The pub chain Greene King has has raised £3m over the past five years for Macmillan Cancer Support through fundraising events including cake sales, raffles, quizzes and donating a percentage of the sales of its desserts.

The next campaign the company has planned is Miles for Macmillan, in which the company’s 43,000 employees plus customers will be invited to walk, run, bike or swim enough miles to reach the moon – a quarter of a million in total. The challenge will include a team climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

The homeware retailer Wilko has raised £1.3m for local and national charities in the year to the end of April, it has announced.

The company smashed its target of £1m through staff fundraising, with employees at Wilko’s 402 stores, two distribution centres and head office taking part in sponsored walks, bike rides, bake-offs, charity football matches, body waxing and more.

Charities that benefited from their efforts included the Alzheimer’s Society, Cancer Research UK, Macmillan Cancer Support, the Children’s Air Ambulance, the Children’s Hospice Association Scotland and East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices.

The Masterclass Trust, an education charity run by London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket, has announced a partnership with the Waldorf Hilton hotel.

In 2015, the hotel, with the Hilton in the Community Foundation, raised more than £17,000 for the Masterclass Trust, which helps young people into creative industries through apprenticeships, workshops and support from industry professionals.  

Guy Hilton, general manager of the Waldorf Hilton, said: “It’s vitally important for us to give something back to the community and we’re very much looking forward to embarking on this new partnership.”

Branches of Barclays in Yorkshire and north-east England raised £32,500 last year for the learning disability charity Leeds Mencap through events including a corporate golf day, a rowathon and a sporting dinner.

The money will go towards supporting very young children with learning disabilities at the charity’s specialist playroom.

Dawn Spencer, business manager at Barclays, said: “Barclays has supported Leeds Mencap for years, but last year we reached a whole new level.”

She said the business was keen to support the playroom because it was crucial that very young children with learning disabilities received early intervention support when they most needed it.