Charity Spotlight: Charlotte Walshe, Partnerships and Impact Director at In Kind Direct

In Kind Direct (IKD)’s work is driven by providing equal access to life’s essentials and ensuring that no usable product goes to waste. The charity distributes consumer products from manufacturers, retailers, and brands to charitable organisations – who can join their network for free. In 2022, the charity secured necessary products for 345,000 people per week.

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Many of us are becoming increasingly aware of climate change and its impact upon our communities, but in the charity sector, we aren’t always sure what we can do to take back control over our changing environments.  

 

Charity Digital research shows that although 88% of charities are concerned about climate change, only 48% have taken serious action to address the crisis. 26% of charities were prevented from taking more climate action due to more pressing priorities, while 23% cited either a general lack of knowledge or leaders’ lack of knowledge.

 

That’s why it’s so helpful to hear from those charities who have been able to push forward with improving their environmental impact while delivering their services to those who need it most. Charlotte Walshe, Partnerships and Impact Director at In Kind Direct, has some fascinating insights about the connectivity between people, planet, and purpose, which she shared at Charity Digital’s 2023 #BeMoreDigital Conference panel session, How charities can approach ESG.

 

Here, we discuss how In Kind Direct’s sustainability journey began, how to achieve different types of impact in an interconnected way, how to write an environmental strategy, how to prioritise different demands, and the role of digital technology in achieving environmental and social impact.

 

 

Charity Digital (CD): How did In Kind Direct begin to become engaged with climate change and sustainability, and where do you see the charity now on that journey? 

 

Charlotte Walshe (CW): In Kind Direct was founded in 1996 by His Majesty King Charles III to reduce the volume of goods going to landfill. Our belief remains that everyone deserves access to life’s essentials and no usable product goes to waste. Sustainability is baked into our DNA.

 

We work with manufacturers and retailers who make and sell the products we all need. This includes toiletries, cleaning and office supplies, clothing, toys, tech, and much more. We extend the life of products that might otherwise go to waste, by getting them to our network of over 5,000 local charitable partners. So far, that’s 35,600 tonnes of products diverted from landfill. We consolidate donations from many companies, reducing the footprint of supporting 345,000 people every week.

 

UK charitable organisations can join our network for free to access the products their communities need. We unlock big savings that can be used to help more people and deliver more services. In 2022, that was £18m for the sector.

 

Our five-year strategy is to triple our impact by 2025. We knew we needed to shift from just alleviating immediate need to achieve that. We also use research and advocacy to change the systems that force people to choose between heating, eating, or feeling clean. We knew our current IT systems and warehouse couldn’t accommodate our growth, and that we needed a bigger team to succeed. Each of these created decisions for us around how we work, where we add most value, and how to grow sustainably.

 

Today, we continually review our own working practices, including managing our warehouse, offices, and a team of 30 people. We work with companies to unlock surplus in their supply chains, and advocate for more reusable and refurbished products. However, in some ways, we are at the start of our journey. We’re now formalising a lot of work that happens behind the scenes, and improving how we connect our environmental and social impact measurement.

 

 

CD: Can you tell us a bit about your panel at the #BeMoreDigital Conference 2023?

 

CW: It was a real privilege to sit alongside an inspiring group of women working across the environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) and digital landscape. The overriding message was for organisations to start – do something – while you craft the perfect strategy! Reduce your printing or rethink catering options while you work on the bigger things. Think about who your key allies are in your organisation. Why is ESG important for them? What difference does it make to those you support, your services, your bottom line?

 

Charities are really well-placed to embrace ESG. It’s effectively thinking about the planet, people, and purpose. What do you exist to do? How can your activities and services adapt to have more social impact, and less impact on the environment?

 

We talked through all the reasons for charities to consider ESG, from attracting the best talent and funders, to understanding your end users, and saving money with efficiencies. We also mentioned brilliant resources that already exist from organisations like ACEVO, NCVO and Charity Digital.

 

 

CD: What enables In Kind Direct to think about sustainability, social impact, and purpose in an interconnected way?

 

CW: The nature of our model means we are always thinking about how we work. We think about how we can be more efficient and work with partners to meet community need. We have an “IKD approach” that embeds our belief that improving lives cannot cost the Earth.

