9 March 2022

The Demand For Charitable Venues

A very welcome trend in the events industry is hearing from both private and corporate clients who want to host their events in charitable venues. By this, I mean venues that give back in some way, have a charitable and sustainable arm and offer a circular investment.

Many venues are taking note of this and revisiting their policies on charity and sustainability which is brilliant to see, resulting in many offering events spaces at a reduced rate, or even free space, for select events with a charitable angle. Alternatively, many are partnering or affiliating themselves with certain charities or causes in order to give back and support through money made on their events.

It is refreshing to see that the days when pure commercial goals were paramount in event spaces are distant and, thanks to the rise of awareness about causes and sustainability factors, event spaces are offering more of an organic and holistic approach that benefits many more people than themselves.

People wanting to host events are incredibly in-tune to this and their demands are, rightly, high. People are not entertaining venues who do not have a charitable facet or who don’t have sustainability high on their agenda. Instead, due to the pool of venues and new offerings, they take their business elsewhere leaving these venues dangerously exposed and looking out of date.

As event professionals, understanding the venues we work with and their sustainability and charitable agendas is high on our list and we always ensure that they are on point with our values and clients’ needs as well as keeping up to date with the ever-evolving developments and implementations. We are proud to work with venues to educate and support on these areas which is so rewarding, as even the smallest changes and in-roads can make huge differences.

Here are a few examples of what venues could be doing immediately:

• Swapping out all plastic where you can
• Changing your electricity supplier
• Affiliating yourself with a charity – a local one to the venue often works really well
• Aligning your values as a venue
• Setting out exactly how you will give back – this doesn’t always have to be monitory. Could you donate unwanted food to a food bank, for example?

These are all relatively small things but things that your clients, and potential clients, will love you for and could be the difference in them choosing your venue over a competitor. It can feel like an enormous task, especially with phases such as ‘net zero’ banded about, but we are all here to support each other and learn as we go by taking things step by step.

So, if you are a venue who would like to discuss your charitable angle more – we would love to help. Do get in touch and together we can ensure each and every venue is doing as much as it can for the greater good. And who doesn’t want that?