Chapter :
Our story
A Britain where we all get a fair chance in life and where the place we were born, or the area we live in, doesn’t decide that chance. Where we protect our planet and hold those in power to account for doing the same, and where we are treated, and treat one another, with respect.
We come from all walks of life; we’re nurses, taxi drivers, parents, shopkeepers, pensioners and more.
Too often people like us are told we can’t make a difference.
A handful of powerful, often wealthy, people and corporations have made it their mission to divide us so that they can force through laws and rules that suit their narrow interests and line their pockets, all while trashing our living standards and our environment in the process.
But whether we’re older or younger, from a big city or a small town, whether we’re Black, white, Asian or Brown, scraping to get by or a bit more comfortable – we know that when we come together, we can be powerful.
Because, through our people-powered campaigning, the nurses and patients among us have led the fight for our NHS – increasing pay for staff who risked their lives on the frontline and demanding action on an ever increasing backlog.
The mums and dads among us have led the charge for free school meals while times get even tougher and kids go hungry. And all of us struggling with the prospect of skyrocketing energy bills and a cost of living crisis, forced the government to rip up their disaster plans which made it worse.
When hundreds of thousands of us come together, we can help a grandad in South Wales force a corporate giant like Walkers to make crisp packets recyclable, and a struggling single parent in Birmingham push British Gas to change their pricing.
We do it funded by fivers and tenners from people who want to make a difference right across our country. And when enough of us chip in, we can run ambitious, cutting edge campaigns which show how we – their voters and consumers – expect our politicians and businesses to change.
With some of the world’s most powerful campaigning technology, a creative and dedicated staff team and a powerful movement to change lives, communities and our country, the millions of us who take small actions can each get on with our busy lives, while having an impact far greater than we could achieve alone.
Every time we win together we move our country a step towards the fairer, more sustainable place we’re fighting for, where we are treated – and treat each other – with respect.
Anyone can start a campaign with 38 Degrees, whether an individual or an organisation. We have a dedicated office team who can offer you advice, and if your campaign takes off, you’ll have the opportunity to access a wide range of tools to help you run – and win – your campaign.
For larger organisations looking to set up a campaign with 38 Degrees, you could consider a partnership with us. From tackling plastic pollution with Surfers Against Sewage and City to Sea, to stopping data being shared between the NHS and the Home Office with Doctors of the World, partnership campaigns with 38 Degrees can help you make the change you want to see in the world.
As always, our millions of members across the UK help decide which campaigns we work on and we’re guided by our values when selecting new campaigns. So if our membership loves the campaign and it fits our values, we’ll work hard to win.
If you are an organisation and would like more information about working in partnership with 38 Degrees please contact us at partnerships@38degrees.org.uk.
All petition starters and partner organisations we work with must follow our full terms and conditions.
You can read more here:
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/tos
Hello! Need to talk to the 38 Degrees staff team?
You can reach the team through one of the following:
Email: emailtheteam@38degrees.org.uk
Phone: 0207 8460 093
Facebook: facebook.com/peoplepowerchange
X (formerly Twitter): @38degrees
Instagram: @38degrees_uk
TikTok: @38degrees_uk
LinkedIn: uk.linkedin.com/company/38-degrees
Send a letter: 38 Degrees, Moor Place, 1 Fore St Ave, London, EC2Y 9DT, United Kingdom
We take great care with all questions we receive, and always aim to put the experience of our community front and centre. But that doesn’t mean we always get it right – so if you aren’t happy with something, we really want to know about it. You can read about our complaints procedure here.
Frequently Asked QuestionsWe want to be transparent and accountable about how we are funded and how we spend your donations – please get in touch if you’ve got a question or any feedback on how we present this information.
Where does 38 Degrees get its money from?
38 Degrees is independent and people-powered – we don’t take any money from government, political parties or big business. We are primarily funded by small donations from hundreds of thousands of members of the public from all over the UK.
