Who are Fairbnb?

Fairbnb.coop is a sustainable community-powered tourism solution that allows the travellers to direct 50% of the platform standard commissions to social projects or charities in the community, through their accommodation and experience platform. Their people-over-profit concept has attracted many sustainably-minded hosts, local ambassadors and social projects across the globe, keen to help reinvest and promote regenerative tourism.

Travel with Fairbnb.coop enriches you, the people you meet, the communities you visit and helps make the world a better place.

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How Fairbnb.coop works?

Like other platforms, Fairbnb.coop charges a commission.

Unlike the others, it shares it with locals.

• The Host earn the same
• The Guest pays the same
• But the benefits are for the whole community

50% of the platform’s fees are used to fund a project of your choice in the area you visit.

This is what we call Community Powered Tourism.

What does this mean for the Big Issue?

Wherever you choose to visit in the UK, 50% of commission is forwarded to a social project when you book your B&B or cottage. In UK holiday destinations where Fairbnb.coop is yet to establish a Local Node, we will receive a financial contribution allowing us to continue our incredible work in ending poverty and exclusion for Big Issue vendors. Fairbnb.coop presents to you the definition of community-powered tourism.

You can #BeTheChange and help make this happen both by organising your UK holiday and by offering hospitality through Fairbnb.coop.

Introducing our regenerative tourism model to the UK communities represents a pivotal moment for us. Great Britain is one of the larger, more sustainability conscious economies and has a long tradition in widespread and locally rooted hospitality. The thousands of Inns and B&Bs here make every trip to the UK a real journey of discovery. Along with Self Catering lets and many other new forms of hospitality, the hospitality and experience industry can become a powerful source of resources for all the stakeholders in the hosting communities. We hope that a warm welcome to our model in the UK could work as an inspiration for all the Commonwealth and other English speaking countries.

Emanuele Dal Carlo, President & Co-Founder, on UK Activation

The funding has been provided by the British Gas Energy Trust – an independent charitable trust that supports families and individuals facing financial hardship and energy debt, directly and through local and national money and energy advice services and charities.

Big Issue’s vision is to create innovative solutions, to unlock social and economic opportunity for the 14.5m people in the UK living in poverty to earn, learn and thrive. This work is essential, now more than ever, due to the ongoing cost of living crisis impacting Big Issue vendors – 100% of which face poverty daily.

With the grant money from the British Gas Energy Trust, the Big Issue will be able to make a real difference to the lives of 500 Roma individuals and their families, over the next 18 months, through the introduction of a specialist Roma energy and finance support hub to reach this marginalised community. This funding will allow the Big Issue to boost its services, ensuring vendors experiencing the most complex barriers, can access the help they need.

This new bespoke service will provide an immediate response to members of the Roma community directly and significantly impacted by the energy cost crisis, while helping them to address wider financial issues and build longer term financial resilience and integration. Tailored energy and money advice will be available over the phone or at fortnightly in-person drop-in sessions, in Birmingham and London.

A recent consultation with Roma Big Issue vendors found extremely low levels of literacy and numeracy in addition to a disenfranchisement from main-stream infrastructure – leading to exclusion from key services, high poverty levels, and a concentration of people living in over-crowded, poor quality housing without routine access to basic essentials.

Spokesperson for Big Issue, said: “We are grateful to be working alongside the British Gas Energy Trust and its other grantees during this very challenging external environment. This support will ensure that those furthest away from understanding and accessing support can get the help they desperately need, to keep the lights on, cook a warm meal, and heat their homes over the next 18 months. Inclusion is at the forefront of our mission and this support will enable us to work together with a marginalised group of individuals to bring them closer to their community and the support available.”

Jessica Taplin, CEO of the British Gas Energy Trust, added: “The rising cost of living means more people are experiencing financial difficulty for the first time, and are struggling to pay their bills. Whether you’re with British Gas or another energy supplier, it’s important to know that there is help available to you.

“You can apply to us for a direct grant or access financial support and advice via the charities and projects whose vital work we help to fund. Accessing credible advice from the right places is critical – and that’s why a dedicated, bespoke service is needed to overcome low literacy levels and the language barrier in the Roma community.”

