North West building society The Cumberland has launched what it says is the world’s first shop where goods can be paid for with kindness.
The pop up, which opened for a day in Kendal and Carlisle, and also in Dumfires in Scotland, offered customers items including BBQs, hampers and garden furniture which could be ‘bought’ by promising to spend time volunteering with local charities.
A price tag on each item indicated the amount of time needed to ‘pay’ for the items, and the campaign secured over 1,100 hours of volunteering for 27 charities.
Visitors to the shop raved about it on social media, with one video receiving over 150,000 views on TikTok.
The project aimed to highlight The Cumberland Building Society’s commitment to kinder banking and being kinder to customers, the planet and communities.
The concept was created by Carlisle-based PR agency Intro. Director Helen Statham said: “We wanted to create something that was unique and really demonstrated what The Cumberland’s commitment to kindness is all about. The response from the public was fantastic and we were blown away by how many people pledged volunteer hours, meaning the campaign will make a concrete difference to the communities The Cumberland serves.”
The Cumberland is based in Carlisle with branches in 34 locations across Cumbria, Lancashire, Northumberland and South West Scotland. In 2021/22 the ethical business donated £188,000, or 1.5 per cent of its profits, to good causes.
Phil Ward, brand and PR manager at The Cumberland, said: “We’re delighted with The Kinder Shop and the boost it’s given to our kinder banking campaign that kicks off this summer. At The Cumberland we really do believe that kinder banking can be a reality so we decided to put our money where our mouth is and we’ve given charities a real boost in the process.”
Tullie House, one of the charities involved in the project, described it as the ‘most innovative idea in volunteering in 25 years’.
