Frequently asked questions

We want to create a mentally healthy society. But we can’t do this alone. We’re always looking for organisations and companies that want to help make sure that everyone can access mental health support when they need it.

There’s lots of ways you can do this – whether it’s employee fundraising, a bespoke campaign to tackle mental health stigma, supporting us through gift-in-kind or simply a one-off donation.

Depending on how you’re able to support, the size and location of your organisation, we’ll put you in touch with the best team at Mind or your nearest local Mind branch to take things forward.

Get in touch to start a discussion about partnering with Mind.

To make sure that we’re not compromising on our mission as a charity, there are some circumstances which we mean we won’t partner with an organisation. These are set out in our ethical policy.

We know that it takes planning to make sure we really deliver on our shared ambitions.

When setting up a partnership, there are a few essential steps that need to happen which can take time - like due diligence and contracting.

In our experience, the process typically takes between 4 and 6 weeks, depending on the complexity of the partnership

We’d advise any partner exploring a cause-related marketing partnership to allow at least 2 months from their initial enquiry to launch. This allows us to take those essential steps to set up the partnership and be involved in any creative development.

Absolutely. A mentally healthy society requires mentally healthy workplaces. Lots of our partners include Mind’s workplace wellbeing offer as a core part of their partnership.

We encourage all our partners to use Mind’s services to support the wellbeing of their staff and reflect on their current mental health policy and practice.

Learn more about Mind’s workplace wellbeing offering

While fundraising is important in helping us deliver our work, there are a range of ways in which organisations can partner with Mind.

These include (but are not limited to):

• Gift-in-kind donations, which can help us raise money through our retail shops e.g. unsold stock, or alleviate costs e.g. apprenticeship levy, meeting room and venue space.
• Pro-bono support, which can save Mind costs on professional services e.g. legal advice, marketing services.
• Raising awareness of Mind’s campaigns and key messages with your employees, customers and stakeholders.
• Supporting Mind’s influencing efforts, for example sharing Mind’s Mental Health at Work Commitment standards with your supply chain and encouraging participation or embedding adoption withing procurement requirements.

Our network of local Minds is supported by thousands of volunteers every year. But many these volunteering opportunities are long-term commitments.

We can offer partners both short term skilled volunteering opportunities and limited one-off volunteering opportunities. But these are reserved to partners working with Mind across a number of activations and events.

We’re not able to offer corporate volunteering opportunities on their own. 

Every partnership is unique – reaching different audiences, within different sectors and with different ways of working. Our award-winning corporate partnership team will work with you to develop a bespoke partnership plan around our shared ambitions as partners.

You’ll also receive:

• A dedicated partnership manager
• Support from our in-house subject matter experts in mobilising internal and external campaigns
• A welcome pack full of fundraising and awareness raising ideas
• Information on ways to support your staff and customers
• Monthly newsletters highlighting the impact of your support and ideas for ways to further engage your employees and customers
• Regular campaign packs to raise mental health awareness around key dates amongst employees and customers
• Invitations to exclusive partner events
• Reporting sharing the impact of your support and fundraising efforts

When we set up the partnership with you, we’ll discuss how we’re going to work together, how you’re able to support and what audiences we want to reach. This discussion will include the rights and use of our “We’re supporting Mind” logo.

All partners can make use of this logo internally to support employee fundraising or awareness raising efforts. We just ask that you get sign off from your partnership manager on any assets you create.

But, legally, any external use of our logo is subject to a commercial fee. When we set up the partnership, we’ll make sure that any fees are clearly communicated and form part of our overall partnership agreement.

Many of Mind’s services are accessed by people all over the UK and beyond. But we're registered as a charity in England and Wales only.

We’ve a strong track record in delivering corporate partnerships across the UK with our sister charities SAMH and Inspire, who share our commitment to make sure everyone can access mental health support when they need it. These include our award-winning partnerships with the likes of the Co-op, Virgin Money and Moto Hospitality.

When getting in touch, just let us know which nations you have a footprint in and we’ll do the leg-work in bringing all the right people round the table together.

If your company’s head office is located Scotland or Northern Ireland, we recommend contacting our sister charities directly.

Mind won’t accept support that could compromise who we are and what we do. Mind’s corporate partnerships team undertake due diligence research to make sure that any potential relationship is in line with our ethical policy and principles.

Where there are areas of legitimate concern, the opportunity undergoes review through our Ethical Fundraising and Investment Decision Making Process.

• This considers the extent to which activities of an organisation: 
  have a link or contribute to poor mental health (directly or indirectly)
• don’t align with Mind’s objectives, strategy and values and pose a risk to Mind’s ability to achieve its mission
• could negatively affect future support to help us as a charity.

Mind doesn’t accept donations from activities that come from:

• Pharmaceutical manufacture
• Tobacco
• Funding from political parties
• Pornography
• Arms/ weapons manufacturers
• Fossil fuel extractors

Donations from the above industries may be accepted if they reflect matched corporate donations received as part of an individual employee’s fundraising efforts.

At Mind we want our workplace mental health services to be available to and benefit everyone, regardless of their employer or industry. Mind’s mental health training, consultancy and Workplace Wellbeing Index is available to all companies, including those industries from whom we don’t accept donations. 

The definition of pharmaceutical manufacturers doesn’t extend to retailers like chemists, who mainly manufacture own-brand over the counter medication, unless they're significant manufacturers of pharmaceuticals associated with the treatment of mental health problems.

Companies who make alternative remedies, like St John's Wort or vitamins, are also excluded from this policy.

We appreciate the support from people working for pharmaceutical companies, including individual donations or individuals taking part in events for Mind. But we won’t accept money from their employer, excluding instances of matched employee fundraising initiatives.

No. Even if we partner with a company or employees belonging to a particular organisation fundraise for us, it doesn’t imply our approval of a product or policy from that company.

Mind accredits mental health apps through our partnership with ORCHA. The Mind App Library features trusted mental health and wellbeing apps that meet our high standards for safety, effectiveness, and quality.