Independent craft brewer, BrewDog today announced that it will give away 20% of its profits every year; 10% will be shared equally among its staff, and a further 10% will be issued to charities chosen by the brewer’s 1,000-strong workforce and 57,000 Equity Punk investors worldwide.
BrewDog’s approach to business has followed an anti-establishment route over the past 10 years since its inception in 2007, and its Equity for Punks crowdfunding program is what has powered the brewer’s unprecedented growth.
If the brewer achieves its projected targets, BrewDog will donate in excess of £45m via the Unicorn Fund in the next 5 years alone.
BrewDog also plans to inspire other businesses to follow suit, challenging the real potential impact of CSR policies.
Of the total 10% of profits donated to worthy causes, five percent will go to charities chosen by BrewDog’s Equity Punk investors, and five percent will be issued to charities chosen by its global team of employees.
BrewDog has also committed to reinvesting the balance of its profits back into the business for at least the next 7 years.
In order to allocate the Unicorn Fund, BrewDog’s teams and Equity Punk shareholders will be given access to an online platform where they can assign their portion of funds to charities of their choosing, comprised of seven ‘spotlight’ charities, and 13 additional charities.
Any funds not allocated voluntarily by staff and Equity Punks from their allowances will be automatically distributed to the spotlight charities.
BrewDog cofounder James Watt said, “At BrewDog, we care about two things above all else: our beer and our people. We want to make the best beers on the planet, we want to be the best company to work for, and we want to build a radically new type of business that we can all be proud of.
'Giving away 20 percent of our profits – forever – is not about altruism. It is about impact. It’s not about profits. It is about purpose. This is the biggest community-fuelled, crowdfunded charity contribution in history.”
“Outdated CSR policies have zero consideration for their real-world impact, existing merely for the purpose of an oversized check and an awkward photo shoot,” he added. “This is a call to arms for businesses to democratize the impact their charitable contributions can have on their community, their people, and the world.”
Watt added, “In our tenth year at BrewDog, we hope to inspire a new kind of business with the Unicorn Fund; one that doesn’t measure profit in purely monetary terms. Our mission for the next decade at BrewDog is not simply to redefine the beer industry, but to redefine industry itself.”