Making Adventures Last: How Campervan Brewery Is Brewing a Force for Good
For Campervan Brewery, great beer is about bringing people together, creating shared experiences and celebrating the outdoors that inspires so much of what the business does.
Based in Edinburgh, Campervan Brewery has built a strong connection with outdoor living and the communities around it. Whether it is surfing, camping, hiking, skiing or simply spending time outside with friends, those experiences are part of the brewery’s identity.
That makes its partnership with Surfers Against Sewage a natural fit.
“Campervan Brewery has always been inspired by outdoor living and the social experiences that happen around it. Finding a charity that shared this interest and these values was key to us. We found a perfect fit with Surfers Against Sewage, whose mission strongly aligns with our values.”
Surfers Against Sewage is a campaigning charity focused on protecting the ocean, with campaigns tackling issues including sewage pollution, plastic pollution, water quality and climate change. Its work combines campaigning, education and community action to drive change for the ocean and the people who enjoy it.
For Campervan Brewery, supporting the charity is part of a much wider ambition. Its vision is to create “a brewery which is a force for good”, making decisions based not only on the quality of its beers but also on the impact they have on its community and the planet.
That philosophy is reflected in the way the brewery approaches sales giving.
“We wanted to find a practical way to contribute that was sustainable over the long term. Sales fundraising appeals because it links commercial success with positive impact, allowing us to build charitable giving into our everyday business rather than treating it as a one-off initiative.”
Campervan Brewery donates 2p from every can of beer sold to Surfers Against Sewage. It also donates all profit from the sale of its hop-infused sparkling water, Blue Mind.
The giving is made visible to customers too. Surfers Against Sewage is named on the back of the brewery’s can labels, while the business also promotes its charitable giving through social media and customer communications.
For the team at Campervan Brewery, the connection goes beyond the financial contribution.
“Many of our team and customers spend their free time in the outdoors, so supporting Surfers Against Sewage, who protect the ocean, feels like a natural extension of our values.”
That shared connection also comes through in the brewery’s wider involvement with the charity.
Alongside its sales giving, Campervan Brewery takes part in Surfers Against Sewage’s Million Mile Clean campaign. The team organises local clean-up walks with volunteers, collecting and documenting litter from streets and beaches. The information gathered is then fed back to Surfers Against Sewage, helping inform its wider campaigning work. The Million Mile Clean is one of the charity’s community programmes designed to mobilise people to tackle plastic pollution.
It means the relationship is not simply about donating money. Campervan Brewery and its community are actively contributing to the cause they care about.
For the business, that sense of purpose is also important to the culture it is trying to create.
“People increasingly want to work for organisations that stand for something and contribute meaningfully to their community. It also helps reinforce the kind of culture we want to build at Campervan.”
There is also a clear sense that the brewery wants to grow without losing sight of why it exists.
“We want to grow in the right ways and sustainable ways. We do not want to become another large brewery that loses their sense of purpose.”
Work for Good provides the straightforward infrastructure behind the sales giving, allowing Campervan Brewery to create and manage its charitable agreement without adding unnecessary complexity.
“It’s a very straightforward platform. It only takes a couple of minutes to create a new agreement and then make a donation.”
Ultimately, Campervan Brewery’s approach shows how giving can become part of everyday commercial activity. Every can sold contributes to the cause, while the brewery’s wider relationship with Surfers Against Sewage gives its team and customers opportunities to get involved directly.
For a business inspired by the outdoors, protecting the places where those adventures happen is a natural extension of its purpose.
Key takeaway:
Campervan Brewery shows how businesses can connect commercial success with the causes that matter to their customers, their teams and their own identity, turning everyday sales into ongoing support for the places and communities that inspire them.
To learn more about Campervan Brewery, please visit their website.