COMMUNITY CHALLENGE
THE
ACTUALLY
COMMUNITY CHALLENGE
You are more powerful than you know. You can change the world. All you have to do is use your power consciously to create the change you want to see. Let us help you.

THE ACTUALLY COMMUNITY CHALLENGE
Hi! My name is Sara – the Founder of Actually. I am a rebellious optimist and a soulful pragmatist and – to quote someone far more eloquent than me: I have a dream.
Here’s something you may not realise: the real power in the world lies with us. We are the business owners and the workforce. We are the shareholders and the consumers. We are the voters and the signers of petitions. We have the power to control economies; direct companies and hold Governments to account.
The challenge is that we don’t use that power consciously or collectively to create change.
I have spent my entire career in politics, lobbying, PR and communications. I am not naïve. I do not underestimate the scale of the task.
But I truly believe that we can create change through our businesses; through the decisions we make each day; the way we choose to live and how we show up in the world.
A world where we all recognise just how powerful we truly are; a world where we use that power collectively to create positive change: that is the world I dream of.
The Actually Community Challenge is my way of bringing that dream a step closer.
Every year I set a challenge for the Actually community: a way for each of you to start making a difference in the world regardless of what’s happening in your business.
You can join the challenge for the whole year. For just a month. Or not at all. There is no pressure to take part and no judgement if you don’t.
Every Friday, in the Actually Making a Difference Facebook Group, I offer guidance, support, advice and opportunities for connection with other people who have taken up the challenge.
And there is more…I plan some campaigning activity during the year; raise money and support great organisations that are aligned with the challenge’s aims; and at the end of the year, I plan a big party to celebrate everything we’ve achieved and to reward the Community Challenge Champions!
I really hope you will join me in this year’s challenge: Buy Nothing New for 2022.
Keep scrolling to find out more.
“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
jane goodall



BUY NOTHING NEW IN 2022
Environmental degradation, plastics in the ocean, deforestation, pollution…it all comes back to one thing: our rampant, unconscious consumerism.
We buy things we do not need, replace things that could be repaired, send the packaging & plastic to land-fill and then wonder why our planet is on its knees: choking on our waste.
From January 1 2022, I plan to not buy anything new for a year.
There will be exceptions: food, drink, toiletries, gifts for others, and replacements for things that cannot be repaired. But even with these exceptions – I plan to be more mindful. To buy organic where I can. To recycle and repair. To focus on experiences as gifts rather than more ‘stuff’.
If this resonates with you, I’d love you to join me – but don’t worry, that doesn’t mean you have to commit to a whole year of not buying new.
You could commit to do the full year or just a month.
You could decide not to buy anything new in a particular category like clothes or kitchen gadgets.
Or perhaps you’ll choose to simply be more mindful about your shopping.
Whatever you choose, Team Actually is here to support you. Share your challenges, your questions and your wins in the Actually Facebook Group – and look out for special Community Challenge content every Friday.
By the way…at the end of the year we’ll be having a big celebration and awarding prizes to our Community Challenge Champions. Could it be you?
“Every time you spend money, you’re casting a vote for the kind of world you want.”
anna lappe
THE ACTUALLY CHANGING THE WORLD FUND
It has always bugged me that the people and organisations dedicated to making a difference in the world are usually those that we pay and value the least. Nurses, teachers, care workers and charities.
I set up the Actually Changing the World Fund to try and redress that imbalance. Each year, Community Challenge participants raise and donate funds to support organisations that are aligned with the year’s theme.
At the end of the year, the Actually Community is given a chance to vote on which organisation should receive our donation.
In 2022, with our ‘Buy Nothing New’ focus, we will be looking for an environmental group to support. If you have any suggestions, please email them to talk@actually.world
As someone with a profligate shopping habit – I know that I am going to save a huge amount of money by buying nothing new in 2022! I have committed to donating half of that money to the Fund each month.
If you would like to donate – either a one-off amount or a regular monthly sum – scroll down and look for more information or click here.
“No-one has ever become poor by giving.”
anne frank
HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED
COMMUNITY
JOIN THE COMMUNITY
Get insights, inspiration & support
Download resources to help you on your journey
Share your wins and seek encouragement from the community
Who knows – maybe you will be selected as a Community Challenge Champion?!
ACTION
BUY NOTHING NEW OR…
Buy nothing new for the year or a month
Or decide not to buy new clothes, or kitchen gadgets or books
Or simply commit to being more mindful in your shopping habits
It’s up to YOU how you want to take action
DONATE
changing the world fund
Make a one-off donation
Or commit to a monthly amount
How much is up to you
And help us choose a worthy organisation to receive our donation at the end of the year
RESOURCES
Team Actually creates worksheets and templates which you can find in the group. You can also access resources here – please note that this folder is updated with new information throughout the year.
And if you have any questions, want to share your wins or would just like some encouragement – please feel free to post in the group anytime using the hashtag #communitychallenge or email me via talk@actually.world
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Let’s explore that shall we?
