Our Giving
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 streams to our giving. Discover who we have funded, how much we give way and more details about how each one of those categories is supporting change in the world.
“When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same:
If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t understand data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse.” — Paul Hawken, author of Drawdown
Lush Annual Awards
Over recent years Lush has been able to offer an additional level of funding for groups that we respect and have a good relationship with. Our Annual Awards were created in 2011 as a way of giving unrestricted funding to several groups we know and trust; giving longer-term support rather than our typical one-off grants. This means that we are able to provide extra support to groups we feel are making a vital contribution to social change.
There is no application process for the Annual Awards. Groups are chosen by our founders and directors and usually provide an insight into the current focus of our grassroots giving. These groups will often have a history with Lush and we are passionate about the work they are doing.
In our financial year 2018-19 we gave £20,000 each to:
Campaigns
It’s been said that Lush is like a campaigning organisation fronted by a soap shop. We are active and vocal about the issues that we care about, and use our shop windows and website as a way to highlight them.
Alongside awareness raising, we sometimes sell limited edition charitable products during our campaigns, donating the proceeds from these directly to the work of the organisations involved in the campaign issues. Creating these campaign products allows customers an easy and accessible way to contribute their support.
The FunD
After the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan, Lush created FunD. The situation for children in the affected areas is still very far from having returned to the normal fun of childhood. The Fukushima area in particular was severely affected; very real concerns over radiation levels mean that playing outside is too dangerous. Despite decontamination efforts, many school playgrounds remain off limits and outdoor play in streets and parks is not possible.
We worked with NGOs and groups in the area to identify charities, community groups and parent initiatives providing fun-filled, group activities for children in the affected areas based on a simple principle: the people best suited to help are already working hands-on in the communities.
We have recently stopped collecting money for FunD from the sale of our fun soap however we have raised enough money to support groups for several more years.
Thanks to the support of our customers we were actually raising far more than we could donate to these projects. It was decided that the best way forward would be to stop collecting additional funds we wouldn’t have capacity to donate whilst continuing to donate funds already raised to groups that fit the FunD criteria.
When They’re Gone, They’re Gone
In 2018, shops across Europe launched an Orangutan shaped soap. Only 14,600 individual soaps were sold – when they’re gone, they’re gone – just like the orangutans in the Sumatran rainforest. 100% of the sale of the soap (minus VAT) was donated to the Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS). The funds we raised contributed to the purchase of 890 acres of monoculture palm by SOS Sumatra and OIC.
Alongside their partner project the Orangutan Information Centre, SOS have begun rewilding the deforested land, returning it to a natural and biodiverse state where Orangutans and other native animals can thrive. SOS are also trialling an agroforestry system, showing that it’s possible (and preferable!) to grow crops within a forest habitat.
Error 404
“Governments all around the world are instructing internet service providers to block internet access – during protests, elections, and even school exams. People are being silenced, so it’s time to speak up.”
Access Now launched the global #KeepItOn campaign against internet shutdowns, and to support them Lush launched the Error 404 bath bomb. All money from sales of the bath product went into the Digital Fund – a pot of money to support grassroots digital activists who are keeping the internet free, open and safe.
Buy One, Set One Free
Alongside human rights campaigning organisation Reprieve, Lush launched the Buy One, Set One Free campaign to support political prisoner Andy Tsege and his family. Reprieve campaigned for Andy’s release, and encouraged customers to sign a petition to the British foreign secretary. Lush also created the Buy One, Set One Free bath bomb, all proceeds of which went to Reprieve’s work in seeking justice for Andy Tsege, and other human rights violations.
Gay Is Ok
During our #GayIsOk campaign alongside LGBTQ+ rights organisation AllOut, limited-edition ‘Love Perfume’ scented soaps were sold to raise money for the ‘Love Fund’. This small fund supported LGBTQ+ rights groups, collectives, charities and communities, all working towards equality laws, acceptance and inclusion. The Love Fund panel were particularly focused on helping groups working in areas where anti-LGBTQ+ laws are harsh and extreme and where funding is in short supply.
Lush Giving Products
Giving at Lush is now entering a new era – our biannual Prizes will continue, and we will continue to support human rights and social justice; animal rights and environmental protection through Lush Giving Products raising money for particular causes that are pertinent at any given time. And the product will reflect that cause.
We have also launched ‘Keystone Products’, inspired by keystone species, those that have a greater role in maintaining the structure of an ecological community and its overall biodiversity.
Our keystone products will be raising funds for projects protecting keystone species in priority landscapes.
Lush Giving Collection:
- Watermelon Slice Soap
- Damas del Sol Bubble Bar
- Crackle Bath Bomb
- Flame Fighters Soap
- Hutan Bath Bomb
- The Pollinators Bath Bomb
- Elephant Jelly
- There Will Be Sun Soap
These products are currently only available in the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
The Lush Prize
Since 2012
The idea for Lush Prize originated from the Lush founders’ frustration at the entrenched nature of animal testing. They felt it was taking too long for cruelty-free alternatives to be adopted into the mainstream. An idea emerged: a £250,000 pot of money every year which would fund a series of initiatives working to end the use of animals in experiments.
The Lush Prize launched in partnership with Ethical Consumer in 2012, becoming the largest prize fund in the non-animal testing sector.