 

We have a simple framework that ladders up from our personal objectives to operational plans, and our five-year strategy. This builds alignment and keeps us questioning where we focus the efforts of a small team for the greatest impact. This is underpinned by our organisational values of Kindness, Togetherness, Integrity and Innovation. Our values also reflect our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, and creating a safe workplace. We know people who feel able to be themselves at work achieve more, and this is embedded in our policies and team training.

 

A lot of our teams are actually one or two people, so we have regular project meetings to bring fresh perspectives and catch opportunities for efficiency or collaboration.

 

A good example of this  is our refurbished tech project. I became an ambassador for the Digital Poverty Alliance in 2022, sharing their belief that we can end digital poverty by 2030. The digital world has so much to offer but for many people, having access to a device and the ability to get online is simply beyond their reach.

 

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many charitable and public services moved online. This often put those most in need even further from support. We also knew the rising price of materials and transport was making new devices unaffordable. So at In Kind Direct, we connected all of these things and launched a partnership with Global Resale, making refurbished laptops available to our network.

 

 

CD: What is your advice for writing an effective environmental strategy? 

 

CW: Viewing your environmental strategy as something new or extra can make it feel more daunting. Start from your organisation’s purpose, strategy, or theory of change. Think about how changes that are better for people and the planet can help you achieve your purpose faster or more effectively. What is important to the people you serve and how do they access your services?

 

For In Kind Direct, two key areas for us are engaging our charitable network and distributing products. We now have an inclusive online insights panel of 120 organisations to drive our activities. And we’ve halved our pallet deliveries, as they create more emissions and are harder for smaller charities to receive.

 

Just like any other strategy, as you’re thinking about ways to do things differently, keep in mind how this might change your policies and processes as you go. This might include safeguarding, data security, training needs, or changes to decision-making. We’re just drafting our first research ethics policy, as we start to involve more individuals in our research.

 

 

CD: How has digital technology supported your work with ESG? 

 

CW: When In Kind Direct started in the 90s, we posted out paper catalogues each week across the country. Charities called in to place their orders on a first come, first served basis! We now have an ecommerce platform updated daily. That means zero catalogue printing and postage, and users can access us whenever works best for them. We’re on track to dispatch over 42,000 orders in 2023, 93% via carbon neutral couriers (and we’re working on the last 7%!).

 

Our work is underpinned by data, so having systems that speak to each other and enable people to work anywhere is important. Our central Impact Hub means teams can self-serve for stats, stories and copy, avoiding more emails.

 

Survey and email communication tools have helped us identify the most needed products, and the appetite for refillable and reusable products like cleaning supplies and period products. This guides our conversations with companies to increase the right donations and we’ve supported trials of more eco-friendly products.

 

At our warehouse, digital systems allow us to plan stock deliveries and manage storage efficiently. This means we can maximise transport, avoid overflow storage, and reduce single-use plastic and packaging.

 

For the last couple of years, we have tracked our carbon emissions. We want to understand where we focus our attention, what is currently unavoidable, and what we’re doing well. We have used a lot of open-source information for calculating journeys and converting our deliveries to emissions. Our next step will be setting targets for reducing our footprint as a proportion of our social impact.

 

 

CD: How has In Kind Direct been able to balance focusing on ESG with other priorities such as finances and fulfilling the purpose of the charity? 

 

CW: Reducing waste, increasing support to people, and convening organisations across sectors to tackle big issues is what we do. The need for our work is sadly only increasing, with an estimated 9m UK adults living in hygiene poverty.

 

We knew we needed to scale and extend beyond just providing products to add the most value. Our network relies on us more than ever – so ensuring sustainable growth and a consistent service are key. Connecting our impact to our commercial model has kept discussions about how we work and the difference we make at the top of our agenda.

 

We have a brilliant board of trustees that understand our work is driven by having the greatest impact. In the last few years, we have completed a governance review, starting from the Charity Governance Code, and had external support to deliver an equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) review. This has cemented support for ESG at board level, which has been vital to unlocking the necessary resource.

 

Our next step is to create more consistency. We want to easily compare new projects and understand their impact, risk, and cost. We have just recruited a brand new role to drive this work. Our Quality and Sustainability Manager joins us this summer. They will be focused on translating ESG principles into usable processes, tools and guidance, as well as managing a number of projects directly.

 

The structure of In Kind Direct also helps. My role was created in 2021. It connects our impact and insight, finance and funding, and our governance under one umbrella. A lot of my time is spent sharing information internally and externally about how we work well, and how we can have the most sustainable impact. Unsurprisingly, I believe this is always best achieved in partnership with others!