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Phew! Doesn’t that sounds awesome?
week I wrote a newsletter that caused more people to unsubscribe from my list than almost anything I have ever written before. I'm not concerned - clearly they are not my people - but I thought I'd share it here so you can tell me: would this cause YOU to unsubscribe?
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"Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, except backwards and in high heels."
I remember the first time I heard that quote.
I was in my teens. I laughed.
Then as I began to think seriously about my career, my Mum explained to me that to be a successful career woman meant working twice as hard as a man to be considered half as good (and paid half as much).
I was in my early twenties. I thought she was exaggerating.
After I burnt out for the second time, I went to a conference and listened to a passionate and eloquent woman - who has subsequently become a great friend - explain something that should have been utterly obvious to me: that our entire cultural paradigm is based on structures set up by men and for men.
I was in my forties. And I cried.
Because it is exhausting having to don your Superwoman cape every day to ‘compete’ in the workplace.
As a single woman, I didn’t have to juggle work with family.
As a white, middle-class, cis-gendered, heterosexual and mainly able-bodied woman, I wasn’t dealing with the raft of intersectional prejudices beyond your average, everyday sexism.
But I was still exhausted.
And it wasn’t just because the systems that we work within weren’t designed for women but for men who had stay-at-home wives doing all of the work in the home.
It’s because for me - as for so many women - every day was and is a balancing act.
Every day is a tightrope walk between safety and danger; between being listened to and dismissed; between familiarity and harassment; between authenticity and playing the game.
Every day is a fight to be seen, to be heard, to be respected, to be autonomous, to be considered, to be valued, to be safe.
Every day.
In the workplace, in our social spaces, in our homes, in our politics, in our media.
Everywhere.
This week my friend and client Harriet Waley-Cohen shared a post about this on LinkedIn. I’m going to share a section of her post here because she has put this so much more eloquently than I could:
"Sometimes it amazes me that there isn't a massive uprising.
Women are fed up of being objectified and judged on our looks, and only respected by how fu*&able we are deemed to be.
We are exhausted by feeling unsafe everywhere we go and watching our backs.
We are exasperated with not being paid the same, of our careers, choices and finances being marginalised because of caring expectations.
We are in despair about our allegations against powerful men being ignored because these men are too valuable to be held to account.
We are done with being told our tone of voice is the bloody problem, that we are too emotional.
We have had enough of not being able to trust the police or the legal system, and of people saying 'innocent until proven guilty' when the stats for prosecutions are laughably low and we all know most rapists never face any real consequences.
We are fed up of being told that it's not all men, because we never said it was, and it hurts to see so few men actively working towards making things better."
There has been an outpouring of grief, support and righteous anger in the comments on Harriet’s post. Of course there has. Because this is nearly every woman’s lived experience. And it is not OK.
I have written about these issues before in this newsletter. In the wake of the Sarah Everard murder and after the US Supreme Court struck down Roe v Wade. And there’s a part of me that didn’t want to write about this again. A part of me was concerned that you - my wonderful community - would grow bored of me ‘ranting on’ about this issue. A part of me that feared being judged or dismissed.
And that’s exhausting too, right?
The constant self-censorship. The constant voice in my head telling me that I can’t say this, shouldn’t write about that, mustn’t be too emotional, too strident, too ‘shouty’.
Well, in the nicest possible sense: f*&k that.
I am in my fifties now and as tired as some people may be of hearing me talk about these things, trust me I am WAY more tired of still having to talk about them. But until there is equity, it is up to every one of us to keep ‘banging on’.
And we need to do more than rant, we need to ACT.
Because here’s the thing, whatever your gender, you can either be an ally or you can be complicit in the problem. Please choose to be an ally. Here are three things you can do:
- Support people like Harriet when they share publicly about these issues. This kind of content often attracts trolls and the ‘not all men’ brigade - and it can be overwhelming to have to do all the rebuttal yourself. Another friend and client - the fabulous Stephanie Aitken, also did a post this week on a related topic and spent many hours having to deal with trolls in the comments. Help them.
- Call out misogyny, sexism, harassment, prejudice and bigotry when you see it - and when you feel safe to do so. I’m not advocating that you intervene when doing so would put you in real physical danger. But if a colleague makes an off-colour remark; if a family member behaves in a way that is inappropriate; if a friend displays ignorance, aggression or bias: name it. Don’t just smile and secretly roll your eyes. Don’t dismiss it. Don’t be afraid to be ‘awkward’. Have the conversation.
- Engage the next generation. Several of the commenters on Harriet’s post talked about children watching violent porn. They shared stories of how boys’ attitudes to girls are in some cases worse now than they were when I was a teen. The murder of Elianne Andam this week makes it clear just how important it is to speak to our children about these issues. Talk to the young people in your life. Find out about their experiences. Give them a safe space to explore these issues. And educate them about respect and equity. If we are going to break this cycle, this is VITAL work. Don’t shy away from it.
There is so much more that we could all be doing but this would be an amazing start!
OK. Rant over, for today.
I’m not promising I won’t come back to this again.
My most fervent wish is that there will come a day when it won’t be necessary.
I hope to see that day in my lifetime.
My biggest fear is that I will not.
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I think that will do for now - I do hope it has been helpful!
Big love
Sara
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