Introducing The Made By Brave Foundation: Driving Positive Change Through Social Impact, Women's Empowerment, and Environmental Giving

Discover how Ancient + Brave gives back as we proudly unveil our foundation that supports people and the planet.

At Ancient + Brave, corporate social responsibility is not just a marketing message; it's woven into the very foundations of our mission-led business practices. 

Since being founded in 2018, our charitable giving has directed over £1,500,000 towards social and environmental causes, supporting women's empowerment programmes, community development projects, and environmental conservation globally.

But as an impact-driven organisation, it has always been our intention to do more. That’s why we created the Made By Brave Foundation. 

Discover what the Made By Brave Foundation is and how it drives positive change for people and the planet as we proudly reveal how Ancient + Brave gives back.

The Made By Brave Foundation: How ethical brands create impact

Around the world, women bravely stand at the front lines of environmental and social change, often without the resources needed to make a lasting impact. 

As a female-founded ethical wellbeing business, we’ve made it our mission to help women like these thrive, and so we created the Made By Brave Foundation.

Funded by Ancient + Brave, we hope to bridge the resource gap by investing in initiatives that empower women, strengthen communities and help protect the planet.

Together, we are shaping a future where women rise, communities flourish, and the planet regenerates.

To date, Ancient + Brave has:

+ Donated over £1,500,000 to social and environmental causes

+ Supported 4400 women through Love Mercy’s Cents for Seeds farming programme in Uganda

+ Secured 125 acres of rainforest across South America

+ Funded a new toilet block at a school in Gambia, improving the lives of 400 pupils

+ Contributed 264 volunteer hours to river conservation and food banks in East Sussex

What does the Made By Brave Foundation do?

From funding grassroots projects that regenerate ecosystems to developing programs that unlock education, female leadership and economic independence for women, the Made By Brave Foundation collaborates with visionaries, charities and changemakers, driving lasting, systemic change.

The Made By Brave Foundation in action: Driving positive change together

The Made By Brave Foundation x The Love Mercy Foundation

The Love Mercy Foundation operates in northern Uganda, where it works with communities to co-design solutions that improve well-being. Our partnership sits at the cornerstone of our environmental, social and governance (ESG) work, thanks to a shared belief in the power of female community-driven change.

To date, we have donated over £400,690 to The Love Mercy Foundation and seeing the impact in action has been truly humbling. 

Thanks to the partnership and the resilience of the teams involved, 4400 women have been brought into the Cents 4 Seeds (C4S)  programme, which provides food security and improves long-term outcomes. By training women in sustainable farming practices and agricultural self-sufficiency, and teaching them how to invest, save and grow their earnings, this programme helps create economic independence and stable futures for the communities. 

The Kristina Health Centre, a lifeline to local communities, has flourished too. Part of our funding has contributed to a new operating theatre, an upgraded maternity ward, neonatal clinic, staff and patient accommodation, a dental clinic, a laboratory and a cafeteria, upgrading it from a level 3 to a level 4 health care facility. 

We have also pledged a total of £100,000 in 2026, funding a new cohort of young women to enrol on the tailoring programme, learn essential tailoring skills and start their own businesses. Alongside this, it will enable another village to enroll in C4S and fund the construction of a new well, providing clean water to the surrounding community. Lastly, this donation will enable Love Mercy to purchase the next round of vital medical equipment for the Kristina Health Centre. 

Through all of these initiatives and with this funding, Love Mercy will continue to stand alongside these communities as they realise their potential and rise out of poverty. 

The Made By Brave Foundation x Heart Research UK 

Heart disease is the main cause of death in women in the UK, killing more than 240 women a week. 

Women, when compared to men, are less likely to be assessed for heart disease, underdiagnosed, and less likely to receive treatment. When women do receive treatment, they often experience poorer outcomes than men.

This may not be surprising since most of the evidence we have on how to care for women with heart disease is based on men, as women are less likely to be invited to take part in or participate in heart disease research. 

That’s why the Made By Brave Foundation is partnering with Heart Research UK and Professor Julie Sanders at King’s College London to identify priority areas to invest in for women’s heart research, donating £100,000 to the project. We’re also lobbying government and working with NHS England to focus on specific action in the area of women’s heart health to increase awareness, support and research, to ultimately reduce the risk for thousands of women each year. 

The Made By Brave Foundation x The Endeavour

As a female-founded and majority female team at Ancient + Brave, we know many women carry a brave dream they've never had the chance, or the courage to pursue. The Endeavour exists to change that.

Underpinned by £100,000 in funding, The Endeavour is our pioneering bravery initiative for UK-based women designed to unlock long-held dream adventures. We have selected five women and groups of women, to receive up to £20,000 each in funding, alongside nutritional guidance from our team and the support of our wider community. 

