When thinking about climate innovation, it’s easy to picture big, headline-grabbing inventions: technology, futuristic materials or government policy changes. But innovation can simply mean finding sustainable, practical ways to create connections between people. Charlotte Oglesby, A Good Thing, explains.
That’s the ethos behind our nonprofit digital platform that connects charities with businesses looking to donate surplus or unwanted items.
Donations like this have always happened through personal relationships and local networks, but A Good Thing makes the process smoother, targeted and scalable by taking it online.
What could have been thousands of items into a skip have been given a second life, helping charities to continue delivering real social and environmental value.
At a time when businesses are under pressure to reduce waste and demonstrate meaningful action on sustainability, redistributing surplus goods offers a practical solution.
For charities, access to donated items can free up vital funds, allowing them to focus their limited budgets on delivering their services and supporting people in need.
Overall, the process of donating reduces unnecessary waste going to landfill, lowers the carbon impact associated with manufacturing new items, and ensures items are used to their fullest potential – even when business needs change.
It all started with an idea
The idea behind the platform, founded in 2020 by Cathy and Richard Benwell, was to break down a common barrier on both sides.
They saw that businesses often found themselves with high-quality items they no longer needed but struggled to store them – and therefore faced time pressures to dispose of them.
Unless businesses had an existing relationship with a charity, there was no straightforward route to donate items responsibly. Meanwhile, charities were under increasing financial pressure and often lacked the time or connections to source second-hand items.
By acting as a bridge between these two groups, A Good Thing enables items to be matched with organisations that can genuinely benefit from them, rather than placing an additional burden on charities to manage unsuitable or unwanted goods.
Businesses can list items they have available, and charities can browse and request what they need. More recently, A Good Thing introduced a ‘charity needs’ function, whereby charities can make specific requests for items and businesses can respond directly.
From baby steps to giant leaps
A Good Thing may have started with a simple idea but has large ambitions to create lasting change. It aims to change mindsets around repurposing items and build towards a collaborative donation model, whereby charities have greater agency and businesses can see exactly how their surplus will be used.
One of the joys of running the platform is the sheer variety of donations passing through: proof that almost anything can be repurposed with a little imagination.
One standout was a life-size inflatable elephant donated by a branded merchandise company. It has been adopted by Edible Rotherhithe, a community food-growing, gardening and arts charity in Southwark, south London, where it has a second chance at life.
Alongside the unusual, countless everyday donations have made small and huge differences – from furniture enabling charities to brighten new spaces and equipment supporting community projects, to simple items improving comfort and dignity for people supported by these wonderful organisations.
Many donors and recipients stay in touch after a donation and look to work together again, building long-term relationships between organisations that might not otherwise cross paths.
Looking to the future
In 2025 A Good Thing celebrated its fifth birthday, hitting the incredible milestone of over 1,000 offers listed, with 3,500 charity signups and 1,000 registered businesses. And this is only the beginning: the team is constantly using feedback to improve the platform.
In a world grappling with climate and social challenges, sometimes the most powerful solutions are ones that already exist and are just waiting to be better connected.
How it works
‘From demolition to donation: how one rescued kitchen is changing lives’
When we say that one business’s unwanted items can become another’s lifeline, we really mean it.
That’s exactly what happened when Salter Demolition, a London-based construction company, used A Good Thing for the first time in 2025 – and the impact was incredible.
Salter Demolition had an impressive list of items to donate, including two entire kitchens, 21 stylish wall lights and 26 whiteboards – plus noticeboards, cupboards, poster frames and more.
The firm hoped to find new homes for these items rather than see them go to waste. What it didn’t expect was the overwhelming response from charities eager to repurpose them.
“We were pleasantly surprised by the volume of responses we received on offers, and it made choosing who we donated to very difficult!” said Ilyd from Salter Demolition.
One of the lucky recipients was MammaKind, a south-east London charity dedicated to supporting mothers and children living in poverty.
The timing couldn’t have been better, as MammaKind was about to move into a new warehouse but had no budget for a kitchen. When the charity saw Salter’s listing, it was as if the stars had aligned.
“When the kitchen came up, the timing was perfect! We were over the moon,” said Kirsty from MammaKind.
Since its new space won’t be ready until later this year, MammaKind even found a company willing to store the kitchen for free until the charity moves in. Talk about a community coming together!
If you’re a business that has things gathering dust that you’d like to donate, please visit the website agoodthing.org.uk/signup today. Signing up takes 30 seconds, and you’ll be able to start listing items and making a difference to your local community straightaway.
