What you can do as a local business

Working with your local school by giving your time, skills and knowledge to food growing projects is a great way to engage your employees with the wider local community, and to give something back. It will also raise your profile locally, and create new connections with customers, while benefiting everyone.

What can you do as a local business?

Here are some ideas...

• Sponsor - a school vegetable growing plot either by donating money or materials. It is an easy way to contribute to your community and help you meet your business’s corporate social responsibilities.
• Restaurants - help a school grow specific foods and then buy them back at the end of the season.  Meet  with teachers and parents to help organise cooking lessons or an event that also fits into the school curriculum. 
• Corporate Volunteering - why not allow staff time off work to help out with schools food growing projects,  for example by building some raised beds (as part of a Design and Technology lesson). Find out about corporate volunteering opportutnities in London, below:

Stories of schools working with local businesses:

Hitherfield Primary School in Lambeth worked with a local baker, to transform their school grown herbs into Italian herby focaccia. Find out how here.

Corporate volunteering

We have teamed up with Capital Growth to use their corporate volunteering online match-making service. It enables you to find opportunities for your employees to get together and give a hand for a day or half-a-day, including helping schools. Click on the Corporate Connect link below to search for current projects, select projects you  are interested in and leave your details so that Capital Growth can make the match happen. 

Corporate Connect

Capital growth has updated it's entirely free ‘Corporate Connect’ service. This corporate volunteering match-making service enables organisations to find opportunities for a team of employees for a day. We have a selection of community spaces including schools in need of extra hands to get their food garden going, all visible on the Connect map below. Corporate groups will be able to contribute money toward tools and garden-related material, and Capital Growth will support you to organise a successful day.We are promoting the map to a wide range of corporate groups so if you are interested to get extra hands to get your space going, sign up and get your space on the map now. Corporate Connect Map

Schools, to get your space on the Connect Map:
1) Sign in to Capital Growth members area (if you need a reminder of your password email )
2) Click on the ‘Connect’ box on the bottom left
3) Fill in the short form to describe what needs to be done in you food garden and when you could welcome a group
4) All done!

Grow Your Own Business

Our Grow Your Own Business activities offer schools the opportunity to learn about enterprise and grow their own food to sell, giving children the opportunity to learn new business and employment skills across a range of subjects (e.g. maths, technology, PSHE). Nurturing these skills when they are young will lead to a stronger local economy in the future.

Why not get involved? As a business you have a huge amount of skills to offer. Visit our Grow Your Own Business page to find out more: foodgrowingschools.org/events/gyobusiness