One year of Dobbies’ charity partnership with Alzheimer’s Research UK
It’s been a whole year since we launched our charity partnership with Alzheimer’s Research UK, and we’re so excited to announce that together, we’ve raised a total of £235,000, more than tripling our initial target! This money could fund over 5,500 hours of critical dementia research.
We couldn’t have done it without your support - whether you’ve bought one of our exclusive charity bulb packs, added a donation during your garden centre purchase, or contributed to any of our fundraising efforts. For that, we want to say a huge thank you!
How you’ve helped
There’s been so many touchpoints this year where you’ve kindly donated and helped support Alzheimer’s Research UK in so many ways:
Whenever you book onto any of our events, you have the option to add a small donation on top of the ticket price – by doing this, you’ve raised a total of £12,580.
Last year, we launched our Spring Sensory Garden Collection in partnership with Taylors Bulbs (filled with an array of spring-flowering bulbs that were chosen for their vibrant colours, textures, and gentle fragrance. By showering your garden in sensory joy, you’ve raised £10,000!
Every year we host our Christmas Shopping Night, celebrating the start of the festive season. Tickets are pay-what-you-can, and you contributed £28,882 across all our garden centres.
If you’ve visited us in-store, you may have noticed colleagues collecting donations through bucket collections – by sharing your loose change, you’ve raised a total of £48,845.
What we’ve done
Our colleagues here at Dobbies have done an outstanding job championing the work of Alzheimer’s Research UK and driving incredible fundraising efforts across the country.
Many of our colleagues across the country took part in various charity and sponsored walks, including at 25-mile trek along the John Muir Way, Walk for the Cure, and Kiltwalk.
Three of our colleagues in Scotland travelled across to Germany to take part in the Berlin Marathon, fundraising £3,000.
Plus, across stores and our central support office, various bake sales and internal events have contributed to helping us reach our overall target.
Our Pennies campaign
For World Alzheimer’s Month in September, we launched our partnership with Pennies, the UK’s leading micro-donation charity. Thanks to Pennies, whenever you paid at our garden centre tills and paid by card/digital wallet, you were able to donate 25p.
Pennies has made a huge difference to our fundraising – and thanks to your generosity, along with payment provider Adyen’s matched donations between September and December 2025, we’ve raised an incredible £123,108.
“We are incredibly thankful to Dobbies and Pennies for this new partnership at a time when we put a spotlight on the need for a cure. This collaboration is helping us to end the heartbreak of dementia by raising vital funds and awareness.” - Alzheimer's Research UK
Why Alzheimer's Research UK?
Almost one million people in the UK are living with dementia today, and without further research, one in two of us will be directly affected by it – either by developing the condition or caring for someone for it, or both.
We chose to partner with Alzheimer's Research UK due to the charity’s deep resonance within the community, and in particular its ‘Think Brain Health’ campaign, which encourages people to think about the simple steps they can take to look after their brains and help reduce the risk of dementia.
In partnership with Alzheimer’s Research UK, Dobbies is highlighting the benefits of garden living for brain health. Together, we have been sharing these three simple rules:
Love your heart by being active through gardening.
Stay sharp by improving plant and garden-care knowledge.
Keep connected through meeting friends and family at stores, taking part in events, and community initiatives.
Gardening is a great way to look after our brain health. Physical activity, learning new skills and keeping connected with others are just some of the things we can do to help reduce our risk of dementia.
Find out more about our partnership with Alzheimer's Research UK
Discover more information on how we work with Alzheimer's Research UK, its Think Brain Health campaign, and how you can further support the charity/donate online.
Thank you for all the incredible support you’ve shown this past year, we’re excited to see how far we can go in another twelve months!