As a truly global prize, it has supported scientists and activists in countries around the world including; China, Kenya, Iran, Ukraine and India, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, USA, Canada and across Europe awarding almost £3m to 40 prize winners between 2012 – 2024. Lush aims to support the most progressive work in the field, ensuring animal-free research continues with the highest level of impact possible. We do this by providing resources to projects that fall into five categories:
- The Science Prize and Young Researcher Prize are designed to advance research into alternative non-animal tests.
- The Training Prize is designed to resource projects training scientists or regulators in non-animal methods.
- The Public Awareness and Lobbying Prizes are designed to keep up the pressure to make sure regulation is appropriate and updated to reflect advances in 21st-Century Toxicology.
As well as these categories, if there is a major breakthrough in 21st Century Toxicology – the area which holds out most hope for a ‘Eureka’ moment leading to the replacement of animal tests – a Black Box Prize can be awarded. This could be up to the full prize amount, and this was first awarded in 2015.
In 2022, the (non-financial) recognition award for Political Achievement was launched.This year (2024), we also launched another recognition award for Major Science Collaboration.
- Major Science Collaboration: For international collaborations looking to develop non-animal techniques or approaches more widely and in the longer term.
- Political Achievement: For elected political officials at any level and in any country who have made a major contribution towards the ending or replacement of animal research and testing.
2022 marked 10 Years of the Lush Prize. The developments we have seen in the science and innovation over this time has been phenomenal, but there is still a lot of work to be done to achieve an ultimate end to animal testing.
The Lush Regenerative Fund, or Re:Fund
2018 – 2023
The Lush Regeneration Fund (or Re:Fund) ran from 2018 to 2023 and is now closed. It aimed to support ecological and social regeneration around the world. The Re:Fund offered small grants in aid of the boundary-pushing work of organisations who are putting regenerative and nature-inspired principles into practice.
The Re:Fund supported projects working to meet a number of, or all, of these goals:
- Protect habitats in partnership with land defenders.
- Regenerate land through meaningful livelihoods.
- Rewild ecosystems while strengthening community.
The Re:Fund raised money through the sale of carrier bags in Lush shops, in a number of Lush markets. These funds now go toward supporting Lush’s two prize programmes, the Lush Prize and the Spring Prize.
What do we mean by regeneration?
The Re:Fund supported groups who apply regenerative design paradigms, principles, and processes with their project. Regenerative design can be broadly defined as a holistic approach to supporting, creating or engaging with systems which innately restore the capacity to sustain life (including non-human life) and abundance. Regenerative practitioners see themselves as embedded in the systems that they are part of, rather than being ‘outside agents’.
Two examples of prominent regenerative movements are Permaculture and Agroecology. Regenerative design paradigms, principles, and processes can be applied not just in land-based practices like farming, but across the board – for example with agriculture, housing, governance, and more.
Examples of projects
Green ReLeaf
Using Permaculture and peacebuilding methods, Green ReLeaf works across the Philippines to support communities who were displaced by violence or environmental crises. Their two primary projects support internally displaced peoples (IDPs) who suffered from religious extremist attacks in Marawi, and IDPs who had their homes destroyed by Typhoons.
Karambi Group of People with Disabilities
Karambi Group of People with Disabilities (KaGPWD) works to empower persons with disabilities and promote regenerative solutions for food security in western Uganda. Their work includes the delivery of permaculture training in schools and with community groups, and more broadly promoting permaculture techniques for food security, environmental protection, fighting malnutrition and poverty in their region.
Guyra Paraguay
What little remains of the Atlantic forests (5%) are considered second only to the Amazon in biodiversity. Guyra Paraguay is trying to save the second largest fragment remaining in Paraguay, and the most threatened: the 73,000ha ‘San Rafael National Park’. They do this by reforesting 15ha of degraded land, planting 12,000 native trees, supporting the land rights of the Mby´a Guarani peoples, and improving security in the forest.
The Lush Spring Prize
The Lush Spring Prize is a biennial fund which awards at least £200,000 to a diverse array of organisations from around the world that are working towards environmental and social regeneration.
Since launching the Lush Spring Prize, over £1,000,000 has now been awarded across over 70 prizes.
With each prize cycle, awards have been given to at least 11 projects within four categories: Intentional Projects, Young Projects and Established Projects, as well as an ‘Influence Award’ which seeks to fund groups that have a wide impact in the regenerative field and beyond.
The Detail
Ethical Consumer
The Lush Spring Prize is facilitated and coordinated in partnership with Ethical Consumer, an independent, not-for-profit co-operative based in Manchester, UK.
Special Awards
Some years, the Lush Spring Prize has hosted special award categories alongside other partners, such as the Ancient and Indigenous Wisdom award alongside Be The Earth Foundation, or the Permaculture award alongside Permaculture Magazine.
The Lush Spring Prize 2023 highlights
The 2023 Lush Spring Prize saw the arrival of over 450 applications from almost every continent around the world.
A team of 30 shortlisters were enrolled to thoroughly read and analyse each application, including participants from all across the Lush business.
Alongside our core prize categories, two new categories were celebrated; the Ancient and Indigenous Wisdom Award and the Permaculture Magazine Prize.
We were also able to support some organisations who didn’t receive a Lush Spring Prize, through other Lush Giving streams
