Charity collabs drive Louise Mulgrew Designs and Arrow Gift Co
Greeting cards’ role in helping others has been stepped up by Louise Mulgrew Designs and Arrow Gift Co though their respective charitable connections.
Celebrating people you love is the theme behind the just-launched Alzheimer’s Research UK X Arrow Gift Co collaboration, while Louise is supporting the new Rewilding Britain charity.
“Alzheimer’s Research UK reached out directly, asking us to curate a range of products to raise money for their incredible cause,” Arrow Gift Co director and illustrator Katie Williams explained, “and we immediately knew that we wanted to use this opportunity to create a range of products focused around celebrating the people you love and never missing a chance to let someone know you appreciate them.”
Katie, who runs the Liverpool-based business with her brother Evan Townsend and mum Jackie Dyer, got to work on a mix of funny, light-hearted and silly designs for cards and gifts as well as some very caring, meaningful quotes to let someone know their hard work doesn’t go unnoticed.
The brightly-coloured range has just launched this month and, for every product sold through the Arrow website, 10% of the sale goes directly to the charity which funds research into dementia – which directly affects one in two people either by developing the condition themselves or caring for someone with it, or both.
Katie added: “We’re extremely proud of this collaboration. It’s easy to assume that, as a small family-run business in Liverpool, there’s no way we could have any real impact – but we can, anyone can. Supporting a charity such as Alzheimer’s Research UK, really can and will make a difference to people’s lives.”
Known for her animal-tastic greeting card designs, Louise Mulgrew is already working with the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and Eden Reforestation Projects, and has now added support for Rewilding Britain, donating 1% of annual turnover to the cause.
“As a paper-based business creating artwork inspired by our planet’s beautiful and diverse wildlife, we want to be a part of protecting and reviving it,” Louise said. “Over the last four years, we’re really proud to have funded the planting of 500,000 trees together with our customers, through our pledge of one tree per two packs of cards. with Eden Reforestation Projects, but we’re learning that there’s a wilder approach to helping our planet.”
Rewilding is the large-scale restoration of nature, restoring the remarkable web of life, including habitats, natural processes and the diversity and abundance of native species and the charity estimates that, by rewildling 30% of Britain’s native woodland, peatlands, heaths and grasslands, 12% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions can be captured.
Louise also donates 1% of turnover to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, which she got involved with during her time at university, visiting the elephant orphanage in Nairobi which inspired her to start painting animals – and she admitted: “Elephants feature often in my card designs and are my favourite to paint.”
Since 2019, she has donated over £40,000 to help the trust’s mission to conserve, preserve and protect wildlife and habitats in Kenya.
Louise added: “When people buy our cards, they can feel wildly proud knowing they’re part of the good fight to tackle the climate crisis and bring nature back to life!”
