Sweet Charity

Aim

Creating an e-commerce platform to simultaneously keep textile waste out of landfill whilst creating positive environmental and social chang

What we want to achieve:

With the Sweet Charity project we seek to provide experience and opportunity to marginalised volunteers, students and graduates in their aspiration fields. We want everyone and everything to have a purpose and we aim to celebrate that purpose. We think in terms of the circular human sphere, because why solve one problem when we can solve many. We believe that if we can provide people with a place and opportunity to develop and hone their skills, by creating a supportive & encouraging environment which empowers them to develop service & product skills they will gain financial independence.The endgame therefore, is to have a self sustaining business model, in which waste (beginning with textile materials) are given new life and sold. In using this project as a tool to create environmental and social change we will support a financial independence pathway to the current & next generations.

Multi-use Crochet Baskets and Knitted Coasters

Why our project matters:

We know that textile production and the fashion industry more specifically create major damage to our waterways, soil and air. The time has come to transition to a textile system that delivers better economic, societal, and environmental outcomes for all. Sweet Charity is an ambitious yet inclusive project that encapsulates the vision and mission of BeYonder Involve, the charity which it sits. BeYonder Involve’s mission & vision is to  advance education, and to advance citizenship and community development, particularly (although not exclusively) for the benefit of children and young people. We achieve this through the provision in partnership with education, voluntary and community organisations and other bodies, of projects that aim to encourage learning, identifying and developing talent and skills. We also promote volunteering and provide opportunities for participants to take an active part in the social, civic and economic life of their communities.

Sweet Charity will partner with a wide range of partners to alleviate waste, develop skill & opportunity whilst giving back to our local communities.

From these partners and learning opportunities we now have products to utilise for our crowdfunder & e-commerce platform, which will serve as  the base of building and developing a self-sustaining pathway whilst keeping textile waste and  other textile items out of landfill. We are already turning scrap materials from our newest project into a commercially viable learning & production line. 

Our new project Sweet Charity will take our core value of a person centric approach and implement it with the skills of young graduates who can themselves help volunteers & students hone and develop skills to create a wide option of opportunities supporting them into employment.

A little background about BeYonder Involve:

This is your chance to show off your organisation’s experience and build credibility. Demonstrate clearly that you are the right organisation to make this project happen./Explain how the idea was started and why your organisation decided to make this project happen. Talk about the journey and inspiration. Don’t forget that the story is still unfolding – what does the future hold?

BeYonder Involve has been a charity operating for the past 9 year on a variety of projects, involving local education & communities in bringing sewing skills to the youngest in our communities to build on. With our new project Sweet Charity we will need your help to scale what we have actively delivered to schools & communities to formalise a volunteer to employment pathway in a wider range of skills supporting volunteers including refugees & graduates who aren’t able to find employment.

BeYonder Involve was originally formed as the philanthropic division of the BeYonder family and started life as a community organisation in 2013. On 18th September 2016, BeYonder Involve became a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation supported by a separate board of Charity Trustees to deliver on governance & value streams.

How your contribution will help us:

We have a project manager and two graduates working on building the Sweet Charity e-commerce platform. Once they establish a smooth running model along with a training and development plan for creating more products from textile waste, your contribution will enable us to train up volunteers and interns. Interns will be taught skills in website creation, online marketing but also textile production. We will then go on to develop front & back end operations training and support for the ecommerce platform & website. We can then identify & create peer opportunities to move into a self sustaining model.

This project closed unsuccessfully on 18th October 2022