our diverse ways of giving

Our global Giving ecosystem is relevant, radical and wide reaching. So much has happened since Charity Pot was launched in 2007. Our giving has become more diverse and has evolved to support amazing initiatives as they try to respond to the ever increasing complexities of human impact in the world. It is through our giving and campaigning that we can resource and give platform to those likeminded partners doing work on the ground to move the dial on the issues we care about as a business.

We have five main stream to flow our giving. Keep reading to find out more about whom we have funded, how much we give way and more details about how each one of those categories is supporting change in the world.

A brief overview

The last financial year (July 2018 to June 2019) saw a renewal and streamlining of our giving practices. Through these changes, we aimed to maximise the clarity and impact we wish to have in the world. We waved goodbye to FunD and the Carbon Tax. SLush became Re:Fund, our regenerative fund, with a budget of £1.5 million, which now includes Ethical Consumer’s support for Spring Prize.

Spring Prize and Lush Prize have become biennial, allowing space to review the strategy and effectiveness of these prizes. This FY both prizes still ran, awarding 33 organisations and individuals.

Charity Pot’s reach was felt in 35 countries, 34 of those sold naked Charity Pot over Christmas for the first time, 81,003 units raised £686,115 and saved 1.7 tonnes of plastic. We also created a new category called Tailormade Giving to report all of our non-financial giving, such as products and staff time.

A sample of stories

Lush Prize

Dr. Dan Huh, BIOLines Research Group, USA, was awarded £50,000 for pioneering micro-engineering bio-mimicry of human physiological systems, a.k.a. organ-on-a-chip.

Campaigns

We contributed to the purchase of 890 acres of monoculture palm by SOS Sumatra and OIC with £422,386 (EU and Asia Pacific) plus 44k (NA) from sales of orang-utan soap. Land is now being converted into forest.

Lush Spain supported EQUALIA for their awareness campaign about the effects of industrial agriculture on the environment.

Lush Japan donated product to Cambodian groups supporting children’s welfare and manufacturing in Croatia had special staff collection for refugees, reported here.

Re:Fund

Tree Talk trained 47 refugees in Rhino and Imvepi camps in Uganda in soap making, working with 15 native and wild harvested plant species.

Runa Foundation are reforesting 20 hectares of degraded tropical forest in Ecuador, planting 13,000 seedlings and running 6 capacity building workshops with local groups. 12 priority animal species will be protected.

MAking waves

Through our giving we support those who are bravely going against the status quo and helping to catalyse change. From a young scientist researching alternatives to animal testing to a smallholder farmers shunning chemical farming and helping to regenerate soil. From hundreds of anti-fracking activists keeping the growth of the fracking industry in check to organisations working to end wildlife traffiking. From LGBTQI+ groups fighting to ensure rights in conservative societies to those offering a glimpse of hope to refugees. It is a humbling privilege to enable activists from all sectors, all genders, all ages, all over the world to help build a economically fair, socially just and ecologically restorative society. We are all in this together!

Check out this map with a large sample of the initiatives we offered a helping hand to in the last financial year.

UK & Ireland

We’ve had a fantastic charitable year here at Lush UK&I funding 582 groups. Extinction Rebellion has completely transformed the UK’s campaigning on climate change, pushing the climate emergency up the media and political agenda with their well-disciplined and intelligent civil disobedience.

We supported an exciting new start-up called NoPlasticApp for the creation of an open source, free app for consumers to campaign against over packaging while they shop, by scanning barcodes and emailing companies directly.

In the field of human rights we have funded huge numbers of groups supporting the rights of refugees and migrants but are particularly excited by Refugee Legal Support in Athens, a group of volunteer UK lawyers working with Greek lawyers to give free legal support to refugees in Greece, and RefuComm, for short multilingual films for migrants in Greece about their rights.

We also funded Transboundary Journalists and Communicators Association for their investigative reporting into potential human rights against indigenous people in Thailand, and the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights to campaign to save Saudi women human rights defenders at risk of imprisonment and execution.

We continued our strong support for those protecting animals including donations to FLIGHT: Protecting Indonesia’s Birds, a new organisation focused on the illegal wild bird trade, and Moorland Monitors, a strategic, coordinated, multi-pronged campaign to mobilise the public to highlight and challenge wildlife persecution and ecological destruction committed by grouse shooting estates. We also funded the Animal Rights Gathering, to organise a strategic gathering for those in leadership roles in the animal rights movement to develop a shared set of principles and values.

It’s been a great year, we look forward to the next!

Japan

Lush Japan made 86 donations this year. The Association To Help Chernobyl conducted radiation measurements creating maps to help residents understand the current situation. Koajiro Yagai Chosei Kaigi maintaining waterways and carrying out revetment maintenance, increasing biodiversity for the Ayu fish. Kiyokawa Shippo Village Managing Committee takes care of dogs and cats left behind after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Around the world

Germany

The last year was incredibly powerful, as the climate movement gained momentum in Germany. Our support of the activists and actions over the past few years around German lignite mining through groups Hambacher Forst and Ende Gelände led to the largest demonstration against lignite mining in Germany with over 50,000 people joining. We supported Extinction Rebellion and Fridays for Future, who are collaborating and joining forces, including the We4Future camp outside Parliament.

Australian and New Zealand

This year, Charity Pot grants include: The Grata Fund who are campaigning against unfair laws and policies. They successfully sued the Northern Territory government on behalf of 70 Indigenous Australian households in Santa Teresa, setting a legal precedent for future cases. We also funded Democracy in Colour who are campaigning against structural racism and strengthening political voices of people of colour in Australia.

France

This year, Charity Pot France increased sales and donations and 174 projects were funded. We funded Solinum, a human solidarity group fighting for housing rights for homeless people and ATOUPIC, a hedgehog sanctuary, for a dedicated infirmary for hoglets. We supported the Cigéo project campaigning against burying nuclear waste.

Korea

Lush Korea funded 42 groups including Beagle Rescue Network, a group campaigning for a ban on animal testing, TEFL & Pink Angels, a collaborative project supporting female orphans who live in Yangon, Myanmar; ECOFEM is working on #plasticfreecafe and #plasticfreeworkshop campaigns collecting signatures to pass single-use cup deposit legislation; and Save Jeju-bada a volunteer group which carries out regular beach clean-ups on Jeju island.