Bakers has passed a significant milestone in its long standing support for charities and good causes, with more than £1 million donated since the company moved to Brentwood in 2011.
During that time, Bakers has supported more than 100 different charities, community organisations and good causes. In 2026 alone, the company is supporting more than 50 different organisations and causes.
Through the Bakers Foundation, the company is making a new round of donations at the end of its financial year to charities, community organisations and causes across Essex and further afield.
The organisations being supported range from long standing charity partners including Kids Inspire, SNAP, Challenging MND, Wipe Away Those Tears, Billericay Foodbank and Brentwood Foodbank, to organisations including Saint Francis Hospice, Home-Start Essex, Hopefield Animal Sanctuary, Lennox Children’s Cancer Fund, Young Lives vs Cancer and the MND Foundation.
A number of this year's donations have also come directly from nominations made by Bakers employees.
These include charities connected personally to members of the team and their families, alongside smaller local organisations that employees believe deserve support.
Steve Baker, Managing Director of Bakers, said:“Passing £1 million is a milestone we're very proud of, but the number isn't really the story.
“The important part is what the charities and organisations we support are able to do with that funding. We meet some incredible people doing difficult and important work in our community, and we're fortunate that the success of Bakers allows us to help them.
“It is also something the whole Bakers team contributes to. The company can only do this because of the work everyone here puts in, and I particularly like seeing employees nominate organisations that mean something personally to them.”
Among the organisations previously supported by the Bakers Foundation is SNAP, the Brentwood based charity supporting families with children who have additional needs or disabilities.
SNAP provides services including a helpline, specialist talks, one to one advice, counselling and activities for children and young people. The charity says more than 5,000 families across Essex rely on its support.
Another charity receiving continued support is Home-Start Essex, which works with families with young children facing challenges including isolation, mental health difficulties, disability, housing problems and family conflict.
The charity has reported increasing demand at a time when securing grant funding is becoming more difficult.
Bakers is also supporting the Young Adults Group at Saint Francis Hospice, which provides a community for 16 to 25 year olds living with life limiting conditions. The group offers peer support, therapeutic activities, outings and opportunities for young adults and their families to spend time with others who understand their experiences.
Closer to Bakers' Brentwood home, Hopefield Animal Sanctuary cares for more than 700 rescued animals and relies on charitable support to meet the costs of feeding, veterinary treatment and maintaining the sanctuary.
The Bakers Foundation formalised a charitable commitment that had grown alongside the business over many years. Its approach combines established charity partnerships with support for local community organisations and employee-nominated causes.
Steve added:“We don't see this as something to shout about for the sake of it. The milestone gives us an opportunity to recognise some of the brilliant organisations we've been lucky enough to get to know over the years.
“They are the people doing the work every day. We're pleased that Bakers can play a small part in helping them continue it.”
Here are some quotes from charities supported by Bakers:
Gail O’Shea MBE from Wipe Away Those Tears“On behalf of Wipe Away Those Tears, we would like to express our heartfelt thanks to Bakers for the incredibly generous donation.
This remarkable gift will make a truly life changing difference to children with life limiting or life threatening illnesses and their families. Your generosity will help us create special wishes, experiences and memories that families can treasure forever.
We are incredibly grateful for Bakers’ continued commitment to supporting charities like ours and for helping us make a real difference to the families who need us most.
Thank you for believing in Wipe Away Those Tears and for helping us bring hope, happiness and precious memories to so many children and their families.”
Sue Bell, OBE, CEO & Clinical Director, Kids Inspire“We are incredibly grateful to everyone at Bakers for this extraordinarily generous donation and for the commitment they have shown to Kids Inspire over so many years. To know that we were one of the first charities Bakers supported, and that this relationship continues to grow, means a great deal to us.
Unrestricted funding is particularly precious because it gives us the flexibility to respond where the need is greatest, helping us provide children, young people and their families with the right therapeutic support at the right time, while sustaining the skilled people and services that make lasting recovery from trauma possible.
Reaching £1 million in charitable giving is a remarkable milestone for Bakers. We feel enormously privileged to have been part of that journey and extend our heartfelt thanks to the whole Bakers team for continuing to stand alongside Kids Inspire and the families we serve.”
Lindsay Carpenter-Oliver, Founder of The Snowdrops Foundation“We are currently working alongside a group of bereaved parents to create a guide for newly bereaved families, and your donation will allow us to distribute this to even more hospitals, reaching more families. It will also help us expand the range of support we can offer. We’ve been hoping to introduce gentle Pilates and yoga sessions for bereaved parents to sit alongside our run club, and your kindness will make this possible.”
Graham Robjohns, Chair of Trustees Essex Home-Start“A huge Thank You once again for the recent donation to Home-Start Essex. We are extremely grateful for your continued support. As an unrestricted donation, your gift gives us the flexibility to use the funds where they are needed most, helping us to continue providing vital support to families with young children across Essex who are facing difficult circumstances.
Our aim is to support families to build their confidence and resilience, helping them to navigate the challenges they face and give their children the best possible start in life and the opportunity to thrive.
We continue to see increasing numbers of families coming to us for support. Alongside financial pressures, families may be facing isolation, emotional and mental health difficulties, disability, housing problems, domestic abuse, bereavement or family conflict. Increasingly, we are supporting families with more complex needs, making our services more important than ever.
During 2025/26, we supported 1,187 families and reached 4,187 beneficiaries across Essex, and the demand for our services continues to grow.
Generous donations such as yours make a real difference, allowing us to continue being there for families when they need us most and ensuring that children have the opportunity to get the best possible start in life.
Once again, on behalf of our staff, volunteers and, most importantly, the families and children we support, thank you for your incredibly kind and generous support of Home-Start Essex. We truly appreciate your continued commitment to our work.”
Jodie Connelly CEO of BOSP (Brighter Opportunities for Special People) “On behalf of BOSP, I would like to thank you so much for the kind donation we have received to purchase much needed items for our office.
As a small independent charity which is self funded, we really appreciate your kind support. Help from friends in the community makes an enormous difference to us.
On behalf of the children, parents and siblings who benefit from our services, may I again express our huge appreciation for your support and thank you for caring about children with complex disabilities in our community, your kindness really makes a difference.”
Lindsey Bidwell, Director of Operations & Fundraising, Lennox Children’s Cancer Fund“Wow, thank you so much for another amazing donation. It genuinely means so much to us when a business chooses to continue supporting Lennox, as it shows that you really believe in the work we do and the difference we are making. Please pass on a huge thank you to the whole team from all of us.
I think it would be lovely to direct this donation towards our School Support Programme.
Through the programme, we go into schools to deliver workshops and assemblies that raise awareness of childhood cancer, help children and staff understand the signs and symptoms, and encourage greater kindness and understanding. Sadly, some of the children we support have experienced bullying because of the changes cancer and treatment can cause, so this education is incredibly important.
We also work directly with school staff, helping them understand how best to support a child with cancer, as well as their siblings and parents. Alongside this, we deliver grief and bereavement workshops to support school communities following the loss of a child.
Your donation will help us continue developing and delivering this work, and I hope you and the team will feel really proud of the difference your continued support is making.”
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