Westcotts builds on £27,000 charity fundraising with five new causes to support

Westcotts has raised more than £27,000 for charities across the South West in the past year as teams across the firm get behind five new good causes for 2026/27.

Staff fundraising, combined with a £10,000 match funding commitment by Westcotts’ partners, saw a total of £27,731 donated through the firm’s Charity of the Year programme during 2025/26.

Teams across Westcotts’ offices in Devon and Somerset organised activities ranging from quizzes and bingo to sponsored runs, bake sales and dress-down days in support of five charities chosen specifically for their vital work in local communities.

The money was shared between Hospiscare; Devon Air Ambulance; Plymouth Hospitals Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Keep Me Close appeal; Axminster and Lyme Cancer Support; and Weston Hospicecare.

The biggest individual total was just under £12,000 for Keep Me Close, with some £6,000 raised for Hospiscare, £4,300 for Weston Hospicecare, £3,500 for Axminster and Lyme Cancer Support and £2,000 for Devon Air Ambulance.

Westcotts has now begun its 2026/27 fundraising programme, with teams across the firm once again choosing charities with strong links to the communities in which they live and work.

• This year the Central team is supporting Exeter Foodbank, which provides emergency food and practical support to people experiencing financial hardship in and around Exeter.
• In North Devon, fundraising will support Children’s Hospice South West and its specialist care for children and young people with life-limiting conditions and their families.
• The South Devon team has chosen Devon Mind, which provides mental health information, advice and support across the county.
• The East Devon team is supporting Somerset-based community health and wellbeing charity Ark at Egwood.
• And in Somerset, staff will raise funds for Freewheelers Blood Bikes, whose volunteer riders provide a free out-of-hours courier service carrying blood, breast milk, medical samples, medication and other urgent supplies for the NHS and healthcare organisations.

The Charity of the Year programme gives Westcotts teams the opportunity to choose and support causes that matter to their local communities, with staff encouraged to develop their own fundraising activities throughout the year.

Westcotts’ partners also support their efforts by match-funding money raised up to a total of £10,000.

With fundraising for the five new charities already under way, teams are aiming to build – and even better – the £27,731 raised last year through another programme of events, activities and sponsored challenges.

Abi Petch, Director at Westcotts, said: “Our Charity of the Year programme is very much driven by our teams and the causes that matter to the communities around our offices.

“Raising more than £27,000 last year was a fantastic collective effort and we are hugely grateful to everyone who took part, donated or supported our fundraising.

“We are now looking forward to building on that with five new charities. They all provide important support to people and communities across the South West and we hope we can make a real difference to their work over the coming year.”