Since the start of the cost-of-living crisis, Centrica – the parent company of British Gas – has put together a support package for households worth more than £25m, which will continue to grow. This funding includes 18-month grants paid to more than 20 advice centres and charities across England, Scotland and Wales, including The Big Issue.

For more information about the British Gas Energy Trust, to find out about the support that’s available, and to apply for a grant, visit https://britishgasenergytrust.org.uk/.

After two years on stand-by due to the pandemic, we were finally back on the streets with our Big Challenge Day on the 6^th of April.

For our return event, we took out a team from payment solution provider FIS Worldpay. The team was led by FIS Worldpay Payments Optimizer, Matt Everitt.

Spending a day working alongside Big Issue vendors is an incredibly insightful experience. You will discover what it is like to sell the magazine and see first hand some of the challenges that Big Issue vendors face on a daily basis – learning about their resilience and sales strategies.

Our Big Challenge Day is a great initiative for motivational team building whilst honing customer engagement and creative sales techniques; sitting well within the learning and development space. It also meets social and financial inclusion objectives as vendors appreciate the camaraderie as well as the extra sales made during the day.

Big Issue vendors are tenacious; setting up their micro-enterprises in the midst of real adversity. So as well as raising awareness of the issues surrounding homelessness and poverty, the experience is equally inspiring and humbling.

This Big Challenge Day was even more special as it was the first organised in conjunction with Sales Training specialist Mercuri International Group.

As Big Issue vendor Paul Logan (pictured bottom right) says, it was a huge success.

“We are bridging the divide between corporate boardrooms and the streets trodden daily by Big Issue vendors. This helps more people be aware of what being a Big Issue seller represents: People working hard to rebuild a broken life, for whatever reason they got where they are, rather than just sitting on the pavement waiting for a handout”.

And FIS Worldpay colleagues agree with Paul.

I learned so much about myself today, about human nature and resilience! Next time you see a vendor of The Big Issue please acknowledge them, your purchase will make such a difference to their day! 

Pamela Hughes, Project Manager (second from the right)

It felt amazing to step in a vendor’s shoes for the day. I was selling Big Issue magazines on behalf of Big Issue vendor Stan. How cool is that?  Everyone deserves a home, and it is unfortunate that many of these sellers are invisible to us as we rush pass them. They have amazing stories to tell, and they are incredibly resilient and entrepreneurial.

Frederico Queiroz, Strategic Sales Director EMEA and top seller of the day (pictured right)

Having just joined The Big Issue family, it was my first Challenge Day, too. And it was thrilling. Everyone, volunteers, and vendors alike, were a bit nervous at the start, as was I. It’s a new experience for our vendors to be responsible for a sales team of four. And our volunteers experienced quite the learning journey throughout the day too. Not only are they finding out how people fight homelessness, but they are discovering new things about themselves and their team, which makes for a powerful learning experience.

By spending a day as a vendor, volunteers are also able to sharpen their communication and sales skills. I witnessed Girish Chandegra, Strategic Sales Director at FIS Worldpay, test and refine his sales pitch the spot until he was confident he was getting the highest level of attention and sales from rushing passers-by.

I think Matt from FIS put it best – what a day to learn while you earn.

The Big Issue has partnered with Fuel Bank Foundation to support Big Issue vendors who are struggling to pay they fuel bills. No one should have to live in fuel crisis.

The impact of COVID-19 on Big Issue vendors has highlighted an issue faced by many households across the UK.  Big Issue vendors have been unable to earn a living for several months of the past year. Restrictions have also meant more time than ever is being spent at home. Therefore they are using more energy on heating and lighting, placing extra pressure on already stretched finances.

Over the past year, at least one vendor has contacted us every week to discuss support for paying their utility bills. Fuel Bank directly help support this need by providing one-off payments to help support those who are struggling to pay for gas or electricity.

