Worthy Causes
SUPPORTED CHARITIES
Supporting causes close to our heart is fundamental to Glastonbury Festival and we are delighted that once again we have been able to help fund a range of inspiring initiatives in 2024. It is thanks to your support for the Festival that these donations and charitable payments have been possible and together we have been able to help those facing challenges across the world.
By the end of 2024, we will have made payments of over £5.9m to charitable causes and campaigns: £4.3m in the form of donations, including a donation of £2m to the NHS Somerset Charity and further donations totalling £126k to support NHS hospitals in Bristol and nursing staff across the UK; while another £1.6m was given as payments for services such as stewarding.
To support people living in these unprecedented times of conflict, we have made donations to Oxfam, War Child, UNHCR and other charities to help fund their work in some of the world’s most challenged regions.
In addition to this, we’d like to thank everyone who contributed to our Emergency Fundraiser Crowdfunder appeal which also supported people in conflict. The Crowdfunder prize-draw raised £639k which the Festival matched, bringing the total to over £1.27m to fund the work of the British Red Cross, Oxfam and War Child, delivering humanitarian aid to those in need.
We’d like to thank all our Festival-goers, crew and volunteers, without whom it wouldn’t have been possible to make these donations and support these good causes. Please read below to find out about some of the great charities and organisations we are proud to have been able to help.
JOINT CHARITIES – OUR CHARITY PARTNERS
Oxfam, WaterAid and Greenpeace are Glastonbury’s incredible Joint Charity partners. We were delighted to have been able to make payments of over £1.9m across the three organisations for 2024, both as donations and as payments for service provisions such as stewarding.
To read more about the Joint Charities and their work, please click here.
OTHER CHARITABLE DONATIONS
We’re also delighted to have been able to support a range of national and local charitable causes and projects. Among these are youth projects in urban areas such as Youth Moves who advocate for young people, offering activities and mentoring opportunities.
In acknowledgment of the difficulties facing emerging artists and local music venues – the cultural lifeblood of our Festival – we’re thrilled to have been able to help nationwide charities promoting access to music for emerging artists, grass roots music, audiences, promoters and venues through donations to the Music Venue Trust.
Recent world events have highlighted the plight of refugees and asylum seekers both at home and overseas. We’re proud to have been able to support charities working with these groups, such as the UK Refugee Council and the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR.
Many of the Festival’s wider community and crew are Bristol-based and this year we have donated to various projects in the city. Among these are the Bristol Children’s Charity, Young Bristol and Black2Nature all of which compassionately support families, vulnerable and young people in the Bristol area with a range of initiatives.
In Pilton and other nearby towns and villages, we continue to support initiatives such as enrichment projects for local primary schools and vegetable growing for community food banks. This year we have also donated towards the Somerset Carers’ network and supported local organisations like the Food Forest Project and the Somerset Wildlife Trust who work to support our immediate environment, promote its biodiversity and raise awareness through environmental advocacy and climate education.
VOLUNTEERS / SERVICES
Each Festival we depend on thousands of incredible volunteers who donate their time supporting over 200 charities while providing essential services to Glastonbury Festival. Our litter pickers, loo crew, stewards, property lock-ups, campsite crew, bar volunteers, clean-up teams and many more raised much-needed funds for organisations including: Oxfam, WaterAid, Shelter, Bhopal Medical Appeal, Kiota, Friends of the Earth, Samaritans, Diverse UK, Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance Charity, Cancer Research UK as well as many local schools, community organisations, carnival clubs, sports clubs and other groups.
Our essential volunteer medical professionals raise funds for Festival Medical Services, who support a range of global health projects.
FESTIVAL AREAS & AROUND THE SITE
In 2024 we had the pleasure of launching our Fully Funded Volunteer Scheme. The initiative, funded by the Festival’s official tea partner, Clipper, aimed at providing opportunities to volunteer at the Festival for people who would not typically have access to it otherwise due to social, cultural, financial and accessibility barriers.
The scheme – which sits alongside the Festival’s existing ED&I projects – covered all costs for the volunteers and ensured a structured programme with welfare and wellbeing provision, role-based training and dedicated support staff for 100 volunteers working with ten different organisations ranging from Plan UK and the Young Women’s Trust, Safe Passage, Empire Fighting Chance and Black British Book Festival.
Festival apparel and outerwear was donated by our partner Barbour, with other clothing and footwear supplied by Dickies and Hunter. Travel to and from the Festival was supported by our travel partners, Trainline and National Express, and on site travel was supported by Electric Hybrid Land Rover Defenders. Charging banks and SIM cards were supplied to all participants by Vodafone. Food and snacks were donated by the Co-Op, Tony’s chocolate, Clipper and Kallo.
Also in 2024, we introduced free period products to all those in need at the Festival. For every product given away on site, we have donated an equal number to those living in poverty in the UK though the Hey Girls network and the charity, Beauty Banks.
Many of our areas across the Festival also support great causes through their crew and on site activities. In 2024, NYC Downlow and Block9 raised funds for Medical Aid for Palestinians, Freedom From Torture, Human Dignity Trust and Crisis; Strummerville continued their support for the Single Homeless Project, WAYOut and the Bridgwater Food Bank; The Common’s remain dedicated to raising funds for Refugee Community Kitchen; while Theatre & Circus continued their ongoing support for Children’s World Charity.
The Park hosted charities and campaigning organisations who come to the Festival to share their message and connect with other like-minded people. In 2024, Oshana – an organisation providing women who have lost everything with a creative outlet for trauma through arts and crafts – raised funds for projects in the Syria and Lebanon region; Choose Love represented the rights of refugees and displaced people across the world; and White Ribbon Alliance returned to campaign for health rights for young people around the world.
Our Green Futures area hosted over 50 charities and campaigning organisations – including the Women’s Environmental Network, RSPB, Winston’s Wish and Young Wilders.
The sale of canned and new reusable Life Water bottles across the Festival site last year has supported women-led initiatives via the Drop4Drop charity in South Sudan, providing clean drinking water to over 3,000 people.
Chilly’s raised funds for WaterAid by selling 500 custom printed limited edition bottles at the Festival.
Festival-goers who rented Vodafone charging packs contributed to the network provider’s ‘rent one – give one’ scheme. Vodafone’s Digital Inclusivity Pledge aims to help 100,000 people and businesses in Somerset access phone and data services by 2025, and as part of our ongoing partnership with Vodafone, their Everyone.Connected initiative has now supported over 70,000 people and businesses to cross the digital divide in the South West.
Tony’s Chocolonely and Oxfam raised over £100k over the past two years with sales of their special edition Glastonbury Festival bars in Oxfam stores. While Barbour together with Oxfam raised £30,000 through the sale of special re-loved jackets and hats in Oxfam shops on the Festival site.
To find out about Sustainability at Glastonbury, please read our Impact Summary.
