The sustainable way to refit your office - donate unwanted items to local charities with A Good Thing.
A Good Thing makes it easy to donate unwanted business items to local charities. So if you’re downsizing or refitting ready for the new normal, use our simple matchmaking platform for a more sustainable world, where good things happen.
Refitting ready for the new normal?
After 18 months of home-working, it’s that moment so many of us have been waiting for – the return to the workplace. Many of us will be going back into workplaces that are now much changed – fewer staff onsite at the same time, different working patterns and reinvented ways of collaborating. Some companies are reconfiguring the space to increase hot-desking and collaboration spaces and many are downsizing or closing offices – the Evening Standard reports that half of UK companies are planning to move office. Together this means redundant furniture and equipment heading to landfill.
Local small charities need your help
Meanwhile, small UK charities have been hit hard by the pandemic. According to an article by the BBC, small charities are facing a 'slow death' - donations to small charities have dropped, despite a surge of donations to NHS charities and hospitals. Many of the funding streams that local charities had previously been able to rely on disappeared overnight when the pandemic hit – think sponsored sports events and community fundraising activities – at the very same time as the need for their services exploded. More than ever, charities have limited funds to deliver critical services.
We make it easy to donate your unwanted items
If you work for a business that’s making changes to its office space following the pandemic, you can help by telling someone about A Good Thing. We make it really easy for businesses to offer unwanted items to local charities using a simple digital platform - similar to Airbnb or Freecycle. The business puts together a brief offer describing the items, and we notify local charities. Charities can make a request for the items and the business simply has to choose a charity. Someone from the charity typically comes to collect the items shortly afterwards.
We have had beautiful baby blankets donated to a charity that works with vulnerable families in Berkshire, IT equipment donated to an Aylesbury charity working with disabled children, and furniture donated to a charity that supports the very poorest residents of Freetown in Sierra Leone… Just a few examples of the fantastic matches we have been able to make thanks to the platform.
Anything that wonderful local businesses can do to help the charities in their communities will make such a difference. So, as you’re easing back into the new normal, spare a thought for the amazing local organisations that have been tirelessly working to support and protect the most vulnerable members of your communities throughout this disaster. And ask yourself if your business might just be able to do a good thing for them.
How to get started
It’s so easy to get involved: just click on Sign up at the top of the page. It takes a few seconds to register and start posting the items you’d like to donate. Your local charities will love you for it. (And so will your local landfill!)
If you have any questions about how it works, check out our FAQ page, or drop us a line at [email protected].