Love Topsham’s business practice.

We try to minimise the environmental impact of our activities, such as printing, and when we do print we use FSC sustainable paper. A lot of our communication uses online channels, including our newsletter which goes out to 1400 addresses and has an open rate of around 66% every month. Our Christmas lights are all now LEDs, which require far less power, and many of our displays are battery or rechargeable.

What processes do you have in place when sourcing supplies?

We have very few suppliers, and we choose them carefully in how they act and supply to us. We believe that a material should be reviewed before purchase in these three areas: Creation, Useful Life. Disposal. In general, our policy is to reuse materials as often as we can. Any materials that are no longer required are always recycled wherever possible to minimise waste to landfill.

How does Love Topsham run as an organisation?

As an organisation that is totally run by volunteers, we do not have our own contracted staff, but when we do employ professional support, we ensure that their values match our own and that any contract is mutually beneficial. We evaluate events to ensure volunteering is enjoyable, recognising that people have made a choice to volunteer with us. None of our directors receive a salary from Love Topsham.

Give examples of how you actively support and encourage employee wellbeing.

Every event or project has a health and safety assessment, which is shared with each volunteer at a briefing along with a set of contact numbers for the event organisation team. We have four directors who hold DBS checks and two have had safeguarding training to ensure our safeguarding policy is written into the event plan and is implemented at events.

What measures do you have in place to encourage diversity and inclusion?

Our aim is to make our activities accessible to all. In our CIC charter, we have a clause which does not allow us to campaign for any individual pressure, religious or political group. Our goal is always to include the whole community of Topsham, including residents, businesses and visitors.