Donation of branded merchandise boosts remote working at The Vegan Society
Emily Austin, Senior Finance and Payroll Officer at The Vegan Society, was delighted when she spotted 57 brand-new, boxed phone stands being listed on the A Good Thing platform. Her team had originally all been based in an office in Birmingham before the pandemic, but were now working mainly online, so Emily knew these would be useful. The team had also massively expanded since before covid, so work was busier and there was far more going on: Emily joined the charity at the start of the pandemic, when there were 43 staff. Now there are 70!
Huge growth, and a need for resources
The charity’s growth has been driven by a number of factors, including the fact that lots of people tried veganism during the pandemic. During covid, working from home worked super well for the charity: its leaders decided to start recruiting nationally, which of course opened up a huge potential talent pool. As Emily says, “We have been able to take on amazing members of staff”. Working online and being able to downsize The Vegan Society office has also freed up charity funds for other things. But of course the charity’s staff need resources, which is where the phone stands come in.
The Vegan Society is a long-established campaigning and membership organisation, that will be celebrating its 80th anniversary next year. Emily told me that some of its members have been part of the charity since the 1970s, and can recall having to make their own soy milk!
Support from North Wales
The phone stands were uploaded to the A Good Thing platform by Preseli, a North Wales-based promotional merchandise firm that has become a huge supporter of A Good Thing in the past few months.
Jan Alder, Compliance Officer at Preseli, explained that sustainability is now at the heart of what her firm is doing. So she was excited when she heard about A Good Thing at the British Promotional Merchandise Association’s (BPMA) Sustainability Conference in June:
“We had been concerned about some elements of repurposing – so knowing that things will be used by a charity and won’t be sold on is wonderful.”
Jan explained that for a while Preseli had been putting goods to one side when they were no longer needed: but how do to dispose of them? Jan explains:
“When we heard about A Good Thing, it was ideal. Ideal and simple to use. There have been no hiccups at all, it’s been so nice, and really nice to deal directly with charities.”
‘This would be perfect’
We asked Emily at The Vegan Society about how she discovered A Good Thing, and she explained that a colleague came across the platform and sent her some information about it. Emily was a fan straightaway:
“There aren’t too many email alerts, and it’s good to be able to see all the info right there in the email. I always know from the email if I’m interested or not.”
When the phone stands popped up, Emily tells us she “dithered”:
“Everyone is home-based now, and we’ve had to get them all set up at home: suitable workstations, monitors, etc. I asked our head of operations for an opinion, and the response was ‘this would be perfect’. We were matched, and the stands were shipped out the very next day. The business was even up for covering the postage costs themselves!”
Very chuffed!
Emily explained her plan for getting the phone stands out to her team:
“We aim to always be as sustainable as we can, so I definitely won’t be driving these around to give them out. I plan to hand them out at our next in-person team day next month. I’m very chuffed, these are really going to enhance our team’s workstations.”
We finished by asking Emily what The Vegan Society might be looking for, going forward:
“We’d be on the lookout for paint, event stands, or any decorative items. We are considering creating a mural for our office! Keep going, A Good Thing, what you’re doing is fabulous to see.”
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