In 2022, YouGov carried out a poll to find the most popular charities in terms of positive public opinion. As expected, the top twenty feature cancer and other healthcare-related charities as well as emergency response non-profits, animal charities, children’s charities and charities for the elderly. Of the top 20, only one was related to the environment and that was a conservation organisation best known for its protection of wild animals.
With global warming, plastic pollution, continued devastation of wild spaces, and 71% of parents admitting they’re concerned about the impact of climate change on their children (survey by Ipsos), you have to wonder why environmental charities aren’t more prominent.
However, although individuals may not be investing as much in environmental organisations, businesses are. For many, it helps to underpin their sustainability values but there are many other reasons for businesses to support environmental charities, including:
- Offsetting their carbon footprint
- Attracting talent who want to work for companies that do good
- Protecting the future of the planet thereby safeguarding the future of business
- Attracting more ethical consumers, business partnerships and investments
There are some amazing organisations there helping the environment to recover and thrive and many have schemes allowing companies to support them in simple and productive ways.
That being, we thought we’d give businesses a helping hand by sharing some of the top environmental causes for businesses to support in 2023.
Ecologi
Although not a charity, Ecologi are dedicated to the restoration of forests and wild spaces. They have been a popular choice for businesses small and large over the past few years and their logo has become very common on webpages, letting users know that the company is helping Ecologi to plant trees.
It has to be said that Ecologi have invested in getting businesses on board by providing them with marketing materials and useful apps. They have also integrated with Shopify and Zapier which allows Ecologi to work with WordPress, Woohoo, Stripe and many other online service providers. This is important because Ecologi’s most appealing feature for businesses is its tree-planting plugin. This allows you to pledge the cost of a tree for every order placed on your site or each invoice raised.
Not only does that mean you are helping Ecologi to restore essential forests and create and expand wild spaces, but you’re not having to do any of the administrative work as so much is automated. Plus, it costs just 24p per tree which won’t make a big difference in many businesses’ profit margins but could make a huge difference to the planet.
Centre For Alternative Technology
An amazing organisation based in Wales, CAT started as a community, grew into a visitors centre and is now an educational charity researching and campaigning for positive solutions for environmental change.
Based in their visitors centre in Mid Wales, science is at the heart of this organisation. At the centre you can see for yourself the research and examples of renewable energy, sustainable buildings and managed natural habitats. From here they offer training for individuals and for businesses to help them live a more eco-friendly lifestyle or operate more sustainably. Out in the world, they’re talking to campaigners, government and other organisations about potential solutions, policies and technologies that could help to combat climate change.
CAT is a great option for businesses to support in the UK as their focus is on living in partnership with nature and embracing positive change to allow Britain to reach Net Zero. With a focus on modern technology and digital innovation, it is perhaps an especially good fit for digital and tech companies.
CleanHub
CleanHub is a little tricky to understand, which is why they make it very easy for businesses to book a discovery call with them through their website so they can explain it all in person. If your business creates plastic waste, then CleanHub is definitely something you should learn more about.
Recognising that, despite efforts, it’s not always possible for product producers to use alternatives to plastic, CleanHub clean up by recovering coastal plastic. They work with businesses first by accurately calculating their plastic footprint. This will then be connected, via an online platform, to CleanUp’s recovery operations so that you can see how much recovery is happening versus how much plastic you emit. When you are funding more recovery of plastic than you are producing you will receive their Plastic Neutral Trust mark which you can use on your website and your packaging.
If you’re a business that needs more time, industry-level change or technical advances to enable you to move away from plastic packaging, then CleanHub provide an excellent solution. Furthermore, they are intent on accuracy and transparency so that you can be confident that your support of them is really making a difference, as well as having the trust to share this with your customers.
Rewilding Britain
Rewilding in land and sea could make a huge difference to nature’s ability to thrive and maintain balance. Wild spaces increase biodiversity which is essential for health, since much of what we eat comes from the soil, and they also release more oxygen into the air. They also protect the natural habitats of British wildlife enabling us to live alongside the natural world.
A few years ago, rewilding to most people was as simple as protecting species of animals from having their homes built upon. Now, humankind is beginning to understand that wildlife does not need us to survive, it is very much us that needs it. Plant life must thrive to provide the conditions we need to exist at all, and yet we’re destroying so much of it.
Rewilding Britain are tackling this through research, education and petitioning to drive real change. They also actively support landowners and national parks by helping them to create and/or enhance their wild spaces.
As a small charity, Rewilding Britain don’t have any flashy plug-ins or digital donation apps. However, you can simply make donations, you can partner with them or you can involve your team in fundraising, which is great for bringing everyone together in a shared goal for a good cause.
This is a genuine grassroots organisation and one of the most essential but small environmental charities for businesses to support in 2023.
SeaTrees
Offsetting carbon by planting trees is an idea that’s really taken off in the past few years, with charities like Ecologi making it easy for businesses to support reforestation. But, did you know that a huge amount of our oxygen comes from underwater plants?
Not only does marine plant life support a variety of ecosystems, but it also draws down carbon dioxide, taking it out of the atmosphere and thereby easing global warming. In fact, seagrass can capture carbon 35 times faster than rainforests and they increase biodiversity in our oceans which helps keep our seas healthy.
SeaTrees are an environmental charity responsible for supporting communities and experts in the protection of marine plant life and the creation and nurture of new coastal ecosystems. This includes restoring kelp and seagrass meadows, coastal conservation, planting mangrove trees and regenerating coastal reefs. As a business, you can help them by adding an optional donation at your customer checkout, so they can plant marine forests with you.
You can also let SeaTrees help your business by allowing them to calculate your carbon footprint to work out how much marine reforestation you’d need to do to reduce or even neutralise your impact. They’d then be very happy to use your investment to carry out their work and they’ll give you a good shout-out for supporting them. Plus, you’ll be able to declare your business carbon-neutral.
Can you recommend any other environmental causes for businesses to support in 2023? We’d love to hear from you.