Community Giving

At Whole Foods Market Novato, we look forward to being an active participant in our community. We have several different donation and community support programs available and welcome opportunities for community involvement.

General Donation Requests

Every month we work to support our local community with donations. In most cases, we prefer to support events or organizations that contribute to one or more of the following:

• Environmental Preservation
• Preventative Health Care
• Hunger Relief
• Organic Farming/Sustainable Food Resources
• Arts and Education

Because Whole Foods Market Novato believes in being an active community member, requests from other civic and charitable groups will also be considered if the organization is in the immediate vicinity of our store location, meets our core values, and funding is available.

Recipients must be a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.  We ask that all donation requests be submitted at least 45-60 days prior to the event date and the “pick-up” date in order to be considered.  Because the donations budget is limited, early submission of your application is recommended. 

To submit your application online, click here.

Community Support Days

Once a quarter, Whole Foods Market contributes 5% of one day’s sales to a Non-profit organization (Community Support Days). We work together with the participating group to promote the organization, finding fun and creative ways to generate sales the day of the event. The participating organization must have the capability to promote the event within their organization and out to the community via a newsletter, meeting, emails, press releases, social media, etc.

On a CSD, the chosen organization will need to maintain a staffed information table throughout the day to allow customers to get to know and interact with the organization.

• We will keep your application on file for this program for 2 years.
• To apply for this program email lynda.berrios@wholefoods.com with the following info. in the body of the email:
  • Name of organization, 501-c (3) number (attach your tax status letter to email)
  • Organization address and website, Contact person information, including title, email, phone.
  • Describe your organization’s mission or purpose in 30-60 words.  (You can include more, but this shorter description is all that will be used next to your logo on our vote form)
  • How will the raised funds from a community support day impact your organization?
  • How are you working to build a healthier Marin County, How will the funds raised be utilized?
  • How many members does your organization have? How will you publicize and promote our partnership to your members and the public?
  • Which donation program(s) are you interested in?

Dimes for Donations Program

When customers bring in their own bags for groceries they have the option of receiving ten cents credit (per bag) or donating the money to a selected charity.  Three organizations are selected each quarter, or about four times a year.  Beginning January 17, 2011, funds raised through the registers will be split evenly among the participating organizations.  All 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations may apply.

Current Dimes for Donations recipients (for our 2nd Quarter – January 16th-April 8th 2012) are as follows:

• Novato Theater
  

Help support this invaluable community project! The Novato Theater project will bring film and community performance arts to downtown 365 days a year. http://www.novatotheater.net/

• Junior Achievement

Junior Achievement (JA) empowers young people to own their economic success. Our volunteer-delivered, K-12 programs foster work-readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy skills, and use experiential learning to inspire kids to dream big and reach their potential. http://www.ja.org/

For more information about our Community Giving programs please visit www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/novato/community-giving

To apply for this program email lynda.berrios@wholefoods.com with the following info. in the body of the email:

• Name of organization, 501-c (3) number (attach your tax status letter to email)
• Organization address and website, Contact person information, including title, email, phone.
• Describe your organization’s mission or purpose in 30-60 words.  (You can include more, but this shorter description is all that will be used next to your logo on our vote form)
• How will the raised funds from a community support day impact your organization?
• How are you working to build a healthier Marin County, How will the funds raised be utilized?
• How many members does your organization have? How will you publicize and promote our partnership to your members and the public?
• Which donation program(s) are you interested in?

Scrip Program to Benefit Local Schools

A great way for parents to help raise money for their schools while doing their ordinary shopping!  Similar to other scrip programs, Whole Foods Market’s Scrip program benefits local schools by offering a percentage of dollars purchased in-store by participating parents to schools.  Our new scrip program operates through gift cards, which schools purchase at a discount and resell to parents.  Parents who shop at Whole Foods Market can now do so with the gift cards, leaving the school with the benefit of the discounted amount, at no additional cost to parents.  It benefits everybody!

• Scrip may be purchased in any denomination; schools will receive a 4% discount on the purchase. Our scrip is available on gift cards in $10, $25, $50 or $100 denominations.  It is not necessary to spend the entire amount on the card in one purchase – your balance will remain on the card for future use. Our scrip is redeemable at all Whole Foods Markets across the nation.
• Schools may sign up for our School Scrip Program by contacting lynda.berrios@wholefoods.com for an application form.  Private schools must also submit a copy of their 501(c)3 letter from the IRS in order to complete the application.  All public schools are eligible to apply.