1% for the Planet - Charities We Support

Giving back to the community is something that we have always valued, whether that's marshalling at local races or helping out charitable organisations. In fact it's one of our favourite parts about running a business, as it allows us to share our success with those we believe in.

In August 2016 we joined 1% For The Planet, a charity that asks businesses to give 1% of Sales (not an artificially managed profit figure) to environmental charities that they believe in.
In 2018 the recipients were Recyke Y'Bike, Recyke A Bike (separate charity), Trees for life and Fix the Fells.
By the end of 2024 we will have contributed over £50,000 to these charities through 1% for the Planet. We could only do this thanks to all our customers of course.
See the results of our 2024 Subscriber Survey here

Fix the Fells

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Fix the Fells have over the last ten years repaired over 200 sections of paths in mainly in the Lake District (a beautiful place very dear to us).
They show no signs of slowing down either as over the next ten years they aim to repair a further 120 paths, whilst continuing to maintain the existing network.
They only use quality, sustainable solutions and a combination of prevention and restoration techniques to make sure that their impact on the environment is minimal.

Find out more here.

Trees for Life

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Every order that you place with us at Chia Charge, we give one percent to charities that mean a lot to us. Well this year we've been able to add another charity to that list Trees for Life. And through them we have been able to plant 260 Trees in the Scottish Highlands!

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Trees for Life is focused on restoring the Caledonian Forest and all its flora and fauna to it's former glory.
They do this by protecting the existing trees, planting new ones and keeping the invasive species at bay.
Trees for life have set up 44 major planting areas in the Scottish Highlands.
Most impressive of all they plant 60,000 trees and remove miles of redundant fencing every year.

Thanks to our latest support they will be planting another 260 trees in the Chia Charge Grove.

Bumble Bee Conservation

It’s incredibly kind and generous of Chia Charge to choose the Bumblebee Conservation Trust for a donation and very much appreciated, thank you! The funds will help us continue to our work to halt and reverse the declines in a third of the UK’s bumblebee species, and which includes:

Creating and restoring wildflower habitats in the areas where rare bumblebees need it most
Landscape-scale conservation projects around the UK
Employing more conservation staff, and creating and delivering more innovative projects to help bumblebees
Ensure we are the go-to place for bumblebees by developing our communications, social media and accessibility for all
Giving land managers, farmers and local communities practical advice on enhancing biodiversity for the benefit of bumblebees and other wild pollinators
Working with schools to inspire our very youngest audiences about the wonders of nature and the amazing lives of bumblebees
Surveys, called BeeWalks, so that we can better understand where our bumblebees are and where they are not.

A growing number of committed supporters are helping the Bumblebee Conservation Trust make a big difference. We launched our Bee the Change campaign – a project to engage and inspire environmentally-minded citizens to ‘take action’ for bumblebees by providing people with quick and simple ways to make their local area bumblebee friendly. Everyone can do their part to support these charismatic but vulnerable furry little ‘ping-pong balls.’

Recycke Y'Bike

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A Newcastle based charity that takes in used bikes from members of the public and fixes them up.
They take in over 2000 bikes a year!
These second hand bikes are fixed up by their talented team of qualified mechanics, and sold to fund their Charitable Goals.
This includes sending around 500 bikes a year to development projects in Kenya and Gambia.
They also give bikes to refugees and asylum seekers in the Newcastle and Gateshead area.

Thanks to our latest support they will also be sending one of their mechanics to Kenya to train people out there to become bike mechanics too.

Find out more here.

Reckye A Bike

Recyke-a-bike is a Stirling Based Charity that takes old, unloved bikes and gives them a new lease of life.
Their main aims are to get more people into employment, while helping more people to choose cycling as a low carbon mode of transport (It's also better for your health and fun too.) and keeping bikes from ending up in landfill.
What started as a small recycling social enterprise quickly grew into a job club using the bike recycling as work experience.
They've since grown to include training services and cycling outreach work, in addition to bike recycling and sales.
With the help of our customers support they will be able to get a Recyke A Bike Van.

Put simply, they really want to get more people into work and more bikes into the community.

Find out more here

And there's more

We also occasionally make small donations to different charities around the country for many different reasons, a typical donation might be £100 to a Dance group, Eating Disorder Charity, Diabetes UK or a Playground being built in memory of a friends son.

These are typically because of personal connections, a prompt from a loyal customer or a supported athletes activity, usually low profile and we don't bang on about these, it's just doing the right thing.

If you have any questions on this, we'll do our best to answer them.