For the calendar date that has become synonymous with promotional sales activity, this Black Friday, Cornish lifestyle brand Seasalt launched its Doing Good Things initiative so staff could give their time and raise vital funds for people-focused, environmental and community charities across the UK. Rather than encouraging sales promotions on one particular day, Seasalt provided employees throughout the whole business with an additional day’s paid leave to take part in volunteering projects, including a staff charity event to raise funds for local charities in Cornwall, to support those who need it most during the cost of living crisis. Across its UK stores, Seasalt used its technology platform Adyen to match all charitable donations made by customers at till point for charity partner Mind on Friday 25 November.
Paul Hayes, CEO, Seasalt, said: “For us Black Friday is about making a positive difference and using it as a moment to connect with the causes our customers and employees are passionate about. It has never been part of our values as a business to encourage additional spending on one day of the year, we believe our prices reflect the care, quality and consideration that goes into every Seasalt product, throughout the seasons. As part of our ongoing sustainability journey, we want to do our part to avoid the encouragement of over-purchasing whilst giving back to the environment and communities that we rely on as a business. And we recognise that these are particularly challenging times for our customers and community too. We’ve worked with a broad spectrum of fantastic charities projects this year and I’m proud to say we’ve clocked up an incredible 4,726 volunteering hours and raised over £12,000 for local charities and community projects on Black Friday weekend alone, along with matching the donations made by our customers to our national charity partner Mind at our shop till points on Black Friday”.
Seasalt actively supports charities that make a difference, both nationally and closer to home. To help support Mind’s vital work, we’ve committed to raising £100,000 per year for the charity over three years as part of our overall pledge to donate £1 million to charity by the end of 2025.
Seasalt reached out to the local community to identify over 42 different volunteering opportunities with nine different charities for employees to join. At Seasalt’s Treleigh offices teams of designers joined a sewing bee, repurposing unsold Seasalt clothing to create mastectomy pillows, pillow covers and mammogram capes for patients of the Mermaid Centre – a breast cancer centre in Truro. In Perranporth, Seasalt employees worked alongside the Cornwall Wildlife Trust to complete a big beach clean. Camborne Care Home received a garden revival and makeover whilst Cross Keys Care Home in Penryn got the benefit of a team of designers from Seasalt creating a new mural for their garden – bringing a new lease of life to the care home’s outdoor space. Seasalt staff also participated in fundraising collections for the RNLI throughout Cornwall. This is just a snapshot of the various charities and projects that the brand will be supporting to the end of 2022.
Across UK stores, Seasalt provided customers with the opportunity to donate money to Mind, the UK’s leading charity for mental health. At the tills, customers had the option of donating £1, £2 or £5 to the charity with their purchase, providing a simple platform for customers to give if they wished.
Seasalt Volunteering was created in 2018 as a way of giving back to the communities where our employees live and work. Employees across the whole business are given an additional day’s paid leave so they can roll up their sleeves and support a local charity that is important to them. Since the volunteering programme launched in 2018, Seasalt has collectively contributed thousands of volunteering hours for people, environmental, animal and community charities across the UK. The goal is to hit 20,000 hours by the end of 2025.