Yahoo News Sustainable company delivers shopping and cash to the community
A sustainable shopping service that donates a proportion of sales to community projects has switched to home deliveries during lockdown.
The Society Company allows subscribers to buy sustainably sourced and packaged goods online while making a contribution to their local community.
Members pay a monthly fee for a delivery every four weeks of goods such as cupboard staples — including coffee, pasta and dried fruit — toiletries and cleaning products.
Subscriptions start at £25 for 14 items of your choice and drop to £20 if you pay for a year in advance.
To help reduce emissions, orders are usually delivered for collection from a community organisation — such as a school, a charity shop or a library — which customers would already be visiting.
Fifteen per cent of the cost of the order is then donated to that organisation.
The scheme was piloted in two London primary schools, Rokesly in Crouch End and St Stephen’s in Shepherds Bush, with hundreds of pounds raised within weeks.
Having proved the concept, founders Seb Ross and Rich Woods secured six-figure investment from various sources.
The company was in the process of expanding to other areas and organisations before the pandemic hit.
As lockdown measures closed most community venues, the pair decided to roll out the scheme for home delivery.
Now subscriptions with The Society Company can be delivered to any household in the W12, N8 and N10 postcodes.
Previously, only people associated with the two pilot schools, such as parents or staff, could use the scheme.
Money raised through customers who are not associated with either of the pilot schools will be put into a fund and given to community projects that join the scheme following lockdown.
Having outgrown the shared workspace in London Fields where they started the company, they moved into a big new space in Tottenham during the pandemic.
They are now ready to extend the service — to the first 50 community organisations in London which get 50 people to sign up on The Society Company’s website.
Mr Woods said they wanted to expand so that people who “were committed to living sustainably and to giving to their community could do so despite the pandemic”.
Mr Ross added: “We think this is a really smart way for communities to raise funds with minimal effort while their usual fundraising activities are either impossible or severely affected by the outbreak.”
For more details, visit weareso.co
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