Charity begins ... at work!
One of the great things about working at Freshleaf is that we ringfence 10% of our net profits to support good causes. Occasionally during the year we'll see charities reach out with donation requests, and then as the year draws to a close we review the donations that have been made and select some additional causes to support. We also try to support free and open source software organisations that provide some of the tooling we use on a daily basis.
This year our charity support has included:
- Holtwood Farm
Holtwood is a community farm, providing a day service for adults with mental health problems, autism and other learning difficulties. Based on 15 acres of land in the beautiful countryside near our offices in Wimborne, the farm provides a safe and nurturing environment for folks to build confidence and independence, and learn new skills.
- Trevi
Trevi is an award-winning women’s charity which provides safe and nurturing spaces where women in recovery can heal, grow and thrive. It now supports more than 1000 women and children every year.
- Surfers against Sewage
Over the last 30 years Surfers Against Sewage has grown from a handful of activists into one of the UK’s most successful marine conservation and campaigning charities. Clean oceans are important to the environment globally, and our coastal location means that water pollution is something we're particularly aware of.
- CleanHub partnership
CleanHub is an organisation dedicated to keeping plastics out of the oceans, by connecting people in coastal communities to waste collection. By supporting CleanHub we've committed to funding the recovery of 1800kg of plastic waste in 2025, contributing to cleaner oceans.
- Dorset coding day volunteering
This initiative aims to help children aged 9 -12 to discover the joys of coding. With the STEM skills gap in the UK growing larger by the year, we're keen to inspire more young people and foster an understanding of how accessible technology skills can be. Volunteering in the classroom for a few hours was a great way to share some of our knowledge and support the teaching staff in delivering the program.
- Holtwood farm volunteering
In addition to financial support, we spent a day at the farm to understand the services they provide and get our hands dirty with some 'real work'.