The 2025 Impact Gift Guide: Gifts That Actually Give Back
Look, I’ll be honest. I’m tired of gift guides that pretend a slightly nicer version of the same old stuff counts as “meaningful.” You know the ones—where “sustainable” just means the packaging is brown instead of white, or “ethical” means they slapped a certification on the website footer and called it a day.
So we put together our Impact Gift Guide for 2025: a round-up of genuinely great things you can give (or get) that line up with purpose, community, sustainability, or smart design – and still feel like a real treat.
And because Impact Reporting’s audience skews towards thoughtful, socially-aware, mid-career professionals (and yes, mostly women – we see you!), this guide is packed with things that are useful, beautiful, meaningful… and won’t end up in landfill by Easter.
I’ve been inspired by some incredible resources this year—the Social Enterprise UK Christmas Gift Guide, Deloitte’s 2025 Gift Guide, and conversations happening in my LinkedIn community about how we can all make better choices with our spending. The responses I got when I asked my network for recommendations? Absolutely brilliant. From Harry Specters chocolates to cookery classes run by refugees, people shared the most thoughtful, impactful suggestions.
So whether you’re shopping for your best friend, your mum, your colleague, or honestly yourself (no judgment—you deserve it), here are some gifts that create ripples of positive change.
For the Art Lover
Venture Arts Original Artwork
Manchester-based Venture Arts equips learning disabled and neurodivergent people to succeed as artists. Their studio artists create incredible contemporary visual art across painting, photography, ceramics, textiles, and more. Buy original artwork directly from their online shop, each purchase supports their mission to put learning disabled artists at the heart of the visual arts sector.
ActionSpace Art
With three London studios at Studio Voltaire, Cockpit Bloomsbury, and ASC Ealing Road, ActionSpace supports learning disabled artists to develop their unique artistic signatures. You can now buy limited-edition giclee prints and artworks by ActionSpace artists, helping them be visible, valued and fully included within the visual arts sector.
For the Chocolate Connoisseur
Harry Specters Luxury Chocolates
Founded by Mona and Shaz Shah and inspired by their autistic son Ash, Harry Specters creates award-winning handmade chocolates while employing autistic young people in every aspect of the business. They’ve won 34 awards in taste and quality, helped 350+ autistic people through paid work and free work experience, and for every £1 spent, 69p of social value is created. Prince Edward recently visited to celebrate their 10-year anniversary-these chocolates are genuinely special.
For the Coffee Lover or Tea Drinker
Change Please Coffee
100% of profits from this award-winning specialty coffee go toward training people experiencing homelessness to become baristas, providing them with Living Wage jobs, housing support, therapy, and a pathway to independence. Their coffee is genuinely excellent (multiple Great Taste Awards), they’re B Corp certified, and you can buy bags, subscriptions, or gift vouchers. Also now available in Nespresso’s range.
Driftaway Coffee Subscription
Freshly roasted, equitably sourced, and sustainably packaged. Supports women and minority producers. Choose a single bag or set up a subscription for the coffee lover in your life.
Jamila’s Ethical Coffee
Part of Ethstat’s range, 100% of profits from this plastic-free, sustainable coffee support families living with dementia. Exceptional taste meets the lowest environmental impact.
Mayan Gold Ground Coffee
Cafédirect is the UK’s leading social-impact coffee roaster, and this Mayan Gold has hints of dark chocolate, caramel, vanilla and citrus.
Nemi Teas
London-based tea company offering specialty blends and Chai Syrup. Provides employment and job readiness skills to refugees entering the UK workforce.
HumaniTea Oat Milk Tea Lattes
The UK’s first ready-to-drink vegan tea lattes, HumaniTea creates Earl Grey and Matcha oat milk lattes that are genuinely delicious. Founded by Tina Chen, a former IT consultant who switched to “just tea,” this social enterprise donates 5% of post-tax profits to wellbeing and sustainability initiatives. HumaniTea tackles obesity while promoting mental wellbeing through their motto “me time, tea time, any time.” The oat milk is one of the most eco-friendly options in terms of emissions and water usage, and everything comes in recyclable aluminum cans.
For the Foodie & Experience Seeker
Migrateful Cookery Class Gift Voucher
This is one of my favorite discoveries. Migrateful runs cookery classes taught by refugees and migrants on their journey to integration. Book an in-person class in London, Bristol, Brighton, Kent, or Canterbury, or join online from anywhere. Learn authentic recipes from chefs representing cuisines from Turkey, Sri Lanka, Trinidad & Tobago, and more-while supporting their pathway to employment and independence. Classes typically cost £20-30, and you’re not just learning to cook; you’re creating meaningful cultural exchange.
Social Stories Club Sustainable Hampers
Every hamper introduces someone to multiple social enterprises while providing living wage jobs for individuals facing employment barriers. Carbon-neutral shipping, renewable energy, and sustainable packaging included. They measure and share their social impact transparently.
