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At Be One, we are dedicated to tackling global inequality through collective giving. As we look ahead to 2025, we are thrilled to share the incredible partners our board have chosen to collaborating with, each committed to making a lasting impact in some of the world’s most marginalised communities. With your support, we will fund life-changing projects that provide sustainable solutions to poverty, improve health and education, and foster local economic growth.

Here’s a sneak peek at the life-changing initiatives we’ll be supporting in 2025:

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January 2025 – SolarAid: Empowering Women in Malawi with Solar Lights

Our first partnership of the year is with SolarAid, an incredible charity empowering women in Mchinji, Malawi. SolarAid’s Mayi Wala (“Shining Mothers”) programme is training local women to sell solar lights in rural areas, providing families with clean, safe energy. This initiative will benefit 1,651 people, improving their income, education, and health. Access to solar lights means savings on hazardous kerosene, better educational opportunities for children, and healthier living conditions for families. Through this partnership, we’ll be empowering women and creating a sustainable, locally-led energy enterprise, paving the way for long-term change in the community.

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February 2025 – Papua Partners: Empowering Displaced Individuals in West Papua

In West Papua, we are partnering with Papua Partners, a charity that is focused on providing displaced individuals with the tools they need to build sustainable livelihoods. Through business training and microfinance, 6,510 peoplewill benefit from enhanced economic opportunities, while also contributing to environmental conservation and advocacy for indigenous communities. This project will help displaced individuals rebuild their lives while preserving the land and culture they call home. By supporting this initiative, Be One is making a lasting impact on both the local economy and the environment.

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March 2025 – Against Malaria: Protecting Families with Mosquito Nets

In March, we’ll join forces with Against Malaria to distribute 2,500 mosquito nets to 5,000 people in high-risk malaria zones. These nets will protect children, mothers, and families from malaria, a disease that is preventable but still claims too many lives in vulnerable communities. By providing these nets, we are ensuring better health, restful nights, and a brighter future for children under five who are most at risk of the deadly disease.

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April 2025 – Lorna Young: Supporting Sustainable Cocoa Farming in Ghana

In Ghana, we are partnering with Lorna Young, an organisation committed to empowering cocoa farmers with knowledge and resources to adopt sustainable farming practices. This partnership will see 200,000 farmers gain access to local-language radio shows on topics such as sustainable cocoa farming, gender equality, and climate resilience. This project will directly impact 10,000 cocoa cooperative members, helping them improve their livelihoods while fostering a more sustainable future for Ghana’s cocoa industry.

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May 2025 – Re-Cycle: Providing Bicycles for Rural Malawi

In May, we will work with Re-Cycle to send 140 bicycles to rural communities in Malawi, impacting 840 people. These bicycles will dramatically improve access to essential services, including schools, markets, and healthcare, enabling communities to create new economic opportunities. With the support of this project, individuals will experience improved mobility, which is essential for both economic stability and personal development.

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June 2025 – Chester Zoo: Restoring Forests in Madagascar

In Madagascar, we’ll team up with Chester Zoo to restore local forests and promote sustainable agriculture. Through the establishment of plant nurseries, we will support 600 households in Mangabe to restore degraded land, creating new opportunities for sustainable livelihoods and forest conservation. This project will directly benefit 2,800 people, fostering resilience to climate change while improving local food security and agricultural practices.

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July 2025 – EduSpots: Improving Literacy in Rural Ghana

In Ghana, we’re partnering with EduSpots to enhance literacy for 3,000 underserved children. This initiative will bring books by African authors to rural schools, improving reading skills and educational outcomes for children who face significant barriers to education. By supporting this initiative, we will empower young learners with the tools they need to build a brighter future, one page at a time.

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August 2025 – Irise International: Empowering Girls with Disabilities in Uganda

In Uganda, we will collaborate with Irise International to equip 1,000 girls with disabilities in Jinja with period education, reusable sanitary products, and improved facilities. This project will reduce stigma and absenteeism related to menstruation, ensuring that girls with disabilities have equal access to education and opportunities. By fostering more inclusive and supportive communities, this initiative will improve the lives of both the girls and their families.

