Giving back is an important
part of what we do at OB

Through our Be Kind Charity Partnership and local community support, we work hard to support many charities, organisations and individuals that help those in need.

We aim to support wherever we can, from local fundraisers through to the national charities we have donated to.

Charity Christmas Decoration for SOS!SEN

Our charity Christmas decoration idea was pitched by Sam, a young, budding entrepreneur who has ADHD. Sam suggested we install gumball machines in all our stores for when children are shopping with their parents. This led to the design of our gumball decoration, designed collaboratively with Sam and raising money for SOS!SEN.

SOS!SEN is an independent charity that helps parents secure the right educational support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). With a team of 70 trained volunteers, they aim to help parents and carers to understand more about their children’s entitlements and navigate the processes to secure the right educational provision.

From every sale of our Gumball Christmas Tree Decoration, £1 will be donated to SOS!SEN.

Our Be Kind Charity Partnership: Bloody Good Period

This year our charity partner is Bloody Good Period, as voted for by team OB.

Every month, too many people who menstruate do not have reliable access to period products and the cost of living crisis has only made the matter worse. Bloody Good Period believe in menstrual equity and unrestricted access to high-quality, free period supplies for asylum seekers, refugees and otherwise displaced people and their dependents.

Bloody Good Period support women, girls and non-binary people through their periods by distributing products, information and support to vulnerable groups, with a mission to end period poverty.

To coincide with International Women’s Day on 8th March 2024, £4 from every sale of our
Roxanne earrings will go to Bloody Good Period to support those facing period poverty.

Our partnership highlights

2019 – 2021

UK Youth

Our Be Kind Charity Partner from 2019 – 2021 was UK Youth and we were thrilled to support the vital work it does connecting young people in the UK to the resources of their local youth organisation. For three years we donated £1 for every purchase made online and in-store on Giving Tuesday.

2019

Exclusive products

In 2019 we collaborated to create our Scent of Confidence candle and diffuser. Every sale from this and other selected products raised money for UK Youth and we also donated a percentage of paper carrier bag sales.

2020

Young and Black

In 2020, we launched our Books for Change collection. The funds raised from selected titles in this edit contributed to the creation of resources and a webinar series in support of UK Youth’s #YoungandBlack campaign.

2020

Creative Money Making

With the London-based youth organisation The Mentoring Lab, we ran two workshops with 19 creative young people to show them how to turn their ideas into money-making products.

2019-2021

The Big Give

From 2019-2021, we helped UK Youth unlock matched funding through The Big Give’s Christmas Challenge. For 3 years we have donated £1 for every purchase made online and in-store on Giving Tuesday.

2021

Art for Youth London

We teamed up with artist Alice Shirley to create a one-of-a-kind furniture piece. Her painted design raised valuable funds at their Art for Youth London silent auction.

Your wonderful support has helped us give...

£187,000
total funds raised

£18,000+
worth of in-kind
support

50 volunteers &
133 volunteering hours

Other ways we’ve given back

2021 - 2023

We love to spread kindness as far as possible. As well as our work with our Be Kind Charity Partner, these are some other ways we help our community.

Oliver Bonas x Reskinned

We’ve partnered with Reskinned to help recycle, refresh and re-sell your pre-loved clothing and save it from going to landfill.

Loved One Candle

Sales of our Loved One Candle raised £14,000 for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, MIND and Alford House Youth Club.
Donations to Newlife We donate damaged or unsellable stock to the charity Newlife. They support disabled children and their families, and their recycling centre provides people from all backgrounds the opportunity to volunteer and learn new skills.
Donations to Willow We support our previous Charity Partner Willow Foundation by donating stock and other items from Team OB. The donations are sold at their charity stores to raise money for their special days for seriously ill young adults.

Supporting FareShare

In November 2022, we donated to FareShare, a charity that redistributes surplus food to charities and community groups across the UK. We ran a charitable campaign over the Black Friday period, donating the equivalent of one redistributed meal to FareShare for every transaction made at Oliver Bonas. At the end of the campaign our donation enabled the charity to redistribute the equivalent of 100,000 meals to people in need.

Donations to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

In March 2022 we donated to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in response to the crisis developing in Ukraine.
Kris Hallenga

Q&A with Kris Hallenga

In 2021 we marked Breast Cancer Awareness Month by hosting a live Q&A with Kris Hallenga, campaigner, author and founder of the charity CoppaFeel!

Skills Builder partnership

This year, we partnered with Skills Builder to sponsor five schools across England on the Skills Builder Accelerator programme, which equips senior leaders and teachers with the training and resource to confidently deliver essential skills learning to their students.

The Skills Builder Universal Framework is the world’s leading tool for measuring and building essential skills. It breaks the eight essential skills down to a sequence of steps, starting with absolute beginner through to mastery.

We are delighted to support the next generation go from absolute beginner to complete mastery and nurture great talent of the future.

We’re #OBProud

Although 1st June marks the start of LGBTQ+ Pride Month, we are #OBProud of all our LGBTQIA+ Team OB members 365 days a year. Follow us as we celebrate many pride parades across the UK and Ireland with window installations by our design team.
OB Proud logo

Supporting akt

We have been supporting akt for a few years now. Formerly Albert Kennedy Trust, akt supports LGBTQ+ young people aged 16-25 living in the UK who are facing or experiencing homelessness or living in a hostile environment. The trust helps young people:

• Stay safe in a crisis
• Find emergency accommodation
• Access specialist support
• Develop skills, identify and achieve life goals

Helping Mosaic LGBT+ Young Persons’ Trust

We also support Mosaic LGBT+ Young Persons’ Trust with their Young Queers’ Clothes Swaps by supplying clothing rails and hangers, samples and contributions from our team as well as support on the day with volunteers from across the business. Mosaic’s mission is to support, educate and inspire young LGBT+ persons and those around them and their Young Queers’ Clothes Swap is just one small part of the amazing work they do in helping their young membership find themselves.

Community Support

We are always keen to help charities, organisations and schools local to our stores.

If you would like support for your local fundraising initiative or charity event, simply email your donation request to our Be Kind Team at charity@oliverbonas.com. We will respond to you as soon as we can.