Fivers and tenners make our campaigns happen. Our supporters donate to support our work or to fund a specific campaign or action (e.g. to pay for the costs of organising a demonstration or putting adverts in newspapers). Supporters give what they can afford – the average donation is around £8 but it varies a lot and every donation helps, big or small.
We only ask for donations on campaigns that we’ve actively invested staff time into working on, and only when we feel it’s appropriate to do so. We also do not limit the amount of staff capacity we put into winning a campaign depending on the donations raised, our staff’s job is to assess and support each campaign based on the likelihood of our involvement helping to win the campaign and make the UK a better place.
Back in 2009 as the organisation was being set up, 38 Degrees accepted some money from charitable trusts and foundations. The Isvara Foundation, The Funding Network, the Andrew Wainwright Reform Trust, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, the Barrow Cadbury Fund and UnLtd will always have our thanks for helping us get started.
38 Degrees is a lean organisation. The staff team is small, with one sole purpose: to build and run winning campaigns on issues 38 Degrees supporters care about. 38 Degrees is funded by small donations from supporters. The audited accounts below lay out in detail how 38 Degrees raised and spent money during the last financial year.
You can see the full audited 2022-2023 accounts here. You can see previous yearly audited accounts here:
Accounts are always publicly available at Companies House. The staff team welcomes questions and enquiries. Please get in touch at emailtheteam@38degrees.org.uk
We have a policy of publishing details of any large donation which totals over £7500, from any source, in our annual accounts. You can see this information in donation note 2, pg. 13, in the audited reports.
How do we spend your money?
If you make a one-off donation to a specific campaign we’ll spend staff time and effort in winning that campaign and creating impact on that issue. That could mean that your donation is spent on tactics like public opinion polling, media stunts, newspaper adverts or a whole host of other tactics and work. If we’re unable to spend more on that campaign or issue (e.g because we’ve already won it, or the news agenda and opportunity has moved on) then we’ll put the money into our general funds to support all our work to make the UK fairer, more respectful and more sustainable.
If we’ve asked for donations for a very specific purpose (eg. to pay for an advert), and then aren’t able to do the thing we’ve specified or something very similar, we’ll get in touch to explain why.
Sometimes 38 Degrees raises money for legal costs. For example, in 2013, 38 Degrees supporters helped fund a legal challenge which prevented the closure of A&E and maternity services at Lewisham Hospital. Please note that if you donate to help fund a legal challenge, your financial contribution does not result in you becoming a party to the case. Neither does it entitle you to have any rights or interest in the case; you do not for example have ownership or the right to advise on the conduct or direction of the litigation.
If we’ve fundraised on behalf of another organisation (for example, when there was flooding in 2014) then we pass on all donations made through our website in full. There are no admin costs, so each penny is donated to the cause.
If you set up a direct debit with us, the funds raised will go towards the general costs of running our campaigns, including staff time, any materials needed for potential days of action, a pot for quick reactive campaign action that we don’t have time to fundraise for and the tech needed for new campaigning tactics or the costs to keep our organisation running.
Who checks 38 Degrees’ accounts?
We have our accounts audited on an annual basis by Sayer Vincent, a recognised specialist in auditing charities and not-for-profit organisations. We post the full audited accounts online.
What happened to my donation?
If you donated to fund a particular tactic we’ll let you know how the money has been spent on the blog or via email. If we haven’t, please get in touch at emailtheteam@38degrees.org.uk.
Security of donations
We use 128 bit SSL technology to secure your donation, just like a bank does. This means that all the details are encrypted. We use Stripe, a market leader of online bank transactions, to securely process your one-off donations. We use SmartDebit to process and manage direct debits.
Refunds
We have a refund policy in case you make a donation in error. If you contact us within 7 days of making the donation we will return it to you within 40 days without charge.
Any questions?
We aim to be transparent and accountable about how we spend your money. If you have any questions, or suggestions on how we can improve please contact us.
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