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September 2025 – Mary’s Meals: Providing Daily Meals to Students in Malawi

Finally, in September, we’ll support Mary’s Meals to sponsor a school that provides daily meals to 203 students in Malawi. This initiative will provide 36,540 meals annually, improving children’s attendance, health, and educational outcomes. Ensuring children are nourished helps them focus on their studies, fostering a brighter future for the next generation.

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There’s More to Come 

The Be One board will meet in May for the second grant application cycle of the year. If you want to have a say in who gets a grant, reach out as we’d love to hear which projects most resonate with you.

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How You Can Get Involved

Be One’s impact is possible because of you – the collective power of our donors. When you sign up for a monthly donation, you join a movement that makes a tangible difference in the lives of people who need it most. Every contribution, no matter how small, adds up to create lasting change in communities around the world.

As we move forward into 2025, we are excited about the immense impact we will create together. Will you be part of this journey? Join us and start your giving subscription today. Together, we can continue to fight global inequality and bring hope to those who need it most.

Unlock the power of collective giving.
Start your giving subscription and see your impact today!

We’re looking for someone to take ownership of our social media platforms so that we can update our members and reach a new network of like-minded people.

If you know your way around Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn and can turn your hand at simple graphic design, get in touch with helen@beone.foundation for the full job description and application details.

This is a part time role which could take place in evenings and weekends if you share our passion for making a dent in global inequality.

Deadline 22nd February

Be One Percent is changing. We will now be known as Be One.

Since 2011, and with your help, we have raised over £750,000 which has funded 148 life-changing projects across thirty countries in the developing world. We have spent 12 years hunting down the very best anti-poverty partners and have invested in clean water, community health care, education, meals, mosquito nets, small business loans, solar lights and many more initiatives which have made a lasting difference in the lives of some 707,000 of the world’s most marginalised people. Thank you for your continued support and generosity.

We remain motivated by the global inequality we see around us. There is much work to be done. As Be One, we’re unlocking the power of collective giving. Our mission stays the same: to reduce global poverty.

We’re changing our giving mechanism to enable a new generation of equally motivated people to emerge. By removing the emphasis on donating a percentage of your income, we are making collective giving inclusive and accessible for all. From young people to students and freelancers, members can now sign up for any affordable monthly amount. Our business partners will continue to fund our overheads so 100% of members donations can go to projects on the ground.

You’ll start to see slight changes with our name, logo, and branding, but for the most part, we’re building upon what we’re already known for and doing what we’ve always done.

We love a quiz. Every year we come back around to planning the birthday event and wonder what we could do? We always gravitate back to the quiz, because it’s fun. A great evening with friends. A chance to argue, debate, change our minds and agree. Hosted by the legendary Phil Watson in Liverpool where the Be One Percent journey started. 100% of ticket sales (minus eventbrite fees) will go to projects which help the world’s poorest people. Click here to book your place. 

Be One Percent have been selected to take part in the Big Give Christmas Challenge 2022, a colossal match funding campaign running for one week from November 29^th.

We are thrilled to have been invited. Our small group of like-minded people already have a huge impact in improving the health, well-being and livelihoods of some of the world’s poorest communities. With this opportunity we can go twice as far.

Our aim is to raise £5,000 to be spread across all of 2023’s life-changing projects.

If you were planning a charity donation this festive season or are in the position to give a one-off sum to help the world’s poorest people, now is the time. The first £2,500 raised through our portal will be doubled meaning twice as many school meals, malaria nets, glasses of clean water, vaccinations, small business support, scholarships, glasses… the list goes on….

Find out more and support Be One Percent here.

Thank you!

Learn more about The Big Give.

 

 

 

 

Did you miss out on our very first ‘in conversation with’ event?

Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow joined us over Zoom to discuss his pathway to Mary’s Meals, a charity which feeds 1.6 million of the world’s poorest children in schools around the world every day, as well as global hunger with food security expert and Be One Percent chair Professor Bob Doherty.  

You can watch the full fascinating discussion below.

We know you are sick of ‘Black Friday’ and ‘Cyber Monday’, but we couldn’t miss the opportunity to remind you that by shopping through easyfundraising you can be earning money for Be One Percent projects at no extra cost to you.

