Latest grants winner: Mia Hague of Greyling Post for a eco greetings card business that also donates to care homes. Mia writes:

“…we were awarded our first grant, from ‘Then Do Better Grants’.

Ben Yeoh set this initiative up and gives ten grants a year to ideas that could make a meaningful impact to ones self, the community, or the world.

We told Ben about the motivation behind Greyling Post and our ideas for growing the company. Explaining all that we’d like to happen in order for us to move forward was a useful exercise in itself, and now that we have the money we can’t wait to get started improving and extending our work.

Greyling Post is an eco friendly greetings card company, using designs and illustrations from our small collective of artists. We made a 'Cards to Care Homes' scheme where for every card bought either by the public or wholesale, we match the amount of cards and donate them to a residential care home. The feedback so far is wonderful. Sitting down to write inspires the residents to remember and connect with people during the days when they see few visitors. It helps those who can't get out to the shops and don't feel comfortable shopping online, and they're happy that they don't have to use their pensions to purchase cards for their friends and family.

First things first, I’m going to change our website to one which offers a better user experience as a shop to make it easier for customers and wholesalers to choose and buy cards. This is the fuel for all the cards we donate to support people living in residential care homes so we need to get it right.

Secondly, we’re trademarking ‘Cards to Care homes’. We’re the first company to do this on a large scale (so my research has shown) and it will help to promote the initiative and spread it far and wide.

And finally – for now – we’re stocking up on our cards. There’s been a few favourites sold out for a while so we can get them back online, also some new ones that have been sitting dormant. We’d also like a bit more promotion on the go.

It’s such a positive start to the year for us. Thank you for seeing and believing in our cause, Ben.”

Grants open here: ThenDoBetter Grants and link to Greyling Post here.