Patch impact report 2021: communities

We work closely with our suppliers and the larger horticultural industry to ensure that together we do the best we can for the people around us. We are always asking ourselves what we can do better and how we can support everyone at Patch to make a positive impact.

Our commitment to our communities

Supporting our local communities

The benefits of plants

High standards

We will continue to work with suppliers to enact positive change and ensure they are living the qualities that benefit their people, invest further in and continue to partner with charities to support our local community, and improve the diversity of the Patch team.

Since 2017, we’ve worked with Thrive, a UK charity that uses gardening to bring about positive change in the lives of people with disabilities or ill health, and those in vulnerable situations. Working with Thrive’s team in Battersea Park, we donate surplus stock, which they sell to raise vital funds. We’ve also held volunteer days, with the Patch team helping to maintain the Thrive gardens, and partnered with Dulux to re-decorate their office space. We’re always looking for new ways to benefit our local communities.

In summer 2020, we created a team within the business focused on supporting our employees to make a difference. The team’s first task was to choose a charity partner for 2021. We chose icanyoucantoo, a youth charity tackling social inequality in non-privileged communities within London. 

We launched Pippa the Peace Lily as a charity plant, with £1 of every sale going to icanyoucantoo. Patch employees have also supported the icanyoucantoo programme by using their volunteering time to bake cakes, cook and deliver meals as part of their hot meal initiative over school holidays. The team have also run mock interviews and reviewed CVs, to help young people prepare to start their careers. We’ve hosted quarterly fundraising events, with all the proceeds going to icanyoucantoo. So far this year we have donated £34,000.

Nilesh Dosa, founder of icanyoucantoo says: 

“Working with Patch Plants really has been a partnership, not only have they donated proceeds from the sales of their Pippa plant, but they’ve been directly involved across all three pillars of icanyoucantoo. They became an integral part of our humanitarian efforts at Christmas and Easter, not just out delivering surpluses to families, but rolling their sleeves up and mucking in with baking, cooking, packing/sorting food, and wrapping presents. In regards to our headline coaching and mentoring programme, the team from Patch have also got involved with supervising activities and giving young people invaluable feedback and guidance. Freddie will also be joining one of our November ’21 sessions as a role model for our young people, sharing his learnings from over the years – as part of an Inspirational Men’s panel – along with three other CEOs and MDs. Finally, Patch Plants have also been committed to having raw, and sometimes uncomfortable conversations, about how companies can do more to get disadvantaged young people into the workplace. Their vibrant and open culture has made them a pleasure to work with, and their unique fundraising efforts have been amazing; we’re so grateful to have had their support.” 

In order to empower Patch team to do more, we launched a volunteering policy that gives each employee 40 hours per year to volunteer anywhere they like. This time has been used in all sorts of ways, from working in community gardens to supporting archiving at Kew Gardens to donating blood. Our volunteering time has also been used to support the NHS through plant donations and hospital garden projects. Like many brands, we offered discounts to NHS workers as a thank you for all the amazing work they’ve done during the pandemic. In line with our environmental focus, we sponsored the Patch Floating Forest Exploratorium at Field Fest, a festival focused on discussion around climate change.

Plants have positive benefits on our mental health and wellbeing and we want to share that message across our communities. The Patch-sponsored ‘Pharmacy of House Plants’ studio at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, created in partnership with The Edible Bus Stop, was designed to examine the relationship between green spaces and wellbeing, through a contemporary interpretation of a traditional pharmacy. Instead of pills or lotions sitting on the shelves, the pharmacy showcased an array of stunning plants that were carefully chosen to reflect the soothing nature of house plants. The Pharmacy of House Plants won a silver-gilt medal.

As part of our focus on our communities, we have been looking internally to ensure we at Patch are holding ourselves to the highest standards. That’s why we’ve launched our internal code of ethics and commitment to diversity within Patch, as well as creating our statement for modern slavery in accordance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015. 

We’ve looked at our suppliers to see how we can ensure positive impact from our entire supply chain. Each of our suppliers has been surveyed so we can fully understand their business practices, to ensure they align with ours. We’ve launched a code of conduct that we expect all Patch suppliers to agree to.