Ethstat Ethical Hampers
These are in a league of their own. Entirely plastic-free, vegan, gluten-free, compostable hampers packed by people experiencing homelessness, ex-offenders, and those facing severe barriers to employment-all paid a Living Wage. Ethstat works with 400+ social enterprises in their supply chain, and you can even join their “Wrap’n’Pack Party” events to meet the people you’re helping.
Clif Family Winery Gifting Shop
Organically farmed wine and sustainable specialty food with a B Corp commitment to creating meaningful connections between food, wine, and land.
Miss Macaroon Luxury Gift Boxes
Hand-made French macarons with customizable packages. Reinvests 100% of profits into helping unemployed young people gain skills.
The Bread Winners Sourdough & Baking Kits
Provides work experience for refugees and young people seeking asylum, plus employability training, social networks, and mentoring. Order fresh buns, bread subscriptions, or gift vouchers.
Bounceback Foods – Secret Dishes from Around the World
his social enterprise runs Community Cookery School teams across the UK, teaching people how to cook, running food bank drives, helping people secure jobs in the food sector, and coordinating community meal drives. They operate on a “buy one, give one” model – when someone purchases a cookery workshop ticket, they fund a free place for someone living in food poverty. A celebration of the diversity of food, art and community, our Secret Dishes From Around the World fundraising cookbook trilogy is the perfect gift – for yourself or for a loved one! All proceeds support our non-profit social enterprise as BounceBack foods scale up their fight against food poverty nationwide.
Fat Macy’s Food Gifts
Fat Macy’s a social enterprise that supports people to move on from temporary accommodation through culinary and hospitality training. They help people in temporary accommodation earn deposits to move into homes while gaining skills.
Sadaqah Sweet Treatz Halal Sweets
I met this Khadeem (only 11 years old!) at a halal food festival a few months ago, and I was blown away by both his mission and his passion. He creates halal and vegan sweet mixes and all the proceeds go to support two orphan’s dreams to go to Umrah and continue into their higher education program at school. I promised him I’d share his link far and wide, so here you go!
For the Conscious Fashionista
Reformation Recycled Cashmere
Reformation’s 100% recycled cashmere sweaters use 96% less carbon and 89% less water than conventional cashmere. They track and share each product’s environmental footprint transparently.
Loué Studio Luxury Vegan Handbags
This is personally on my wishlist, I’ve been drooling over it all year. Loué Studio crafts luxury vegan handbags from innovative, sustainable plant-based leather including MIRUM® by NFW and Elevate™ by Uncaged. Handmade in small batches in Spain with high-quality craftsmanship, the prioritises responsible labor practices and complete supply chain transparency. MIRUM is a 100% plastic-free, bio-based material that’s also 100% circular and Elevate™ uses bio-based materials derived from plants.
ABLE Leather Handbags
ABLE publishes the wages they pay their staff (radical transparency) and offers a lifetime guarantee. Made by women overcoming extraordinary circumstances, with a size swap program because bodies change.
Everlane Alpaca Crew Sweater
Alpacas are gentler on land than sheep, and Everlane’s blend of recycled and responsibly sourced fibers makes this cozy and guilt-free. They keep making the same styles year after year for easy replacement.
Wolven Reversible Athletic Wear
Made from recycled bottles with bold patterns, this woman-of-color-founded brand is carbon-neutral and gives 1% to the planet. Reversible tops mean multiple ways to wear one piece.
Kotn Organic Cotton Tote
Kotn sources directly from smallholder farmers in Egypt’s Nile Delta and uses low-waste cutting methods. Their signature tote says “I care about culture and sustainability.”
Birdsong Ethical Womenswear
Designed for remarkable women and made by them too. They work with expert women makers facing barriers to employment and pay London living wage. High design standards meet extreme ethics.
For the Jewelry Lover
Brilliant Earth Conflict-Free Diamonds
Blockchain technology traces diamonds from origin to finished piece. They donate 5% of profits to environmental causes and offer carbon-neutral shipping. Less than 1% of diamonds meet their Beyond Conflict Free standard.
VRAI Lab-Grown Diamond Jewelry
Created using 100% renewable energy with zero emissions. Lab-grown diamonds eliminate ethical dilemmas while offering minimalist designs in recycled gold.
SOKO Handmade Brass Jewelry
This B Corp connects 2,500+ Kenyan artisans directly to the global market via mobile technology, helping them earn 5X more than traditional workshops. Made from recycled brass and reclaimed materials.
Mejuri Traceable Fine Jewelry
With traceability from mine to market, Toronto-based Mejuri offers everything from gold vermeil to diamonds at fair prices.
For the Beauty Enthusiast
Axiology Balmie Super Fan Pack
Zero waste, plastic-free, vegan beauty that’s actually fun. The balmies are like crayons for your lips (in the best way) and the brand is B Corp certified.
Bare Hands Dry Gloss Manicure Kit
Salon-worthy nails minus the toxins, polish, or price tag. Includes a glass polisher and nourishing cuticle oil.
