FareShare and The Felix Project are uniting to form a single organisation with greater reach, strength and national impact.
As two of the UK’s leading forces in surplus food redistribution, we’re coming together to create a bigger, bolder charity with one clear mission: to rescue more good food and get it to the people and places that need it most.
We’re coming together at a time of urgent need. Nearly one in seven people in the UK face food insecurity, while 4.6 million tonnes of good food are wasted each year.
Together, FareShare and Felix already support over a million people every year, but demand is rising, and 8 in 10 charities fear they can’t keep up.
We’re stronger together. By joining forces, we’ll unlock more food, more funding, and more influence. A single, unified charity will allow us to streamline operations, reduce duplication and make every pound and meal go further.
Together, we’ll speak with one voice and help build a fairer, stronger food system—strengthening ties from farmers and suppliers to the grocery industry—so we can waste less, feed more, and support the people who need us most.
The merger will be implemented in phases, with both companies continuing to operate under their current names during the transition process.
FareShare and The Felix Project are merging, uniting two leading forces in surplus food redistribution to tackle hunger and food waste across the UK.
Together, we’re creating a bigger, bolder charity with one clear mission: to rescue more good food and get it to the people and places that need it most, such as families, children, and older people, strengthening communities through food.
The Felix Project was started in 2016 by Justin and Jane Byam Shaw in memory of their son Felix. It has four depots in North, South, East and West London, which currently support around 1,200 community organisations. It also operates Felix’s Kitchen, which uses surplus food to cook around 5,000 nutritious meals every day. It has been working with FareShare as its London delivery partner since 2020.
The merger is a 12-18 month transition starting mid-2025, with both charities beginning integration then and the new unified organisation expected to be fully established during 2026.
In short, it will mean more food getting to people who need it. The charities we support are essential to FareShare and The Felix Project’s mission to get good food to people who need it, instead of letting it go to waste.
By joining forces, we will be able to pool resources, create more collaborative and efficient ways of working, and provide the food industry with a unified approach to tackling food waste across the UK.
We’re still working through the details, but the network will remain at the heart of our work. The merger aims to strengthen partners, enabling them to deliver more food and achieve greater local impact, without altering the independence that makes them effective.
Kris Gibbon-Walsh, CEO at FareShare, will be stepping into the role of Deputy CEO. Kris has been at FareShare for over 11 years, and his expertise and relationship with the network will enable him to focus on the logistics of successfully merging the charities, supporting its growth, and connecting the network under the new identity.
Charlotte Hill, CEO of The Felix Project, will take on the role of CEO at the new charity. Charlotte has been a CEO for over 15 years, including UK-wide charities, and has led The Felix Project for the past three years.
During this time, Charlotte has played an integral role in FareShare and The Felix Project’s Where’s The Food campaign, which succeeded in securing a £15 million fund from DEFRA to rescue more surplus food from farms. Charlotte will continue to be in a public-facing role and will be pivotal in building partnerships and championing the new charity’s advocacy and policy work.
Dominic Blakemore, Chair of FareShare’s board of trustees, will become Chair of the new charity, and Gavin Darby will become Deputy Chair.
The new charity will lead with the Felix name and will keep the signature and colour. Both charities will work together on a complete brand refresh to be launched in 2026.
One of the things we have jointly recognised is the strength of the personal and moving story behind The Felix Project and the power it has to motivate support across the board.
Alongside this, FareShare’s 30-year legacy of influencing the UK food industry to tackle food waste will form an integral part of the refreshed brand identity.
In the meantime, both charities will continue to use their name throughout the transition period.
Absolutely! In fact, this merger will also give us a stronger voice when it comes to campaigning and influencing national policy on food waste and food insecurity.
FareShare and The Felix Project have long collaborated on campaigning and policy, with our award-winning joint campaign Where’s The Food, which resulted in a national £15m fund to tackle food surplus on farms.
Both charities have a shared commitment to advocating for Government intervention to tackle food waste.
The new charity will continue to operate nationally, providing food to over 8,000 charities and supporting a million people across the UK. Your donation will still help get good-to-eat food that can’t be sold to people who need it.
As a bigger, stronger organisation, we also expect to unlock more food, funding, and influence, which means your donation will go even further in supporting communities across the UK.
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