This isn't about extremes or spectacle. We recognise courage doesn't always look loud. One woman's decision to swim a channel is as brave as another's choice to finally hike solo, or lead a team into the wilderness. What matters is the personal journey and the courage it takes to begin. 

The Endeavour was born after Ancient + Brave's commitment to support the Bluetit 6 Channel Relay Team, whose story of unity and endurance prompted hundreds of women in our community to share dreams they'd long considered out of reach. 

Adventure changes us. And when women back themselves and are backed by their communities, extraordinary things happen.

The Made By Brave Foundation x The Ouse & Adur Rivers Trust (OART) 

Our local charity partner, the Ouse + Adur Rivers Trust (OART), works in our county of East Sussex to help restore, protect and nurture the habitats surrounding us. 

In 2024, we donated £25,000 to fund their network of Citizen Science Hubs across the Rivers Ouse and Uck, enrolling residents to monitor and protect their waterways. In 2025, we donated a further £25,000 after seeing remarkable engagement in the project, and they expanded their network. They offer structured training, essential monitoring equipment and community-led data collection on chemical and biological water quality, as well as sea trout populations, providing vital insights into the health of our rivers, helping OART identify issues early and take action.

Alongside monetary donations, our team has been hands-on with volunteering. In 2025, we collectively donated more than 200 volunteer hours. We were out clearing non-native Himalayan Balsam in spring and supporting habitat and vegetation management at a site in Sompting during the autumn, allowing improved water flow through newly restored channels.

In 2026, we are contributing another £18,000 to OART to continue supporting their Citizen Science Hubs, community training and raising awareness of their projects and work. 

The Made By Brave Foundation x Project Ripple Effect

Led by academics at the University of Sussex in partnership with Friends of the River Medway, Project Ripple Effect is an initiative working to understand the health of our local rivers and to bring local communities into the heart of that effort. Through a growing network of citizen science hubs, volunteers are trained to monitor water quality and biodiversity, providing meaningful, lasting data. 

A wonderfully human approach to a very real problem. And exactly the kind of community-led work that the Made By Brave Foundation exists to support.

We're proud to be partnering with Project Ripple Effect, helping to fund and expand their citizen science hubs with a £25,000 donation, so that more people can connect with, care for and protect the waterways around them.

Our team has also been getting involved with Project Ripple Effect through volunteering. We helped carry out riverfly testing along different sections of one of their sites in West Sussex, where the results of this will help indicate the health and pollution levels of the river at this site. It's methodical work, and quietly reminds you how much life exists beneath the surface. 

Previous to the Foundation’s launch, Ancient + Brave has also supported the following charities:

The Gambian Children’s Fund: Supporting children's education in The Gambia

The Gambian Children’s Fund supports Joyce’s International School, a vital educational hub in the Kunkajang Keitaya area that offers education and a safe environment for children to reach their full potential. 

By providing a donation of £25,000, we helped the school to install 8 hygienic, safe toilets, dramatically improving the daily lives of over 400 pupils and school staff. 

Rainforest Concern: Protecting rainforest in Costa Rica

Rainforest Concern protects threatened ecosystems and the communities, and in 2025, we donated £25,000 towards their Bosque de las Madres Corridor project in Costa Rica. 

This secured 24 acres of rainforest, providing a vital corridor to jaguars, margay, puma and jaguarondi, as well as the endangered Baird’s tapir, rare macaws, parrots and amphibians. 

The Lotus Flower: Swimming and wellbeing for refugee women

In 2024, we donated £60,000 to The Lotus Flower’s Swimming Sisters programme, which provides refugee and migrant women and girls with essential swimming skills, mental health support and holistic wellbeing activities. 

Boys In Mind: Young men's mental health and suicide prevention

Boys in Mind (BiM) is an incredible programme that works to promote good mental health and prevent suicide, particularly among boys and young men. 

In 2025, our £30,000 donation supported a football coaching and mentoring programme in the East Midlands as well as a short film to raise awareness and amplify BiM’s work, combating issues highlighted in the Lost Boys report.

What’s next for The Made By Brave Foundation?

Going forward, the Made By Brave Foundation remains deeply committed to expanding economic opportunities for women worldwide, advancing regenerative solutions for people and the planet, and scaling our social impact partnerships with organisations driving lasting change.

We will continue investing in meaningful, community-led initiatives while strengthening those partnerships that make positive impact and lasting change possible.

And with our most ambitious social impact campaign coming soon (a national initiative centred on women’s health), we’re only just beginning to scale the collective impact we can create together.