Final Blog for 2022
As we draw to a close for 2022 I wanted to do a summary of the year and to let you know what's been happening and the latest Social Impact.
Firstly the positives, this year Kindness & Co has donated £30072 to charity, this has been distributed to;
- South Ayrshire School Clothing Bank
- Whiteleys Retreat
- Beautiful Inside & Out
- Dementia Arts Trust
- Endometriosis UK
I am so grateful for the opportunity to combine doing something that I love with supporting these wonderful causes. Thank you for your orders and continued support.
Its been a much different year to the last few, sales are 30% down on last year, costs are increasing...my wax price has just increased 46%! Its crazy and hard to know when it will stop, are prices ever going to stabilise??!! Who knows!
School Clothing Bank has been extremely busy, the busiest December since I started it in 2015 (we registered as a charity in 2017 but it ran for a couple of years before that).
Referrals to date are now 1572, there have been 189 referrals since 17th November. This is dramatically more than the last few years and is a direct response to the cost of living crisis currently facing so many families.
New hubs have now been established at Dalmilling Primary and more recently Cairn / Rosebank Primaries and plans in place to support the new Culzean Primary in Summer 2023.
So its a been a year of ups and downs, my reason for creating Kindness & Co was to fundraise for South Ayrshire School Clothing Bank and avoid the need for outside funding / grants etc. However with the increase in referrals there was no way this was possible this year, I literally couldn’t sell enough to keep it funded. Kindness & Co has donated £19,300 to the School Clothing Bank but the need is so much greater. Its made me rethink my strategy....does it still make sense for me to make candles when it's not achieving its goal - or is my goal unrealistic?! Or do I just need to try different things, sales isn't really my forte....I'm a total introvert so maybe just need to get over myself a little and get out there! That being said I have booked the Scottish Trade Fair in January so that pushes me out my comfort zone and was a great event last year.
So thank you for sticking with me, my hope for K&Co was for every candle to have a cause....but I'll bide my time and trust that step by step I will get there.
Wishing you all a Wonderful Christmas and a Happy & Healthy 2023
Nicola x
Please keep going, what you are doing is so worth is and is changing lives. I only discovered you around 2 months ago via Unity Grill and have bought candles and melts many times from them since for myself and gifts and I always take a card to include with my gifts to spread the word about your company. Plus, your product is INCREDIBLE! And I’m a total scent snob when it comes to my melts and candles. ;) I own a (worldwide) retail business and am also an introvert, and there are ways to increase profile without having to put yourself through the stress of over-exposure. I’d be so happy to help if I can. Do email me if you want to have a chat :D
Amazing donation, well done🥰
My first ever purchase has been 12 days of Christmas melts, they smell amazing ❤️
Wishing you a very Happy Christmas