Neighbourly, the giving platform used by dozens of large UK businesses, has today warned that traditional corporate giving models are often failing to reach many of the communities facing the most acute deprivation.
Billions of pounds are given each year to good causes by businesses in Britain and the fear is that the money could be having a greater impact.
Its new report, Giving Without Guessing produced in partnership with Lidl GB, analyses the English Indices of Deprivation 2025 published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) alongside insight from hundreds of frontline charities.
Government data shows that 82% of neighbourhoods ranked among England’s most severely deprived in 2019 remained in the bottom 10% in 2025, underlining how stubborn and entrenched hardship has become.
The report also highlights how deprivation is increasingly hyper-local. Severe disadvantage can sit just streets away from visible affluence, meaning broad regional averages often hide the true scale of need. Government data reveals more than 65% of local authority areas contain at least one neighbourhood ranked within the 10% most severely deprived nationally.
Neighbourly’s own research among its charity network found that only 3% of charities believe corporate support currently reflects local need “very well”, while 95% believe smaller, less visible charities are overlooked when corporate giving is allocated.
Steve Butterworth, CEO at Neighbourly, said: “Businesses want their community investment to make a real difference, but too often they are giving without the full picture. Need is not always where people expect it to be – it can be hidden inside apparently prosperous areas, masked by regional averages, or concentrated in tiny neighbourhood pockets that conventional giving models simply do not see.
“That is the problem Neighbourly exists to solve. By combining public deprivation data, proprietary intelligence from local charities and other groups on the ground, we help businesses move from broad assumptions to precision-targeted local impact. The goal is simple: support should reach the right place, through the right local partner, at the right time.”
Matt Juden, head of sustainability at Lidl GB, said: “At Lidl GB, being part of a community means understanding and responding to what local people actually need. A national commitment only becomes meaningful when it can be delivered with local precision and through Neighbourly, we’re able to connect every one of our stores with trusted good causes in its area, helping us direct surplus food, customer donations and funding where they can make the greatest difference.
“This approach strengthens the relationship between our store teams and the communities they serve, while giving us confidence that our support is practical, relevant and rooted in genuine local need. For us, that is what meaningful community engagement looks like.”
The report sets out a three-part model for more effective corporate giving:
- Mapping: layering public deprivation data with live, quarterly intelligence from Neighbourly’s charity network – via its insight tool, Pulse – to reveal hidden pockets of hardship that broad averages miss.
- Matching: connecting businesses with the local charities best placed to use their specific assets, whether surplus product, funding, skills or volunteer time.
- Measuring: turning local support into auditable social value metrics businesses can use for ESG, social value and procurement reporting.
The report argues that blanket giving models are increasingly ineffective: businesses relying on familiar causes or high-profile charity brands risk missing smaller “last mile” organisations that are closest to the people who need help most.
Butterworth added: “The smaller charities we work with are often the real experts in their local patch. They know which families are struggling and which people are falling through the gaps, but they often lack the profile to compete for corporate support. Precision giving bridges that gap.
“The future of corporate giving isn’t bigger cheques handed out on instinct. It’s smarter, more localised support, built around real need and delivered through trusted community partners. That is what we mean by giving without guessing.”
Neighbourly is one of the UK’s founding B Corporations and has facilitated more than £2 billion of social value into local communities to date through its platform, which connects businesses with a vetted network of more than 45,000 local charities, food banks and community groups across the UK and Ireland. It has supported the distribution of more than 340 million meals, 335,000 volunteer hours and £46 million in local financial support. The company is targeting £10billion of social value by 2030.
By combining Lidl GB’s massive operational scale with Neighbourly’s localised insights, the discounter donated 10,000+ tonnes of food, equating to 18.5 million meals, to people and families most in need during 2025. Alongside its Feed It Back scheme, Lidl GB is also committed to investing in nutritional education in localised areas. A key pillar of this strategy is the £1 million Lidl Foodies initiative, which provides primary school children with hands-on, interactive workshops focused on healthy, fresh foods.
For more information, visit: www.neighbourly.com
