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Aldi Case Study

Aldi have more than 1000 stores and 40,000 colleagues across the UK.  Aldi’s Corporate Responsibility principles are driven by five pillars: community, people, customers, supply chain and environment. The Aldi “Better Everyday” strategy incorporates these principles through their Greener, Fairer and Healthier strategies.

Aldi are proud to work together with a number of organisations and charities that help improve the lives of their customers and benefit communities both in the UK and further afield. In 2017 they set the impressive goal to raise £5 million in 5 years for their UK national charity partnership Teenage Cancer Trust and by 2020, they reached this goal and aimed for £10 million by 2027. In April 2024, Aldi celebrated the £10 million achievement and now pledge to raise £15 million by 2027. Not forgetting, Aldi Ireland launched in 2021 and have raised €13,000 for Barnardos ROI, as part of their aim to raise €2 million by the end of 2024.

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£0k
raised to date in UK
0%
of Aldi UK colleagues donate
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raised by ROI colleagues

Success Factors:

Aldi knew that the key to achieving their goal was to engage colleagues in an array of fundraising activities.  Aldi recognised that a potential fundraising tool was to offer the opportunity for their colleagues to sign up to a payroll fundraising initiative.

Aldi decided to implement Microhive, formerly known as Pennies from Heaven, as it was a simple, affordable and universal scheme that would engage a vast number of colleagues for maximum fundraising impact. With donations of just a few pence, Microhive appeals to everyone regardless of earnings.

Aldi found Microhive (formerly Pennies from Heaven) simple and fast to set up.  Aldi attribute the success of Microhive to the following:

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Pre launch success factors:

Payroll System Configured: Aldi’s payroll system, Resource Link, was already configured to support the scheme meaning only quick testing was required. Microhive work with many of the UK Payroll providers to ensure that most employers have a similar experience to Aldi.

Pilot Phase: Aldi launched the scheme five months before the official launch to 3,900 colleagues.  This gave Aldi the opportunity to test communication materials,  colleague sign-up process, the payroll process and accounting processes.

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Post launch success factors:

Marketing: Effective promotion was at the heart of Aldi’s communication strategy and key to their success as the workforce is dispersed throughout the UK. A variety of communications were prepared to facilitate the launch including posters and table fliers for colleague communal areas, management briefing packs and articles posted on the online colleague portal.  These different methods clearly signposted colleagues to the new benefit and how they could sign up.

New Starters: All new Aldi colleagues are introduced to Microhive through the onboarding process. 42% of new starters signed-up to the scheme.

Updates: Keeping colleagues informed has been integral to the success of the scheme. Colleagues are updated via the online colleague portal.

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Aldi's thoughts on Microhive:

“Since May 2018,UK Aldi colleagues have raised £380,000 through Microhive (previously Pennies from Heaven). This money goes directly to Teenage Cancer Trust who continue to provide outstanding care and support to young people with cancer. In addition, Aldi colleagues in Ireland have donated €13,000 to Barnardos ROI since 2021 through the scheme. Microhive is a great platform that enables us to provide impactful donations to our charity partnerships.” Liz Fox, National Sustainability Director. Aldi UK/IRL

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