Financial resilience through sustainability and innovation

About Six Hills Honey

As a charity, The Carpenter’s Arms is reliant on public funding and donations but increasingly, it is facing a deficit when it comes to the financing of support at its drug and alcohol rehabilitation centres.

The rise in the National Minimum Wage, employer National Insurance contributions, together with the rising cost of energy, food and fuel, means it needs to be creative in raising income elsewhere.

The charity has been successful in mitigating this impact by investing in green vehicles, sustainable farming, and attracting sponsorship support, grants and donations. However, more is needed to secure the long-term sustainability of the charity and the accommodation it provides.

carpenter's arms
The Carpenter's Arms team

The Benefits

Beyond the obvious benefits as an income stream for The Carpenter’s Arms, an initiative that produces honey and pollen products has been chosen for the following reasons:

  • Its ability to operate at very low costs. Each beehive is expected to pay back the initial investment after two years and, importantly, the project is self-replicating which means, through only this small initial investment, it will grow significantly year on year.
  • It fits with the charity’s ethos of sustainability and is a natural complement to its Malone Meadows project.
  • Local nutrient-rich and anti-inflammatory honey provides a health benefit for clients at The Carpenter’s Arms but also local customers.
  • Its positive impact on the local ecosystem (helping to maintain the biodiversity of plants and improve air quality), both for The Carpenter’s Arms clients as well as local people who live and work in the Six Hills area.
  • Gives businesses the opportunity to play their part in a long-term project focused on sustainability and community impact.
  • Our ability to scale up as needed as we have access to significant amounts of land to expand the project.