COVID-19 has highlighted the reality for many of running out of money for gas and electricity. For some, this is something that has happened in the past, and for many years, and was a common event when growing up.  But for an alarming number, COVID-19 has brought this about for the very first time, with many finding themselves without the support networks or tried and tested ways to get through a gap in household finances where you are forced to literally live without energy.

The impacts of waking up one day cold, unable to cook a hot meal nor keep food chilled, not able to have a warm shower or wash clothes, no access to wi-fi or TV for school learning, and unable to connect with family or society is significant and should not be understated.

Like-for-like, Fuel Bank need has increased by approximately 23% since the outbreak of the pandemic. However, this masks some local spikes in need that we have seen, where demand has increased by more than 300%.

Simon Chilcott, from the Big Issue said:

Partnering with the Fuel Bank came at the right time with so many Big issue vendors struggling financially during the pandemic, The Big Issue frontline staff are trained to assess the need and refer directly into the Fuel Bank. After referral confirmation a vendor will receive a £49 voucher that can be redeemed to top up their electric/gas key card, this has meant we have time to support the vendor with direct budgeting advise and information from the Fuel bank, giving them some breathing space. For our vendors this has made the difference between eating and whether to have the lights on or not.

Fuel Bank makes a significant difference to those receiving help and ensures they have access to energy for things like cooking, heating and lighting. We are excited to partner with Fuel Bank to help ease the financial burden felt by Big Issue vendors whilst they are unable to sell the magazine. 

Network Rail has signed the first pan-industry homelessness charter as part of its work to help homeless people across Britain.

Network Rail Chief Executive Andrew Haines and Secretary of State Grant Shapps met yesterday (Wednesday 7 October) at London Paddington station, to sign the first pan-industry homelessness charter as part of a wide-reaching programme of efforts to support a route out of homelessness for every rough sleeper by 2027.

Through the Rough Sleeping on Rail Charter, Network Rail is working with five charity partners and organisations – Railway Children, End Youth Homelessness, Shelter, Crisis and The Big Issue – on a wide-reaching programme called Routes Out Of Homelessness. The programme will feature a number of events to raise awareness for the organisations, and a new outreach programme to support the Government’s ambitions to end rough sleeping by 2027.

The programme is being piloted by Shelter at Manchester Piccadilly and includes newly devoted outreach teams at stations who will help offer support to those in need whilst ensuring a safe environment for them, as well as railway staff and passengers. It will also launch at Birmingham New Street in December and more stations across 2021.

To mark the launch of the campaign, each of Network Rail’s regions has partnered with one of the charities to produce a piece of artwork for World Homelessness Day on Saturday 10 October.

Over two days, artist and The Big Issue vendor John Cahill painted a piece of artwork at London Paddington station. The design for John’s artwork is based around his time sleeping in a park under a tree and looking up at the stars, with the stars providing hope for John. The completed artwork will be handed over to Network Rail to then be installed in Reading station’s new Assisted Travel Lounge when it opens in 2021.

Artist and The Big Issue vendor, John Cahill, said:

“I left Middlesex University with a BA honours degree in illustration in 2006. Just as I was making headway with my career, I suffered a series of setbacks bringing my progression to an abrupt halt, and so I have been a Big Issue vendor ever since. I was also diagnosed as being on the Autistic Spectrum a few years ago. I continue to paint in my spare time and want to keep moving forward to my goal of becoming a professional artist.”

There will also be an accompanying exhibition displaying artwork available to purchase from The Big Issue Shop with each piece of artwork including a biography of the artist. The exhibition will be touring stations on the Western route starting at Paddington (8-22 Oct) before moving to Reading (22 Oct-5 Nov) and finishing at Bristol Temple Meads (5-19 Nov).

Through this partnership, Network Rail will help raise awareness, drive sales of artwork sold through the online shop and fundraise on behalf of, and alongside The Big Issue organisation and its vendors. Since the partnership first began in April 2019 over £16,000 has been raised.

Network Rail is also turning to the latest technology to further support its efforts in tackling homelessness. A number of stations are in the process of installing contactless TAP readers that enable people to make a £3 contactless donation via their credit or debit card through a network of contactless donation points in windows and on hand-held devices.