LUSH reaches £100 million in charitable giving, thanking customers for their support.

‘The remedy for hate is love, the cure for greed is giving, the key to freedom is kindness, life is lush.’  Chris Packham, Wildlife TV presenter & conservationist

Since 2007, Lush has supported grassroot organisations and activists through multiple programs, enabling them to continue their work to improve society. Through its giving streams, Lush has now raised over £100 million and made over 19,000 donations globally thanks to the support of its customers. 

In FY23 Lush donated just under 1% of the company turnover to grassroots groups driving tangible positive impact, showing commitment to a long term giving strategy.

The giving streams span across donation and campaigning products through to bi-annual awards such as The Lush Prize (£250,000 prize fund) rewarding those working to remove animals from safety testing, including scientists for their developments of new approach (non-animal tested) methodologies; and the Spring Prize (£200,000 prize fund), currently open for applications, awarding prizes to regenerative practices and those repairing the earth’s damaged systems. 

Lush is also a campaigning company, having launched almost 50 campaign products, first launching Guantanamo Garden bath bomb with human rights nonprofit Reprieve, in early 2008, highlighting the plight of those imprisoned without trial in Guantanamo Bay and continues to campaign on little known issues to this day. 

Chris Packham, wildlife TV presenter and conservationist, is a friend and supporter of Lush’s causes and happily agreed to design some carrier bags to celebrate this giving milestone.  

The 5p charge of the Lush carrier bags (minus tax) goes toward our two Prize programmes which run on alternating years (Lush Prize and Spring Prize). These special bags will be used in UK&I stores from August 28th. Chris’s designs have also been turned into the shop window graphic, which will be in-stores from August 28th till September 4th.

There is also a new song which has been produced to celebrate the £100 million milestone which staff and customers Globally are dancing to with a specially choreographed dance, bringing joy to Lush shop floors.

End of an era: The pot that has done a lot

When Co-Founder & CEO Mark Constantine formulated and launched Charity Pot in April 2007, he wished that it would raise £1m for small charities, campaigning groups and other good causes.   The aim was to donate small grants to the grassroots activists causing mischief and he envisioned creating absolute chaos if we managed to raise a million from Charity Pot.  Since then it has exceeded all expectations and raised £75 million across 17,000 grants. It’s been the biggest contributor to Lush’s giving over the past 17 years, making up 75% of the £100m.

Whilst celebrating this momentous milestone, the company feels it is a good time to pause Charity Pot, to reflect on charitable giving as a whole and assess the funding needed to meet the current challenges the World faces at this critical time.

Whilst Charity Pot will be leaving Lush’s shelves from the end of September 2024, campaigning and charity products will not be disappearing.

The next phase of Lush giving

Giving at Lush is now entering a new era – the biannual Prizes will continue, and we will continue to support human rights and social justice; animal rights and environmental protection through charitable products raising money for particular causes that are pertinent at any given time. And the product will reflect that cause.

An example is the Watermelon Slice soap (£6 per 100g), currently on sale with 100% of the profit going towards childhood mental health services in Palestine. 

This year we will also be launching ‘Keystone Products’ – taking inspiration from keystone species (those that act as ecosystem engineers, regenerating the landscape for other species), each Keystone Product will be sold to raise money for a project in a priority landscape around the world, and we’ll have at least one for sale at any time.   

The projects funded through a Keystone Product will be designed to incorporate at least two of the following:  regenerating landscapes for threatened wildlife, protecting a keystone species or developing human focussed solutions (from addressing human-wildlife conflict to supporting sustainable livelihood opportunities).  The first Keystone Product launch will be announced soon.

For further information and interview opportunities with a Lush spokesperson, Chris Packham and/or Caroline Lucas, please email [email protected]

Notes to Editors:

About Lush:
Lush invents, manufactures and retails fresh handmade cosmetics.  A beauty company with a campaigning heart, Lush is passionate about direct action. It uses its stores around the world as a platform to shed light on little-known social and environmental issues.

High-res supporting imagery is available to view and download here.