Original Cottages
Helping holidaymakers give back to the communities that welcome them
Context
2021 was the year of the staycation. Due to the pandemic more people have been spending their holidays in the UK. Holiday home providers have seen a huge demand for their properties. Original Cottages, a family-owned company that manages over 5,700 properties across England and Wales, wanted to ensure that it was doing its bit to support communities by launching the Give Back to Look Forward campaign.
Between 15 February - 31 March 2021, £1 from every holiday booking made with Original Cottages was donated to seven community foundations in our network, leading to an overall total of £20,000.
"We’re always thinking about how we can do our bit to support our thriving neighbourhoods and communities. That’s why we are helping to bring local communities together with UK Community Foundations – a network of people, organisations and charities that want to improve the places we live and love.”
The Original Cottages Team
impact
The money raised was distributed among seven community foundations, all chosen because they are holiday hotspots in the Original Cottages family: Norfolk Community Foundation, Devon Community Foundation, Dorset Community Foundation, Two Ridings Community Foundation, Suffolk Community Foundation, Community Foundation Wales, and Cornwall Community Foundation.
These donations have directly contributed to the community foundations’ core costs and are helping to support a wide range of organisations supporting people experiencing food poverty, social isolation, substance misuse, homelessness, poor mental health, unemployment and much more. For example, in Devon the funds were used to boost communications technology to enable the community foundation to improve their capacity manage interactions with applicants and partners digitally, something that has become much more important since the pandemic.
Delivering the nationwide Coronavirus Appeal
We worked with the National Emergencies Trust during and after the Covid-19 pandemic as their main distribution partner, supporting over 13,000 charitable organisations with over £76 million.
Improving digital inclusion with Cellnex UK
Cellnex UK is working with us to help local charities and community organisations to innovate digital solutions and bridge the digital divide in rural and urban areas around the UK.
Working with the Co-op to address food poverty
Over the summer of 2020 Co-op pledged to donate 20p from sales of its three-for-two picnic offer to the National Emergencies Trust (NET) in order to fund local organisations across the country tackling food poverty
Original Cottages
Helping holidaymakers give back to the communities that welcome them
UK Community Foundations is a registered charity in England and Wales. Registered company in England and Wales . Registered address: UK Community Foundations, Northgate Business Centre, 38-40 Northgate, Newark, NG24 1EZ. Registered company no. 2651777 | Registered charity no. 1004630. Copyright © 2021 All rights reserved.