Bee Charities and Organisations
There are many bee charities and organisations in Britain, these are just some of our favourites! All of them have a different focus and interesting content on their websites, so please do pay them a visit when you have time. Donations are of course always greatly received by any charities but even more important is awareness of what they do and getting people involved.
Bee Friendly Trust
Started in 2016 the Bee Friendly Trust is a charity with an incredibly inspirational story. Starting as a small project to increase forage for urban bees, it has grown over the years into the amazing charity it is today. They have been responsible for planters in network rail stations and have worked with Transport for London too. From its humble beginnings the charity now has a team of specialists and many volunteers. Their mission is a simple but important one, to create habitats for honeybees and other pollinators to thrive all around the country.
Check out their website linked below to read about all their community projects, the brilliant 'Bee Dome' that you might have even seen at a summer festival and visit their online shop that has some really cute bee gifts!
Bumblebee Conservation Trust
The Bumblebee Conservation Trust is UK based charity established in 2006 over the serious concerns about the dangers facing bumblebees. Their science-led focus on bumblebees makes them a unique bee charity. Founded by Professor Dave Goulson, the Trust works all across the UK to help our precious bumblebees to survive and thrive! Wild bumblebee populations in the UK have been in decline for a long time and currently several species are in danger of becoming extinct.
If you love seeing these little furry bees in your garden as much as we do, please visit their website for a lot of information on bumblebees and how you can help them! They also have a great shop, the bumblebee pin badges are adorable and we highly recommend the posters and 'explorer packs' for kids and adults!
https://www.bumblebeeconservation.org/
The British Bee Charity
The British Bee Charity is undertaking many initiatives to help bee welfare. It's a very family orientated charity who love to get kids involved and help to educate them in why bees are so important and valuable. They have many events and projects to get involved in and we highly encourage you to do so! Their Bees4Schools project offers funding to schools, via a grant, to enable them to have a 'school beehive' and learn all about bees and how they make honey. I think you'll agree that reading about it is one thing but having the ability to actually do it is another and an amazing opportunity for school children.
You can even adopt a hive for yourself or as an amazing gift for someone at their website below!
https://britishbeecharity.com/
The British Beekeepers Association
Founded in 1874 as a national umbrella organisation for beekeeping associations, the BBKA represents around 30,000 beekeepers across the country. We've talked about the BBKA quite a lot in these blogs before because they are such an important organisation for beekeepers. If you have ever wanted to keep bees then the BBKA is the right place to start. The BBKA also does fantastic work around education and raising awareness to the threats bees face. They both support beekeepers and the bees themselves! There is a whole wealth of information on their website from their services and campaigns to the shop that contains probably every book you could ever need on beekeeping!
Bees for Development
Bees for Development was set up with an aim to help people in poorer countries around the world become self-sufficient through beekeeping. They do this by promoting sustainable beekeeping to combat poverty, build livelihoods and benefit the local biodiversity. Bees for Development is a truly amazing global charity that has changed so many people's lives for the better.
Founded in Wales in 1993 they have done amazing things that you can read about on their website. They also have a great shop packed with unique gifts, beekeeping equipment and accessories.
https://www.beesfordevelopment.org/
Non Bee Specific Organisations
While not primarily Bee focused, these organisations and charities also do amazing work helping to protect bees and increase bee education worldwide.
The Wildlife Trusts
The Wildlife Trust are a grassroots movement with a focus on nature and wildlife. Wildflower meadows and pollinators are of course a big part of that and they are involved in a lot of bee related projects around the country. You can find a link to their 'bee page' below but please do check out all their other content too because it's all related to the connected biodiversity of our environment. You can enter your postcode to find your nearest local Wildlife Trust to get involved.
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/savingbees
The Soil Association
The Soil Association is a charity that works to transform the way we eat, farm and care for our natural world. With a focus on organic growing, better farming, healthy eating and the dangers of pesticides, pollution, ultra-processed food and climate change. Of course many of these things are very closely linked to a healthy bee population. You don't have to be a farmer with acres of land to understand these ideas, the same concerns apply to our small gardens, even if we are just growing flowers to look at and enjoy as we discussed in our recent blog 'Why don't we use pesticides in our garden?'
There are many articles about bees and the importance of pollinators on the Soil Association website below. If you have a wider interest in better farming and food production then there's also a lot of other interesting articles to read to!
https://www.soilassociation.org/
If you are a member of a bee organisation or charity that we haven't mention here, please do feel free to get in touch. We are always happy to highlight groups who are working to help bees, in our blogs here or through our other social media outlets. And finally a big thanks to everyone who works with or supports any bee charities!