How Watermark works:

Shops, makers, businesses, growers and service providers produce a WATERMARK product. They badge it up with the WATERMARK stickers or branding. This could be a beer, a book, a coffee & cake special, a climbing course, an artisan lamp, even an insurance policy, a concert or event (yes, these are already signed up!).

The shop or business sell their WATERMARK product, and a percentage (or all) the profits go into a fund. The fund is managed by the Community Foundation for Calderdale (the people who raised over £2 million for our communities in the Boxing Day 2015 floods) who will then distribute the money if floods hit Calderdale again.

If all the businesses hit by the 2015 floods raised just £10 per week from their sales of Watermark goods (a low estimate), the fund would hit over £700,000 in 1 year. Multiply that by a few years of no floods, and a bit more input from other businesses, or some adding more than £10 per week, and the fund could easily hit £2 million.

That money would be there for our communities to access straight away in case of another flood. Literally ‘saving for a rainy day!’. It’s all about businesses and community working together to look after each other.