There’s no catch, simply sign up for free and we’ll receive a donation every time you shop at one of the 3,000 registered sites, including Amazon, thetrainline, John Lewis and Sainsbury’s!

1. Head to https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/beonepercent/ and join for free.
2. Every time you shop online, go to easyfundraising first to find the site you want and start shopping.
3. After you’ve checked out, that retailer will make a donation to us for no extra cost whatsoever!

Give it a go and we promise you’ll be hooked. Every single penny we receive will go towards helping the world’s poorest people.

The uncertainty of the past six months has affected us all in different ways. We noticed a slight drop in donations from August, so have made the decision to top-up any grants which fall below £6,500 with funds accrued from our businesses sponsors. We’re tightening our belt even further for the rest of the financial year so the people in the world’s poorest communities who we work with don’t have to.

We’re also being flexible with our calendar, working with our partners to adapt any projects which may need to be changed due to the pandemic.

We remind our members that they can adjust their donation at any time by contacting us if they find their circumstances have changed.

It’s not every day that Google invites you to its worldwide headquarters, so when Be One Percent were asked to be part of Google Serve month we gratefully accepted. Every June, Googlers (Google employees) all around the globe are encouraged to spend some of their working hours away from their desks, volunteering with charities.

We used the opportunity to pick the brains of Google’s employees and engage them in helping us promote our giving revolution. In five days working across Googleplex, San Francisco and Mountain View campuses we spoke with hundreds of Googlers and benefitted from their time, ideas and skills. We also set up a mindful craftivism activity to give them a moment to relax while learning about what we do. Many Googlers asked about the kinds of people our work is helping, how we know our partner charities are effective, and introduced us to some closer colleagues in London and Dublin to expand our growing network.

One of the Vice Presidents agreed to meet and shared some of her ideas; she also donated to Be One Percent after discovering the impact of our projects and encouraged her colleagues to do the same!

It was a pleasure to be invited and an exciting week’s start to our relationship with Google. We’ve had the chance to connect with some passionate and talented people who have volunteered to keep working with us to help us change and save even more lives. Google are committed to giving Be One Percent $10 for every hour a Googler spends working with us – even more malaria nets, clean water, education, opticians and mirco-loans (to name just a few)!

Thanks, Googlers! We’re delighted to be working with you.

The Man United and Spanish footballer, Juan Mata, has pledged 1% to social projects, with the ultimate goal that 1% of everything football generates could go to a central fund to change tens of thousands of lives.

This idea is not new to us here at Be One Percent, because we’ve being doing exactly that for over 5 years now!

Mata’s ambition is not only exciting and potentially transformational for thousands, but it highlights the power of collective giving. As a small network of 211 regular givers we’ve now given over £350,000 to poverty alleviation projects. Imagine what could be raised and achieved if 211 footballers did the same!

At 1%HQ we’ve been joking that he stole our idea! But actually it just reinforces the desire for people from all walks of life to try and find a way to bring change for those who need it.

Criticism to Mata has come from a number of sides; don’t these sports personalities already give to charities? Yes many do, but we know that giving proportionally is efficient and effective. How many will be giving as much as 1%?

The fact is that often the richest in society give the least to charity, and some have argued that 1% is too little for someone of such high net earnings. But similarly to Be One Percent, this can be a fantastic starting point for many and it can be one of many things people give to. 1% to fight poverty is something that many people can adopt (you don’t need to be a footballer or multi-millionaire) and it doesn’t have to be the only thing you give to.

We wish Juan the very best of luck in his endeavours to encourage giving in others, and we will continue to do the same one person and 1% at a time. The impact we make is phenomenal and can be deeply important for the people our donations help.

Join Juan, and us, in a giving revolution.

Team Be One Percent.

You don’t need to be a footballer to give 1% of your income to fight poverty. To Be One Percent is easy. We fundraise for our running costs separately so every penny of your 1% goes to projects. Each month our collective 1%Pot goes to a specific grant and cause and we send our Members an email explaining what their 1% has achieved. The impact is incredible. Join us!

Read more about Juan’s 1% story here