After hosting first digital donation terminals in Westfield London in 2019, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is currently expanding the implementation of donation walls in its European shopping centres in Germany, Spain, Austria and the Netherlands. An innovative way of leveraging usable spaces to create positive impact in favour of charities.

Back in 2018, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield launched a new initiative in Westfield London: installing digital donation boxes in the centre that enabled visitors to make donations in just a few seconds and a few clics to TAP London, which partners with the London Homeless Collective, gathering 29 charities locally. The charities involved gave a very positive response to this action and showed enthusiasm as they received financial funds and it gives more visibility to their actions.

After the success of this initiative, the Group decided to replicate it in other European countries, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Austria by hosting these donation walls for free. Westfield Mall of the Netherlands started to run a donation wall in December 2019 in partnership with the charity Princess Maxima Center that helps children suffering from cancer.

Donation wall for Princess Maxima Center in Westfield Mall of the Netherlands

Over the course of the year, donation walls will also be implemented in three other shopping centres:

• Donau Zentrum (Austria) will collaborate with Caritas, that helps children in need in Austria,
• Pasing Arcaden (Germany) will partner with Lions Club on the funding of a palliative care unit for children,
• La Maquinista (Spain) will work with Pau Gasol Foundation that fights children obesity.

On top of the donations made by visitors, URW Lab decided to get involved directly in these initiatives throughout Europe by making extra donations for all charities in collaboration with each of the four shopping centres at the end of the four-month campaigns.

These “walls for good” are in line with the Group’s CSR strategy “Better Places 2030” that puts socially responsible programmes and commitments at its core. As stated in the “Better Communities” pillar of its strategy, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield seeks to be a catalyst for growth within the communities in which it operates. Indeed, these initiatives are beneficial to everyone: the shopping centres can have a positive impact by leveraging the high visitor traffic, the charities get a new way to raise funds and raise awareness on the causes they defend, and visitors are encouraged to discover and support a charitable activity.

The Group hopes to replicate these four-month initiatives in the future and offer such a solution to charities in the long run in its shopping centres.