How to donate your office space to a local charity

Going beyond ‘things’

A Good Thing was set up in order to unlock the power of donating ‘things’ to nearby charities, in order to boost them and support their work. Creating a fast, free and incredibly easy way for UK organisations to do this has been very successful.

BUT we now know that huge impact can also be created through donating space and time. Charities don’t just need money and ‘stuff’ (although of course these are both vital); they also need a place to meet, a place to work, a place to store things, a place to sell things, a place to conduct interviews, and a place to showcase their work to supporters.

Does your workplace sit unused for part of the week, and would you like a way to create some real impact through donating it to brilliant local organisations? Sign up here: www.agoodthing.org.uk/signup

Not-so-wonderful workspaces

For many people working in UK businesses, we may take our wonderful workspace for granted: large windows that allow natural light to flood in, fully-stocked kitchens, bathrooms equipped with scented soaps and hand lotions, comfortable chairs that support our backs and encourage good posture, seating areas that encourage creativity and collaboration… many of these are actually considered the bare minimum in UK workspaces in 2026.

And yet tens of thousands of people doing incredible work within charities and nonprofits in our communities are definitely not working in anything like these sorts of conditions.

A new experiment

We are so proud that our corporate partner SquaredUp has led the way when it comes to innovating in this space this year: in February 2026 the Berkshire software firm published a new offer on the A Good Thing platform, for a ‘modern, stylish working/meeting space’. There was a lot of interest from local charities and initially both Slough CVS and Save Energy Coop were able to take advantage of the offer.

SaveEnergy is a Maidenhead-based community benefit society that offers free energy advice to vulnerable households across the Thames Valley. Its mission is to help people stay warmer, lower their energy bills and reduce carbon.

The organisation’s staff (a team of six trained surveyors, plus six directors) all work from home, but the charity told us it would love an office space where the team could meet up, share ideas, develop new ways of working, and deliver training. Maria Evans from the charity told us: “Two or three desks for a day once a week, plus a meeting space once or twice a month for between six and eight people would be transformative for us.”

Not just daytimes

At the beginning of October, after several months of working in the SquaredUp space, Save Energy asked if it could make use of the space for an evening AGM, and Sally Lawrie from SquaredUp was quick to agree. The response from Maria Evans was fantastic:

“Thank you again for letting SaveEnergy use the SquaredUp offices for our AGM. We had 43 guests, all of whom were so impressed by the quality of the space and the generosity of SquaredUp and A Good Thing in making it happen. Many thanks to you for helping us organise everything and giving up your evening to support us.”

“The event was a huge success. We shared our progress with our members, including that we have now trained a team of 20 and have reached over 1,200 people with free energy advice and support in the last year. We also relaunched our community share offer and had really positive responses from some of our guests, who are considering investing in our future success. We made full use of the ‘breakout’ spaces in the office too, hosting our first-round table discussion groups with members about how they want to see SaveEnergy develop, which was really informative for us and will help us plan for the future.

Being able to use the space improved the quality of our event, delighted our members, and saved us money that we’re now using to fund our new customer relationship management system – so we can become more efficient. It really has made a difference.”

Building on success

There are now three different local organisations using the SquaredUp office on a Monday – a day when SquaredUp staff are generally not in the office in large numbers.

Another of the local charities that’s been able to benefit is Slough CVS, a brilliant organisation that works to improve quality of life for people in Slough. Its CEO, Asma Aziz, told us:

“We’re incredibly grateful for the office space in Maidenhead – it has honestly made such a positive difference to us already. Having access to the space on Mondays gives us a safe, welcoming and professional environment where we can hold both in-person and online meetings, collaborate more effectively as a team, and continue supporting our charities and partners in the best way possible. Being able to meet face to face again has been so valuable. It has really helped strengthen communication, connection, and the overall impact of the work we do. The SquaredUp team has made us feel so genuinely welcome and helped us settle in so comfortably from day one. Your kindness and support have meant far more than you probably realise. And of course, a very special thank you to A Good Thing for making this opportunity possible. Having access to this space truly feels like such a blessing!”

Feeling healthy and productive

Eram Dodhy from Slough CVS told us:

“I go into the SquaredUp office on Mondays and it’s really helped my health and wellbeing, as I can cycle there easily. I’ve been very productive there, developing the new role. It’s given me headspace to think, and the desk space is great too (I can sit or stand!). Both the staff at SquaredUp and the building reception staff are really friendly and welcoming. It’s also been useful for having in-person one-to-one meetings with local community groups, and the VCS partners.”

Living its B Corp values

Sally Lawrie told us about what these connections with local charities have meant for SquaredUp:

“As a B Corp, SquaredUp is driven by creating a positive impact on its employees, its industry, the environment and its local community – and we’ve been able to do exactly that, with this donation of office space via A Good Thing. It’s great to have local organisations using our space when the office is less busy. We’re very pleased to be able to support wonderful local charities in this way: the three organisations using our space are a charity, a community-owned renewable energy co-op and a Community Benefit Society. Doing it all via A Good Thing connected our business with organisations in our community quickly and easily.”

It makes sense – and it’s lasting

With UK charities struggling desperately for resources at the same time as thousands of office buildings and other workspaces are sitting empty due to remote and hybrid working, this just makes sense.

One really special element of space being donated is that it’s long-term. So often, the support charities need is not just the ‘one-offs’ – it’s the sustained, committed, long-term engagement that can be truly meaningful. And businesses love doing something really tangible: having charity staff in their workspaces creates a sense of connection for the business with its local community, which is powerful.

So, are you feeling inspired? Do you work in a building (anywhere in the UK) that you know is under-used? There are doubtless so many charities nearby that would be able to make use of it!

Creating a free account with A Good Thing takes just 30 seconds, and then you’ll be able to create a listing for whatever you have to give away (space or indeed anything else) immediately: www.agoodthing.org.uk/signup

Properly pampered

A final comment from Maria at Save Energy to finish off:

“Thank you for this fantastic opportunity: we spent our day working on our strategy, developing an action plan and updating our ‘to do’ lists – all vital activities to keep us moving forward, but things that often get missed when we’re just doing ‘business as usual’. We also met with another charity partner while in the SquaredUp office – and it was a much more productive meeting because we weren’t in our usual noisy and distracting coffee shop environment!

“We know that having a regular day each week in the SquaredUp office to focus will make us more effective and will enable us to grow more quickly. Thank you again for helping our small organisation in such a significant way. We feel pampered just walking through the door.”