteering oppertunites this brings.
Becoming a Corporate Partner of The Felix Project
Our corporate partners are integral to our mission of reducing food waste and fighting food poverty. Through collaborative, multi-faceted partnerships, we are able to harness a range of resources that have a transformative impact on the communities we serve. We work with our partners across several key areas, including securing surplus food, providing critical funding, and contributing pro bono services.
In return, our partners experience a range of valuable benefits, such as enhanced employee engagement through volunteering opportunities, meaningful social impact reporting which highlights your organisation’s contribution to the community, and the ability to align your brand with a powerful cause. We believe that our partnerships create a true win-win by offering both tangible business value and the opportunity to make a lasting difference. The charity welcomes volunteers from our strategic and corporate partners across our whole operation on a daily basis, offering them priority booking up to three months in advance.
Benefits of Corporate Volunteering as Part of a Wider Partnership
The Felix Project offers Corporate Volunteering as part of its wider partnership commitment to companies that choose to become Strategic Partners, Corporate Partners or Corporate Supporters.
You can read more about this by clicking the link above.
Our organisation relies on volunteers to keep our operations going. They work alongside our team to sort, cook, or deliver surplus food across London to our community partners.
Our corporate partners tell us they have enjoyed the following benefits:
Information for non-partners
We understand that a formal partnership may not be feasible for all organisations. In these instances, we can still offer limited opportunities for group volunteering, namely a limited rota and last minute cancelations.
Non-partner organisations can get restricted access to shifts on a quarterly basis at three of our key locations: Enfield, Deptford, and Park Royal. These locations provide excellent opportunities for your team to get involved in our food rescue efforts, making a real difference in the lives of those facing food insecurity.
While our Poplar location is primarily reserved for our partners, should we have gaps in our rota in the forthcoming four weeks (rolling), these are sometimes made available to non-partners.
Case study: Mulberry
For the last three years, Mulberry has supported The Felix Project, working to raise funds and awareness both internally at their offices and through stores and customers, as well as regularly lending a hand at our depots and kitchen.
"When we first arrived at The Felix project, we had no idea the speed we were about to work at and how rewarding those 4 hours were going to feel. Throughout the morning, we learned about the charities we were helping to support and the people we were helping to feed. Homeless shelters, refugees, and children who receive free school meals, to name a few. The people working at The Felix project were incredible, so jolly and hardworking, quietly making a difference in the world. We left feeling humbled and determined to do better ourselves." Grace Cullen - Head of Accessories Development & Pre-Production
Monday to Friday: 8:30am - 4:30pm
Max group size: 6 people
Roles available: Warehouse Assistant, Co-driver
Monday to Friday: 9.30am - 3.30pm
Max group size: 8 people
Roles available: Warehouse Assistant, Co-drive
Monday - Friday: 10am - 4pm
Max group size: 8 people
Roles available: Warehouse Assistant, Co-driver
Monday to Friday:
Max group size: 15 people (dependent on shift)
Roles available: Warehouse Assistant, Kitchen Assistant, Co-driver
Monday to Saturday:
Max group size: 2 people
Roles available: Market Assistant
Monday to Friday:
Max group size: 5 people
Roles available: Warehouse Assistant (non-food)
Our Green Scheme offer involves a group of volunteers ‘owning’ one of our Green Scheme routes for a period of time (minimum term is 3 months), committing to filling one shift per week with 1 or 2 volunteers. Green Scheme is an A to B collection and delivery service, offering a range of walking/cycling volunteer shifts in Central London and Canary Wharf. Most shifts are 1-2 hours in duration.
Every hour spent volunteering in our depots equates to 200 meals for those who need them
Three or fewer weeks in advance: We will request a donation of £50 per head for shift cancellations or volunteer number decreases of one or more people within three weeks of a shift. This is to cover any additional operational costs incurred. This will not apply to Group Leads booking ‘gap filling’ shifts within two weeks of the shift date.
Should your organisation act against this policy on multiple occasions, we will consider blocking your organisation from booking future group volunteer shifts with Felix.
We ask non-partners to make a voluntary donation of £50 per person when booking, which helps cover the administrative costs of managing group volunteers.
Our booking portal is fully now online and fully automated. Partners can create one profile for their company which, once accepted, gives the group lead unrestricted access to the current quarters rota, with a function that allows the user to search by location, date and even group size.
Non-partners on our mailing list are also invited to set up a single profile for their company, which gives them restricted access to our rota.
To help us effectively manage group volunteering requests, we prioritise our Strategic and Corporate Partners. This approach allows us to express our appreciation for their ongoing wider commitment to our mission and the vital support they provide.
If you want to explore impactful partnership opportunities with The Felix Project which come with priority access to volunteering opportunities, please click the link above or contact [email protected] for more information.
No. Due to the nature of what we do at The Felix Project, all volunteers are required to be present for the health and safety briefing at the start of the shift.
The shift timings are set based on the support needed in each part of the operation. It’s incredibly detrimental to the charity’s ability to fulfil its commitment of getting food to the community when volunteers start late or leave early, so these requests will not be facilitated. If you have team members who cannot commit to the timings of the shift, please do not ask them to sign up.
Volunteers who fail to attend the mandatory Health & Safety briefing at the beginning of each shift will be classified as a no-show and will not be allowed to participate in the shift. As safety is our top priority, this briefing is critical to ensure all volunteers are fully aware of the necessary protocols and procedures. Without attending this briefing, participation is not possible, and the volunteer will be sent home. Please refer to our cancellation policy above for further details on how no-shows are handled.
We require all volunteers to stay on shift until it ends, unless a member of the Felix team tells you otherwise.
Additionally, we closely monitor and track instances of lateness and no-shows. This data is important not only for maintaining operational efficiency but also for assessing the overall impact on our charity’s work. Any incidents of lateness or absence will be noted and reported back to your company to ensure full transparency regarding your group’s commitment and participation.
In Q1 alone, the charity suffered a 26% reduction in number of people attending verses number booked. This equates to 288,000 meals not reaching the community. For this reason, we do everything we can to protect the operation.
Please note, Felix locations DO NOT have any on site parking, and surrounding streets are likely to have residents restrictions, please use public transport as much as possible. The Western International Market has pay and display parking nearby.
We aim to confirm dates as soon as possible. Volunteers will receive a briefing email as soon as the group lead inputs their details on to the shift.
We require the names and email addresses of all volunteers for communication purposes. Virtual training is mandatory and must be completed in advance.
We provide and require specific PPE depending on the volunteer role. Please contact us if you have specific concerns.
We can accommodate photographers and small film crews with prior notice. Before agreeing to host, please let us know how many people will be attending, what equipment they will be bringing, and what time they will be coming. We request that any filming or photography take place towards the end of the shift and be as brief as possible. You must not capture images of non-group members without prior consent.
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