A leading PR agency based in Harrogate, Cause UK, has achieved B Corps certification.
B Corps is a prestigious certification awarded for ongoing commitment to meeting the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.
The Harrogate-based agency was established in 2010 by sisters, Clair, and Ann Challenor-Chadwick, and specialise in supporting organisations that have positive impact.
Its clients operate in the arts, charity, social enterprise, and public sector. The team also supports ethical businesses.
Clair Challenor-Chadwick, MD of Cause UK, said:
“We’ve always been more than a PR agency, and see ourselves as agents of change, supporting our clients to do meaningful work. Over the years, we’ve also helped create a social enterprise for veterans at risk of homelessness, raised over £1m for charities, and curated our own arts events, often aligned to a good cause.”
In 2023, Cause UK’s international clients included Care Pakistan, whose mission is to enrol one million children living in poverty in school by 2025, and Free Tibet, a lobbying group highlighting continued human rights’ abuses.
National projects included rewriting the website for the UK and Europe branch of Alcoholics Anonymous, to make it more accessible to all faiths, ages, and gender. It also launched the new Great Ouse Rivers Trust, with a major national media campaign across the BBC.
In Yorkshire, key projects in 2023 included supporting the QED Foundation host their annual Asian Young Achiever Awards, delivering a major campaign for Inclusive Equal Rights UK to launch an Anti-Racism strategy for the city of York, and writing the annual Social Impact report for the north’s leading social investor, Key Fund.
Clair has previous won an Institute of Directors’ award for her work in Social Value and Sustainability, and the agency won Best PR Agency at the Prolific North Awards in 2021 and Best Independent Business Award at the 2022 Harrogate Advertiser Excellence in Business Awards. The agency attracts five-star reviews on Google.
Clair previously worked in marketing for fintech and private banking before moving to the third sector. Her sister Ann was a feature writer for regional newspapers in the Channel Islands and Lancashire before moving into PR. She still writes for publications across Yorkshire.
Cause UK is also an Arts Council recognised infrastructure support agency, supporting many arts organisations, including Ilkley Literature Festival, CrimeFest Bristol, the Northern Aldborough Festival, and North Yorkshire Open Studios.
The team also deliver its own cultural events. In recent years it has produced a stage play, curated a Dickens festival, and hosted a series of talks with celebrities including Chris Packham and Miriam Margolyes. This year, the team produced a new short film for Sky Arts, championing northern working-class classical musicians, commissioning new work from composer, Ben Crick.
The team are advisors to the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra, which it helped relaunch in 2022, and Paradox Orchestra.
B Corporations are accredited by B Lab, a nonprofit network that’s transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet. Its international network of organisations supports a collective vision of an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy.
It is awarded to businesses that strive to balance purpose and profit, using their operations as a force for good.
Clair added: “B Corp is a rigorous process that demands Cause UK meets the highest standards of social responsibility and environmental stewardship. So, we’re incredibly proud to meet this milestone.”
By obtaining B Corps certification, Cause UK joins a global community of like-minded organisations that are redefining success in business.
She added: “In 2024, we aim to represent more businesses in order to afford us to support more good causes. We believe most businesses now take responsibility for people and planet, and we’re keen to work with those who share these values as part of our five-year growth strategy.”