Why I cancelled my 1% For the Planet contribution...

Hey ,

I've cancelled my 1% for the Planet membership.

In the Making Design Circular membership, we have something called the Path to Sustainability.

It takes all the sustainable actions you might want to take as a designer-maker, breaks them down into 'stepping stones' and puts them into a sensible order.

So rather than being overwhelmed by all the things you could do, you simply work out whether you are an Acorn, Seedling, Sapling, Tree or Forest and do the next thing on the list.

It was created for folks like you, so not all the steps apply to me, but where it does apply, I am working through it too.

One of the stepping stones to move from Acorn to Seedling is to sign up for 1% for the Planet (1%FTP) – a brilliant initiative that asks businesses to contribute 1% of their turnover to an environmental charity every year.

I love this idea – a voluntary tax for existing on the planet that moves wealth out of commerce and into environmentalism.

I signed up ages ago and have been happily contributing to Surfers Against Sewage, a charity that campaigns against ocean pollution and was founded just down the road from me in Cornwall.

Turnover is fixed, whereas profit can be manipulated, which is why 1%FTP ask for a percentage of turnover – however, it is possible to be making quite a large turnover and still make a loss, which is what happened to me last year.

I realised that if I was going to get back into profit, I would have to take a long hard look at my outgoings going into this year.

I cut all sorts of things before I cut that annual donation to a charity whose work is so important to me, but eventually I realised that I couldn't let a charitable donation stand between me and a profitable business.

That might sound selfish, but here's what I believe: Making Design Circular is doing good in the world – and if it's going to continue to do good in the world, it needs to be financially, as well as environmentally, sustainable. In fact the more successful it is, the more good it can do – that's the joy of purpose-driven organisations.

So I have reluctantly cancelled my subscription and taken the 1%FTP logo off my website (the SAS one is still there, because I will still donate, just not as much).

I share this with you because I think it's important to be transparent that my sustainability journey is just as imperfect and convoluted as yours!

And I know that for some people, the 1%FTP fee eats up their entire 1% contribution and that hasn't felt right either.

That's why every stepping stone on the Path to Sustainability is an invitation. I encourage members to look into each action and make an informed, values-aligned decision. It's not about dictating how you do environmentalism – it's about enabling you to make the right choices for your creative practice and small business.

If you want support on that journey, I have two exciting things to share with you.

1. The doors to the Making Design Circular membership are now open, so you don't have to make those choices alone – you can walk the path imperfectly alongside us.

2. I have also launched 12 short courses covering everything from calculating your carbon footprint to using textiles waste and repair techniques in your work, so you can dip a toe into the Making Design Circular world.

Check them out and let me know what you think.

P.S. I have recently segmented my e-newsletter into two lists. If you're a designer, maker, craftsperson (or a student of any of those things) or you're the owner of a small business with making at its heart, you're in the right place. If I've got that wrong, please feel free to unsubscribe from this newsletter and sign up for my less frequent newsletter for brands, event organisers, publishers, editors et al, in which I'll be sharing what I get up to as an author, journalist, podcaster and keynote speaker.