We Are What We Do
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We Are What We Do is a Community Links project (registered charity number 1018517). It is a global social enterprise sustained through the voluntary efforts of partners from across all sectors and funded through the sale of products.
The movement aims to inspire people to use their everyday actions to change the world and is funded by proceeds from the sale of two books – Change the World for a Fiver and Change the world 9-5. The guiding principle of We Are What We Do is that small changes x lots of people = big change.
All the actions in the book aim to improve someone’s life or contribute to change in the wider world. We Are What We Do seeks to move these things into the mainstream and out of the realm of the “do-gooder”.
We Are What We Do began as a whispering campaign and was launched in September 2004 with short TV films, national action days, a website and the first book – Change the World for a Fiver which featured 50 simple actions.
The second book, Change the World 9 to 5 was published in September 2006 and clocks up a further 50 actions.
The small We Are What We Do team works out of the offices of the Brunswick Group in London.
In addition to salaries, proceeds from the sale of Change the World for a Fiver and Change the world 9-5 have been used to develop and maintain the We Are What We Do website create and manage an education programme, and fund overseas editions of Change the World for a Fiver.
We Are What We Do works with partners on a pro bono basis to develop new products and initiatives which are modestly priced (and therefore accessible to as many people as possible) but which make a modest surplus which are used to develop and sustain the movement around the world.
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Change the World for a fiver was number one in the Swiss bestseller list, one in every 100 Australians has read it and more than half a million copies have been sold worldwide. Businesses such as Accenture, Morgan Stanley, Coca Cola and the Inland Revenue have adopted action programmes, nearly 4,000 secondary schools are using educational materials and more than 400,000 individuals have registered activity on the website.
Examples of the actions from the books:
- Action 05: Smile and Smile Back - 13,569 actions registered
- Action 01: Decline plastic bags whenever possible - 12,465 actions registered
- Action 31: Turn off the tap whilst brushing your teeth - 10,727 actions registered
- Action 21: Turn off unnecessary lights - 10,489 actions registered
- Action 03: Fit at least one energy-saving light bulb - 8,756 actions registered
