The Zero Waste Challenge | Community Fundraising Campaign
Background
FareShare is the UK's largest food redistribution charity, rescuing good-to-eat surplus food and getting it to charities and community groups supporting people in need. Every week, FareShare provides enough food to create millions of meals, yet millions of tonnes of edible food still go to waste across the UK each year.
The charity wanted to build a new community fundraising campaign that reflected its mission, inspired positive behaviour change and created a sustainable fundraising product with long-term growth potential.
The Challenge
FareShare asked us to develop a mass participation fundraising event centred around food, one that would attract new supporters, encourage community fundraising and strengthen engagement with existing audiences.
The event needed to feel authentic to the charity's purpose, be simple enough for anyone to take part in, and encourage participants to raise between £100 and £170 through sponsorship.
The Creative Strategy
The strongest fundraising products are built around the cause itself.
Rather than asking people simply to donate, we challenged them to change their behaviour.
The result was The Zero Waste Challenge.
Participants pledged to eliminate food waste for two weeks, making every ingredient count and asking friends and family to sponsor their efforts. It transformed an everyday habit into a meaningful fundraising challenge while helping people understand the environmental and social impact of food waste.
The concept struck a chord because it appealed to FareShare's audience of passionate food lovers and environmentally conscious supporters, people motivated by making a tangible difference through their own actions.
To bring the campaign to life, we created a bold visual identity built around playful foodie language and distinctive typography, incorporating circular food ingredients into the branding to reinforce the zero waste message. We also coined the participant title Zero Hero, giving supporters a fun identity they were proud to share across social media.
The experience extended well beyond fundraising. Every participant received a digital resource pack packed with practical advice, zero-waste recipes and everyday tips for reducing food waste, creating lasting behaviour change alongside fundraising.
Impact
The Zero Waste Challenge gave FareShare a distinctive community fundraising product that combined fundraising, education and environmental action in a single compelling idea.
The campaign generated a highly engaged supporter community that continued beyond the event itself, with participants sharing ideas, recipes and encouragement long after the challenge had finished. Its success created a strong platform for future campaigns and established a scalable fundraising product with long-term potential.
Services Delivered
Community Fundraising Strategy
Fundraising Product Development
Mass Participation Event Strategy
Campaign Proposition Development
Audience Insight
Creative Direction
Campaign Branding
Behaviour Change Campaign
Supporter Engagement
Digital Fundraising Assets
Campaign Communications
Integrated Campaign Strategy