Non-Profit Social Purpose

As far as we can tell, Skylark is the only specialty coffee brand in the world that is both 100% non-profit and 100% transparent. 

You can read our annual financials here (Now updated with 2023 numbers!)— you won't find any fat salaries or hidden profits.

What does this mean in practice? We operate like any other coffee roastery, buying and roasting the best coffee we can find and selling it to cafes and consumers. Unlike others, however, we give away all the profits at the end of the year. We're a registered non-profit organisation ... not a B Corp, not a social enterprise, not a CIC.  

We're also completely open source with our business model. We think skepticism about ethical claims is warranted. Instead of asking you to trust us, we publish our numbers and inner workings for scrutiny. You can also provide feedback.

What's wrong with making money?

Ultimately, we started Skylark with the aim of developing the most ethical coffee roastery that is currently possible. We definitely don't have all the solutions yet, but that's our goal every day. We simply don't exist to make money.

Here's the main reason for giving up profits: We think roasters' profit margins are the biggest problem in the coffee supply chain. Historically, roasters have always made the lion's share, in percentage terms, while coffee farmers and cafes struggle at either end of the industry. So for now, we're giving all our surplus to charities working on key local problems while donating to nature conservation and producer empowerment. The longer-term project is to change those fundamental power dynamics.

Who are our current beneficiaries?

- Knepp Wildland Foundation is a key environmental charity in the Southeast UK leading the way on rewilding, conservation and climate change.
- The Stumping Project, operated by the NGO Technoserve, is an African project helping Ethiopian coffee farmers regenerate their coffee trees for sustainable harvests for years to come.
- Pro Baristas is a charity project focussed on unemployment in Sussex, especially among young people, while training them for coffee jobs. It's also one of our sibling projects under the same charity umbrella.

You can read more about how we support the environment and marginalised people in our annual transparency report. If you'd like to participate, simply check out our shop! We think it's rare to find top-notch coffee combined with a social purpose at the core. If you want to get in touch about anything related to our ethos, email info@skylark.coffee.