About John Good Group
John Good Group is a sixth-generation family business with three centuries of trading history. It began in the early 1800s, when founder John Good started a ship’s chandlery in what is now Hull’s old town. A ship’s captain and Quaker, he also invented safety equipment for sailors and campaigned for the wellbeing of Finnish people after the Crimean War. That spirit of doing right by people has shaped the company ever since.
Today, the Group is a PhilCo (a philanthropic company at least 10% owned by a charitable Foundation) employing more than 200 people across five UK divisions: Travel, Marine, Warehousing and Logistics, Property, and eCommerce-led businesses. In 2022, they won Best Social Impact at the Yorkshire & Humberside Family Awards, recognising a culture that puts people, planet and community first.
Corporate Giving led by Employees
The Matthew Good Foundation has managed John Good Group’s employee giving programme since 2011. Together, we’ve built a bespoke programme that gets employees directly involved, through voting, volunteering and nominating causes that matter to them. As a result, the majority of funds go directly to small, grassroots charities.
For John Good Group, the impact goes both ways. The company reports that the programme strengthens its ESG commitments and helps attract and retain talent. It also gives employees a tangible way to see the business’s values in action.
2024 At a Glance
Awarded through Grants for Good
Awarded through the Employee Giving Programme
Employee volunteering hours completed
In Their Words
“The John Good Group is a unique family business deeply committed to its social impact. We’re one of only a few organisations whose whole purpose is directly aligned with delivering additional profit into charitable endeavours. By putting real funding decisions in the hands of John Good Group colleagues and focusing on smaller, high impact charities, we’ve built a programme that our teams feel they own. That ownership has translated into support for hundreds of grassroots organisations, with each receiving unrestricted funding – the lifeblood of small charities. It’s no coincidence that as employee engagement in Grants for Good has grown, so has the scale and reach of our giving. I’m excited to see the Matthew Good Foundation take this model into other businesses that want their social impact to feel just as personal and meaningful for their employees”
How the Programme Works
Grants for Good
The John Good Group partner with Matthew Good Foundation’s Grants for Good programme to ensure a certain amount of their charitable giving goes to micro-charities. Every quarter, £15,000 is shared between five shortlisted charities – £60,000 a year in total. Charities are chosen from across the UK, spanning a wide range of activities that benefit people and planet. Employees then vote to decide how the funding is split, giving small charities both unrestricted financial support and a wider platform.
John Good Group’s latest Grants for Good Recipients
Ocean Buffer Project
Ocean Buffer Project is a community-led environmental group in Cornwall. Volunteers grow marine microalgae in small, off-grid "mini ocean" systems, capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as it grows. They also build the tanks and monitor the algae, turning ocean science into something anyone can take part in. In
Guardians UK
Guardians UK is a woodland charity working in Southeast London, West Sussex and Ceredigion, Wales. It grows native trees, trains people to care for threatened forests and brings volunteers together to plant them. Its Ceredigion site is turning a Sitka spruce plantation into native woodland. In autumn 2026, the
LionAid
LionAid is a small UK charity working to protect wild lions in Africa. In the Amboseli area of Kenya, it helps Maasai communities keep livestock safe from lions using solar lights and a shared "insurance herd". Since the project began in 2022, LionAid reports that no lions have been
Cotswolds Rivers Trust
Cotswolds Rivers Trust is a small charity working to protect and restore rivers across the Cotswolds, including the upper Thames. Through its Streamlining the Infant Thames project, local people learn to test water quality and spot signs of pollution. Around 20 volunteers along the river now help track its
Caithness Seal Rehab & Release
Caithness Seal Rehab & Release is a volunteer-run seal hospital in the far north of Scotland. It rescues sick, injured and abandoned grey and common seal pups, cares for them and returns them to the sea. Since opening in 2022, the team has rescued 130 pups and released 121
The Mastectomy Tattooing Alliance
The Mastectomy Tattooing Alliance supports people recovering from breast cancer, BRCA-related surgery, or gender-affirming surgery. Founded by tattoo artist Tanya Buxton in Cheltenham 2021, MTA helps people access high-quality areola and mastectomy tattoos. It does this through a voucher scheme and a growing network of vetted artists across the
The MoneyHeave Community Project
The MoneyHeave Community Project is a grassroots organisation helping young adults and underrepresented communities take control of their finances. Founded by finance professional Roneish Myers, MoneyHeave runs practical workshops on budgeting, debt and saving. These sessions build skills and confidence in places where financial advice is often out of
Recycle-IT!
Recycle-IT! is a community interest company based in Bolton, tackling digital exclusion and e-waste by collecting, refurbishing and redistributing IT equipment to people and community groups who need it most. Since launching, the organisation has diverted over 270 tonnes of e-waste from landfill, redistributed more than 3,500 devices, and
Otterhead Estate Trust
Otterhead is an off-grid nature reserve on the Somerset/Devon border, south of Taunton, freely open to the public. The Otterhead Estate Trust manages much of the site, maximising biodiversity and wildlife habitats, while restoring heritage features. The Forest School, based at the Coach House, supports children with complex needs.
YOPEY
YOPEY is a small charity in the East of England that tackles two problems at once: loneliness among care home residents living with dementia, and negative stereotypes of teenagers. It trains young volunteers aged 14 to 19 to visit residents weekly, offering conversation, music and shared activities. Residents build
Employee Giving Programme
Champion Grants
Employees can nominate small charities, local initiatives and projects with under £1.5m annual income for a £500 grant. If they’re directly involved with the project as a volunteer, this rises to £1,000.
Double Match
A double match triples the value of any charitable fundraising by an employee or their immediate family. Every £1 raised becomes £3 for the charity.
Donation Match
A donation match doubles employees’ personal donations pound-for-pound. Every pound they donate becomes £2 for the charity.
Monthly Draw
Every month, one employee wins a £250 donation to their charity of choice.
Grassroots projects
For employees leading a cause from the ground up, the Foundation helps build a bespoke funding package with John Good Group.
Employee Volunteering Programme
Every employee at John Good Group gets one paid day a year to volunteer for a cause they care about. They can take this as a team, in small groups, or individually, and can even split the day into half-days or hour-long micro-volunteering sessions. The Foundation team often co-ordinates these sessions, though the programme stays flexible, so employees get the most benefit.
John Good Group also offers pro-bono support in areas like trusteeship, mentoring, marketing and IT. The Foundation often makes these connections happen.
Latest News from John Good Group
Bridge2Bridge Cycle Challenge Raises £50,088 for Sailors’ Children’s Society
Seventeen riders raised £50,088 for the Sailors’ Children’s Society, including five from John Good Group. Find out how £12,000 of Foundation funding helped their efforts go even further.
DAN Shipping and Arthur Smith Teams Help Get Clean Planet’s Boat Back on the Water
When Clean Planet’s boat was out of the water, a group of DAN Shipping and Arthur Smith employees stepped in with £5,000 for repairs. Find out how a routine check-in led to a new connection.
Grants for Good: An Employee Giving Programme Your Team Will Actually Love
We surveyed over 100 employees across the John Good Group about Grants for Good – and the results speak for themselves. From genuine discovery to a 9.3 out of 10 recommendation score, here’s what staff really think, and why it might be worth bringing to your own business.