Rare Beauty’s Soft Pinch Cheek & Lip Trio
Selena Gomez’s beauty line seeks to support mental health and self-acceptance through their Rare Impact Fund. This three soft pinch essentials is a perfect stocking stuffer – and it’s travel-sized!
Cocokind Skincare
Clean ingredients, accessible prices, and B Corp certified. Their Sake Body Lotion is lightweight yet nourishing for all skin types.
For the Home & Lifestyle Lover
ATMO Home Refillable Candles
Hand-poured into reusable glass vessels designed to last a lifetime. When the wax burns down, add hot water, wipe clean, and drop in a new refill.
Big Issue Shop – Studio 306
The Big Issue has been a leading social enterprise since 1991, offering people experiencing homelessness the opportunity to earn a legitimate income through selling the magazine. Their shop extends this mission by providing a retail platform for social enterprises (the Studio 306 collective) creating products that improve lives, enrich communities, and tackle social and environmental problems. The collectives teaches teaches classes and produces items to sell in our four disciplines of ceramics, jewellery, screen printing and sewing skills. All profits from sales go straight back into the collective.
United By Blue Bison Wool Socks
Made with BisonShield fiber from salvaged bison wool. For every product sold, the brand removes one pound of trash from oceans and waterways.
Briiv Air Purifier
This plant-powered air purifier matches the cleaning power of 3,043 medium-sized houseplants using moss, coconut fiber, and nano matrix filters.
Fine Cell Work – Tableware Collection
Fine Cell Work is a charity and social enterprise committed to the rehabilitation of prisoners through teaching them soft work skills, by training and paying them to do exquisite needlework to create beautiful products for sale. Since 1997, this charity has been training people in prison in high-quality needlework, paying them for their work (approximately one-third of proceeds from sales), and helping them rebuild meaningful, crime-free lives. Each set of napkins can take up to 200 hours and over 70,000 stitches to complete. Fine Cell Work operates the largest workforce of hand-embroiderers in Europe, working with over 8,500 people in prison across 32 British prisons.
For the Eco-Warrior
Baggu Recycled Nylon Shoppers
100% recycled nylon with quirky, fun designs. They’re switching to recycled fibers across their cotton canvas bags too.
TerraCycle Zero Waste Box
From beauty empties to snack wrappers, TerraCycle keeps tricky items out of landfills. One of the most practical sustainable gifts.
For New Parents & Kids
Baboodle Pram Rental
This is the one that changed my perspective entirely. I’m renting a pram for holiday travel instead of buying and hauling it around. The average pram has a 450kg CO2 footprint—Baboodle extends product life cycles and offers UK-wide delivery with free returns. They rent premium brands like Bugaboo and Babyzen for a fraction of the purchase price. Save money (customers spend £500 on £1,100+ prams), reduce waste, and reclaim your storage space. It’s the rental economy meeting parenthood, and it just makes sense.
It’s Our Planet Too – Eco Activity Kits for Children
These adorable and interactive tool kits are packed with fun actvities to help kids learn how they can take action, adresss some of the biggest issues facing our planet and what you can do to make a difference.
Handmade wooden toys ethically crafted by skilled artisans, bringing traditional craftsmanship and sustainable joy to conscious UK families. These natural wooden toys support childhood development through open-ended play whilst supporting artisan families earning fair wages. Each purchase preserves centuries-old craft traditions and creates sustainable livelihoods.
Charitable Giving Ideas
Mary’s Meals Donation
Just £19.15 feeds a child for an entire school year. Mary’s Meals provides daily school meals to more than 2 million children in some of the world’s poorest communities. Instead of physical gifts, donate in someone’s name-it’s meaningful, impactful, and shows you’ve really thought about what matters to them.
Social Supermarket Gift Voucher
Let them choose from over 2,000 sustainable and social impact products. Social Supermarket’s mission enables fundamental societal change by connecting conscious buyers with innovative social enterprise brands.
Charity Colour game:
One of the most brilliant ideas came from Paul Vicaro in my LinkedIn comments: his family picks a color out of a hat, then everyone buys something from a charity shop for £5 in that color. On Christmas Day, they draw colors again and open their “random” gift. The most outrageous gift wins bragging rights. It’s sustainable, fun, and supports charity shops – SO GENIUS!
Lucy Bridge also suggested this, which I thought was such a brilliant idea: “I also love a gift voucher for a local business or my local college for beauty treatments!”
The Bottom Line
Here’s what I love about every single item on this list: they’re not compromise purchases. You’re not settling for “good enough because it’s ethical.” These are genuinely beautiful, functional, desirable products that happen to create positive change.
I hope you enjoyed this round up and it’s inspired you to spend your money supporting some good causes. Massive thank you to everyone who shared their favorites: Jenni Willows, Leigh McLaughlin, Lily Maguire, Lucy Bridge, Faye Jenkins, Andrea Holt, Nicola Lynch, Michaela Pearson and Paul Vicario, your recommendations made this guide shine!
P.S. None of these are affiliate links because this isn’t about me making money off your purchases. It’s genuinely just about sharing good stuff that makes a difference.
About the author
