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The Gleaners

COLLECTIVE
Fiscal Host: The Social Change Nest

A pay-what-you-feel community cafe in Walthamstow, London ~ A worker’s cooperative supported by local volunteers ~ Run on surplus ~ Solidarity over charity ~ Subscribe to our Open Collective to enjoy our food and support our work.

This is The Gleaners's pageThe Gleaners
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Budget
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Become a financial contributor.

Financial Contributions

Membership
Pickles/ferments - Collection

A jar of pickle/ preserve every month. The product changes monthly, depending on what ingredients we have. (It will include items like kimchi, s... Read more

Starts at
£5 GBP / month

Latest activity by

+ 25
Membership
House made drinks - collection

A big bottle of house-brewed drink, once a month. The offering will change monthly, depending on what ingredients we have. It could be kombucha /... Read more

Starts at
£5 GBP / month

Latest activity by

+ 1
Membership
A drink & a jar of pickle - collection

The offering will change monthly, depending on what ingredients we have. A bottle of housmade drink & a jar of pickle every month, to be collected... Read more

Starts at
£10 GBP

Latest activity by

Membership
Supporter from afar - quarterly newsletter from the cafe.

If you live further away and want to support our work. Read more

Starts at
£5 GBP / month

Latest activity by

Goal
Food purchasing fund.

A donation to help us buy essential food which we use to cook meals to support our local community. Read more

£34.50 GBP of £2,000 GBP / month raised (2%)

Starts at
£5 GBP / month

Latest activity by

+ 2
One-time contribution
A one-off donation

A one time donation. All contributions help fund the community cafe and keep us running. Thanks for your support! Read more

Starts at
£10 GBP

Latest activity by

+ 7
Product
Friday take-away

Lynmouth Road take-away meals Read more

£5 GBP

Latest activity by

Top financial contributors

1
Birgitta Latto

£740 GBP since Apr 2021

2
Naj

£420 GBP since Sep 2022

3
Incognito

£370 GBP since May 2021

4
Sara Peres

£260 GBP since Mar 2021

5
Teresa

£260 GBP since May 2021

6
Daniel A

£250 GBP since Nov 2023

7
Vanessa Morris

£225 GBP since May 2021

8
Tessa Pinto

£216 GBP since May 2021

9
Julia Morris

£190 GBP since Mar 2021

10
Colin

£190 GBP since Apr 2021

11
Ryan Whatley

£190 GBP since Apr 2021

12
Tom Davis

£155 GBP since May 2021

13
Debbie Bailey-Smith

£150 GBP since Mar 2021

14
Harriet Patterson

£150 GBP since Mar 2021

15
Rowan Constantinou-Stygal

£150 GBP since Apr 2021

16
David Hamilton

£150 GBP since May 2021

17
Hannah H.

£135 GBP since Dec 2021

18
Catie Palmer

£130 GBP since Mar 2021

19
Incognito

£130 GBP since Apr 2021

20
Royah Sabet

£130 GBP since Apr 2021

The Gleaners is all of us

Our contributors 82

Thank you for supporting The Gleaners.

Vaish Sheth

Admin

£101 GBP

David Latto

Admin

HollyMcG

Admin

Birgitta Latto

Supporter from afar - House...

£740 GBP

Naj

Food purchasing fund.

£420 GBP

Incognito

Food purchasing fund.

£370 GBP

Sara Peres

Pickles/ferments - Collection

£260 GBP

Teresa

Takeaway meals (weekly)- co...

£260 GBP

Daniel A

A one-off donation

£250 GBP

Vanessa Morris

House made drinks - collection

£225 GBP

Tessa Pinto

Takeaway meals - Collection...

£216 GBP

Julia Morris

Pickles/ferments - Collection

£190 GBP

About

The Gleaners is a pay-what-you-can community cafe. We are not-for-profit, and use surplus produce -- quality ingredients that would otherwise go to waste -- to make tasty, plant-based meals, pickles, ferments, drinks, and other creations. We are based at The Hornbeam Centre in Walthamstow, London.

We work to build an inclusive social eating space that is not segregated based on economic circumstance, dependent on solidarity from those who can pay a little more to buffer those who are limited in what is affordable to them. Think of it as a collaboration, as mutual aid, where everyone contributing what they can adds up to create a community cafe shared by all.

If you like the sound of this, we'd love to have you join us as a subscriber on Open Collective!

By becoming a subscriber, you can support the cafe to survive and thrive while also enjoying our food. We think that this social and cultural participation is just as important as the economic part, and we hope you do too!

If you live nearby, membership involves tasty lunches and other delicious food and drinks, either for pick-up or delivery. If further afield, membership involves a quarterly newsletter with stories and recipes from the cafe, plus one of our jarred creations, such as kimchi, lime pickle, or peach chutney to name a few!

We believe that a community cafe can and should be a stable and positive part of a vibrant local economy built on solidarity, not charity, which creates meaningful livelihoods for people while increasing access to tasty, healthy food within the community. For this reason, our vision is to run without reliance on grant funding, and we are financially independent from the community centre in which we are based, although we collaborate closely to work towards food, social, and environmental justice in our community.

Prior to the pandemic, our model was working well, creating a positive local cultural space that was truly mixed, and building towards financial sustainability. However, the pandemic has had a huge impact on our daily income, as those of our customers able to pay a little more also had more food security, and so were able to stay safe at home.

Over the past year, we have primarily supported those hit hardest by the pandemic, who have come to the cafe most days for lunch, groceries, and to see a friendly face. At the time of writing -- nearly a year into the pandemic -- we have served over 35,000 meals, mostly for free, to support our local community. But we are also really struggling to stay afloat, and need to find new ways to build the local economy upon which the cafe's sustainability depends. We're hoping that our Open Collective platform can play an important part in this.

Subscribe to join us on our journey!

Budget

Transparent and open finances.

Monthly financial contribution to The Gleaners (House mad...

Credit from Charlie to The Gleaners •

+£5.00GBP
Completed
Contribution #733564
Monthly financial contribution to The Gleaners (Pickles/f...

Credit from Katie Wickham to The Gleaners •

+£5.00GBP
Completed
Contribution #740639
Monthly financial contribution to The Gleaners (Pickles/f...

Credit from Beau to The Gleaners •

+£5.00GBP
Completed
Contribution #699948
£
Today’s balance

£1,768.62 GBP

Total raised

£7,214.49 GBP

Total disbursed

£5,445.87 GBP

Estimated annual budget

£1,238.06 GBP

Connect

Let’s get the ball rolling!

News from The Gleaners

Updates on our activities and progress.

Ready for collections!

Dear all open collective subscribers past & present. Sorry for the lack of communication.. We have been busy opening the cafe and making lots of ferments and preserves ready.. Firstly, thank you for your patience and support. P...
Read more
Published on April 1, 2022 by David Latto

Conversations

Let’s get the discussion going! This is a space for the community to converse, ask questions, say thank you, and get things done together.

Payment

Published on January 11, 2024 by Inbar Tamari

Hi, can I please do a bank transfer? Need bank details

Why are we organised as a workers' cooperative?

Published on March 9, 2021 by Alex Lee

A workers' cooperative is a business owned and controlled by its workers. It is a non-hierarchical workplace in which power and decision-making is shared through a democratic process founded on participation, inclusion, and respect. We beli...

Why do we run as pay-what-you-feel?

Published on March 9, 2021 by Alex Lee

We are situated in a borough in which rising house and land prices are driving up the cost of living, excluding many in our community from participating in both local cultural spaces and local economy. In contrast, unhealthy and heavily pro...