Club Soda exists to help people drink more mindfully and live well.
What does Club Soda do?
We help people live well in three key ways:
- Connection: Our community is at the heart of what we do, and we create connections through online and real-world events and festivals.
- Choice: We promote the availability of low and no alcohol drinks, encouraging people to choose better alcohol-free alternatives.
- Change: We offer courses and workshops that support people to cut down, take breaks from drinking or stop for good.
We want to make the world a better place for people who are drinking less or not at all. So as well as supporting individuals who want to change, we work with pubs, bars and the hospitality industry to improve their offer to people who are not drinking alcohol.
How is Club Soda funded?
Club Soda is a social impact business. Our primary objects require us to have a material positive impact on society and the environment, and our directors are responsible for ensuring that Club Soda “contributes to a world in which people drink mindfully and live well.” All of our official details and documents are published on Companies House.
Club Soda’s funding comes from a variety of sources, including:
- Sales of online courses to individuals through our website
- Small contributions from our individuals members, either one-off donations or regular monthly support.
- Events and workshops
- Affiliate deals and advertising
- Sales of our book
- Alcohol-free drink brands, in the form of sponsorship of our events such as our regular Mindful Drinking Festivals, participation in our drinks guide, and advertising to our individual members through our emails and social channels
- Grant funding from local authorities and charitable foundations like the Wellcome Trust.
Our festivals, drinks guide and some of our other projects are sponsored and supported by drinks companies. We are clear with them that supporting us doesn’t give them a say in how we work or what we do. Our independence is important to us.
Our funders and supporters
Club Soda has five shareholders: four are co-founders and directors (Laura, Jussi, Dru and Nic), as well as “tech for good” investor Bethnal Green Ventures.
Bethnal Green Ventures invested in Club Soda in our first year. In 2015 we won the Carnegie Trust UK Enabling State Challenge. In 2016 Club Soda was among the first cohort of DigitalHealth.London’s accelerator programme for health startups. And in 2018, Club Soda was one of the finalists in The Good Help Award. You can find us in the Good Help directory.
Statement of responsible business principles
Club Soda is proud to be a Certified B Corporation®. Being a B Corp means that Club Soda is committed to making a positive impact for people and the planet, and we aim to be a responsible business in every aspect of our work.
So we commit to following the five principles of a purpose-driven business, developed by Blueprint for Better Business, as set out below.
At the heart of being a responsible business is our purpose, to contribute to a world in which people drink mindfully and live well. This social purpose is legally enshrined in our governing documents.
We have a purpose which delivers long-term sustainable performance
- We operate true to a purpose that serves society, respects the dignity of people and so generates a fair return for responsible investors.
- We enable and welcome public scrutiny of the alignment between our stated purpose and actual performance.
We are honest and fair with customers and suppliers
- We seek to build lasting relationships with customers and suppliers.
- We deal honestly with customers, providing good and safe products and services.
- We treat suppliers fairly, pay promptly what we owe and expect our suppliers to do the same.
- We openly share our knowledge to enable customers and suppliers to make better-informed choices.
We are a responsible and responsive employer
- We treat everyone with dignity and provide fair pay for all.
- We enable and welcome constructive dialogue about our behaviour in keeping true to our purpose.
- We foster innovation, leadership and personal accountability.
- We protect and nurture all who work for us to ensure people also learn, contribute and thrive.
We are a good citizen
- We consider each person affected by our decisions as if they were a member of each decision-maker’s own community.
- We seek and provide access to opportunities for less privileged people.
- We make a full and fair contribution to society by structuring our business and operations to pay promptly all taxes that are properly due.
We are a guardian for future generations
- We honour our duty to protect the natural world and conserve finite resources.
- We contribute knowledge and experience to promote better regulation for the benefit of society as a whole rather than protecting self-interest.
- We invest in developing skills, knowledge and understanding in wider society to encourage informed citizenship.