Our Gift to the Planet

We want to celebrate our time as a formed team and with people who have helped us have an impact, with the end of the year being a time for reflection, gratitude and giving. 

Our team reflected on social injustice in the UK which creates a condition that denies individuals and groups equal opportunity to have their basic human rights. 

Racial discrimination, healthcare inequality, gender-related discrimination, and quality of life for low-income households is the reality for a large majority in the UK. This relates to the 2.5 million emergency food parcels given to people in crisis in the past year.

At Profit Impact, we know the news of worldly challenges, in particular the updates on the climate crisis and social injustice, can be scary and overwhelming. 

That’s why we try to focus on the positive side of things. We work as a team to shift perspective on financial sustainability. We believe that with a solid plan, a structured approach and team buy-in you can achieve this.

This way of working has made each team member reflect on their own environmental impacts. Our outlooks have changed; we understand that sometimes we as humans can over complicate or over-think change, when really, change can be really simple to do if you take it one step at a time. 

For our gift to the planet, we decided we wanted to give back to our communities by planning a day out with the team to the food bank to give donations and helping out however we can. We also planned to visit the design museum, for the Waste Age exhibition, so we could learn more about sustainability. 

Food Bank 

We started the day at the food bank, tasked with organising the donations into food type and expiry date. The task was harder than it looked. Sitting behind a desk working from home did not train us for the hundreds of pasta boxes and bean tins. 

More importantly, it allowed us to confront the reality of living below the poverty line in a society of excess and luxury. We looked around at the food options and felt a deep sense of sadness at the lack of nutritious food options or treats. 

This is no criticism against the wonderful volunteers that run the food bank, but against the system itself. If we all did our part in striving for a more sustainable lifestyle by factoring the impact of our decisions against its effect on society we would live in a world we could be proud of. 

One where there are no food banks and everyone has access to what they need. 

Until then we will continue to do our part for the planet. Look at the organisation we achieved! 

We kindly ask you to call up your local food bank and ask what they need/do not have enough of before you make a donation. This will ensure your donation makes the biggest impact and you are engaging with the needs of your community. 

This volunteering reminded the team of why we hold our Trussell Trust donations every month as a necessity in our business,  and by donating a percentage of our revenue to Trussell Trust we can actively work towards upholding the UN SDGS. 

Waste Age Exhibition - Design Museum 

Our team then took a lovely walk from the food bank, through Holland park, towards Kensington and Chelsea. We were met with the lovely Liza Degtyareva, Co-Founder of 4D Sustainability Canvas and entered the Waste Age exhibition together. 

This exhibition aims to redefine design from the once selfish and excessive nature of the new and shiny throw away culture, towards design that takes trash and reworks its purpose, and a future of clearer materials that can save our planet. 

It’s easy to get lost and ashamed at the confrontations of damage we have caused to our ecosystem the exhibition presents, but as you work your way through the exhibit, you start to grasp new concepts and ideas of sustainable change and design. 

The devastating impact of e-waste that follows you round the exhibition makes us proud that we use refurbish tech and we can slowly slowly see the changes each of us are making towards reducing these impacts. 

Visiting the Waste Age exhibit is part of our gift to the planet because taking responsibility and accountability to the realities of our environment is the first step to change. Even though our team is surrounded by sustainability insights and upsetting statistics on the frequent, we still learnt something new. 

There are so many new and exciting developments in design that centre around reducing waste and being more sustainable that we can expect to see in the near future. Slowly but surely more and more of us will be confronted with our impacts and will have to change because it's the right thing to do. 

Our team really enjoyed this exhibition and we recommend you bring a friend and learn more about sustainability design and our environmental impacts in full light. 

Reflection Time

Jimmy will be shopping locally for gifts this year, avoiding plastics and wrapping, while also looking to introduce non-dairy bakes and goodies to family. 

"As we've all seen the many complications from this year, I'm grateful for the opportunity to work with a business that genuinely cares and will make an effort to try and make the world a better place. It's easy to get jaded, especially when things begin to get tougher, but our team and our work inspired me on a daily basis and I'm so excited to see the impact we can make in 2022 and going forward!"

Jimmy Sherwood, Marketing Exec.

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Sarah will be simplifying Christmas by shopping as locally as she can and focusing on meaningful gifts and time with close friends and family. 

“Over this year I have learnt more about how business decisions are linked to the world in which we live. I see rising poverty and mental health challenges for our youngsters. Businesses cannot solve these problems on their own. Though with careful decision making and conscious business measurement every business can make a difference.”

Sarah Whale, Founder of Profit Impact.

Amyra has been overwhelmed by all the research on our impacts that she has made conscious efforts to not purchase plastics, and reduce all meat intake. For Christmas she will be shopping sustainably for gifts and make more of an effort to craft handmade cards and wrapping paper. 

“My time working at Profit Impact has been an educational rollercoaster of both the negative impacts we have made and the positive impacts we are striving to make. It reminds me daily that it’s not too late to make a change if you truly reflect on your daily decisions and take accountability. Profit Impact is a step ahead of the rest, we truly work everyday towards positive change.”

Amyra Haddouch, Research Analyst.

Conclusion

We’ve learned that small positive impacts make a big difference once you reflect on the bigger picture. Our efforts in the food bank might seem small but it allowed us to reflect on our larger future social impact ambitions and the kind of work we want to accomplish. 

The future of Profit Impact hopes to bring more of the same change on a larger impact scale. We will be reflecting and using our SDGs to guide us forward. 

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If you'd like to start positively in the new year, and begin the conversation about how you and your business can make an impact, book a call with Sarah today. #ConciousBusinessPerformance