Honesty boxes have become necessary for fundraising across communities. They bring together local people and create waves of advocacy that galvanize support around a wide range of important issues. Social media provides the kindling for this revival. Smart families like the Winters are waging their own campaigns, pioneering an ironic David and Goliath effort to raise money and awareness for their own pressing needs.
Laura and Tom Winter are retired, home-based in Langley, Maidstone, Kent. They are using an honesty box to fundraise for their son Evan who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy. After Evan’s heartbreaking diagnosis the family had the overwhelming task of finding a safe and accessible home for him. They need £150,000 to buy a plot of land where they can build a home designed specifically for Evan’s needs.
NWF’s Laura Winter spends an hour each month baking dozens of goodies to share. To reach her self-set financial goal, she satisfies their integrity box—affectionately dubbed the “bake shed”—with her baked goods. This program gives young people a regular paycheck and builds community engagement.
The generosity of this community has been nothing short of amazing. To further the Winter family’s cause, they usually overpay for the baked goods.
“The bake shed allows us to give something back to our community,” – Laura Winter
The Winters are not the only ones making these attempts. Beth Mellish, a corral enthusiast and community member has invented her own honesty box model. She relies on a visitors’ book and an honesty cash pot to keep things afloat. By allowing customers to pay for products on-screen and keeping track of purchases along the way the system builds trust and accountability.
Mellish started Ridley’s Little Hut at the height of the Covid pandemic. This new-armor initiative was part of a statewide effort to combat waste by finding an alternative use for the farm’s excess production of milk. This model allowed customers to purchase fruits and vegetables and still practice social distancing guidelines.
As technology has advanced, so have the habits and preferences of consumers. Recent data from UK Finance indicates that half of UK adults now utilize contactless payment methods, highlighting a shift towards convenience in transactions. Yet despite this trend, wherever the model has spread, the honesty box model still succeeds on the values of trust and community support.
The story of the Winter family’s entrepreneurial journey starts with Laura baking her daughter Amelie’s first birthday cake, which ignited her passion for baking. Today, that passion has a double purpose—supporting her family and fundraising for Evan’s future.
“So we crunched some numbers and figured that the best way to keep him safe for as long as we are lucky enough to have him is to build a home,” – Laura Winter
Laura wants to underscore that, no matter how broke you are, you’re still trying to pay for a proper home.
“The kind of house that he needs is ridiculously expensive. We are just normal working people, we don’t have the affordability for a bungalow that is half a million pounds,” – Laura Winter
The beauty of the honesty box model is that it demonstrates the power of communities to mobilize behind a like-minded cause. It provides the contributors with tangible benefits in return. Supportive initiatives like these are what close financial gaps for families and children, like the Winters. At the same time, they create systems of care in their communities.
