BrewDog will give away £45M over the next five years, in a scheme named the ‘Unicorn Fund’, assuming the crowdfunded brewer hits its targets. If the manufacturer does meet its five-year target, each worker would receive about an additional £4,500 a year, while £4.5M would be donated to charity annually.
It claimed the scheme was the biggest community-fuelled charity contribution in history.
A BrewDog statement read: “We are going to share 10% of our profits evenly with our entire team, and furthermore, we are going to donate 10% of our profits each year to charities directly chosen by our team members and by our Equity Punk community.
‘Change our business forever’
“Today we are proud to make an announcement that will change our business forever. The BrewDog Unicorn Fund is destined to become central to our business, as we look to democratise positive impact, and use craft beer to make the world a better place. For everyone.”
Brewdog’s 57,000 investors and its workers will choose which charities to donate to, every year.
The Unicorn Fund was part of the manufacturer’s ambition to create “a new blueprint for a 21st century business”, it said.
It would also reinvest all remaining profits for the next seven years, BrewDog revealed, in a bid to fuel further growth.
£100M investment
News of the annual donation came after BrewDog received a £100M investment from US private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners, in April. The firm acquired about 23% of the business under the terms of the £213M transaction.
It had previously financed the business with crowdfunded cash, from about 57,000 small-scale investors.
Meanwhile, in December, BrewDog was listed in The Sunday Times Fast Track 100 list for the fifth consecutive year. The brewer was listed as the UK’s third fastest growing food and drink company, reaching 64th place overall.
In 2016, the brewer reported a 61% sales rise to £72M. Its average annual operating profit increased 95% over the past five years.