Pay It Forward: Solidarity donations

Our research shows that the ethical consumption market is growing each year, with more people challenging corporate power and putting their money where their values are.

But increasing numbers of people are struggling financially because of the cost of living/greed crisis, which has pushed bills higher, with people reviewing their outgoings to see what they can cut or to look for cheaper options.

We believe that finding the right information to challenge corporate power and buy ethical products shouldn’t be a barrier for anyone, and whilst we try to keep our prices as low as possible, not everyone is able to afford an annual subscription.

How it works

We have a fundraiser with a target of £2000, which can be found on the CrowdFunder website. This will be enough to fund 55 subscriptions for anyone who can't afford a subscription and who signs up using the form below.

Anyone is welcome to donate any amount at all, whether it is £1, £3, or more, that will go towards the subscriptions for anyone who is looking to start or continue their ethical consumption journey as best as they can.

No questions asked

If you would like to apply for a paid-forward digital subscription for one year for yourself, all you need to do is fill in the form. We will only ask for a name, postal address, email address and what type of subscription you would like (digital, or print & digital copy), no other information is needed.

The information in the form won’t be used for anything else other than setting up your subscription and once the subscription is due for renewal, we will contact you by email to see if you are able to pay for a subscription. Each subscription lasts 12 months, and will cover six issues of our Ethical Consumer magazine, and access to our website and subscriber-only information and discounts.

Please note that while we won’t ever contact you to question your need for the subscription, this is based on trust. Consider if you are able to afford a subscription before filling in the form to enable availability for those who cannot. 

You can find a number of our guides and content outside of the subscription paywall, and can sign up to our weekly newsletter to see if you will find our research useful in your ethical consumption journey.

As soon as enough money has been donated to the crowd funder for at least one subscription, we will assign this to the first person who has filled in the form. Unfortunately, as these subscriptions will be assigned on a case-by-case basis, if more people have signed up than funding available, we will be unable to accommodate everyone. 

Pay-It-Forward FAQ

1. Is there a demand for this?

Yes. Last year we ran a short pay-it-forward trial with a smaller target, which was hit within 2 weeks and the paid-forward subscriptions were allocated over a period of 3 months. This was following pay-it-forward ticketing options being successfully introduced for our conference in 2022. 

Our features on shopping ethically on a budget and shopping ethically in supermarkets are also really popular. We know people want to be as ethical as possible for their own personal circumstances, including on a low budget and feel this option helps with this.

We also know that we have kind and generous subscribers and supporters, and previous crowdfunding appeals for other projects have been successful, for example funding solar panels for migrant workers in southern Spain.

2. If I donate a set amount once, is that all I need to do?

Yes, this is a one off donation, you will not be responsible for the subscription on an ongoing basis.

3. What’s to stop a current subscriber from signing up just to get a free subscription for a year, and cancel their subscription?

We like to believe in trust, and hope that people would act ethically and not do this. We will not allocate paid-forward subscriptions to anyone with a live subscription or one that seems to have been cancelled in order to have a free one. We also ask for you to consider if you are able to afford a subscription before filling in the form to enable availability for those who cannot.