About Us

How Rainbow Turtle Started:

Rainbow Turtle was set up in Paisley in 2002 by a group concerned with the promotion and development of fair trade. The objective was to raise public awareness of fair trade and encourage more people to buy fairly traded products.

What We Do:

Rainbow Turtle comprises two distinct but related areas of activity:

Rainbow Turtle Just Trading

The trading company supports fair trade sales in its shop in Paisley. The shop stocks a diverse range of goods including foodstuffs, clothing, jewellery, crafts, cards, stationery, toys, gifts and leisure items. Click here to visit our shop page and scroll down to see pictures of the rainbow turtle shop in Paisley.

Our shop relies on the support of its volunteers. There are several ways in which you can become involved as a volunteer; contact us if you wish to apply to join our volunteer team.

The shop has been host to several visiting producers of fairly traded goods which has encouraged the volunteers and motivates us to continue with our mission to fight world poverty through trade.

Rainbow Turtle Just Trading is also involved in a number of other related activities:

Supplying stalls of fair trade products on a sale or return basis to organisations, and hosting fair trade stalls at events. Click here for further information on our sale or return stall service.

Supplying schools in Renfrewshire, North Ayrshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow and Inverclyde with fairly traded foodstuffs for tuck shops, staff rooms, coffee mornings and other special events. Click here for further information on the services we offer schools

Supplying offices and other places of work with fairtrade beverages and snacks for staff. Click here to visit our Business Page.

Rainbow Turtle Charity

Rainbow Turtle is a recognised Scottish Charity ( Scottish charity number SC034097 ) commited to working in partnership with developing world producers The charity works in several ways to enhance the profile of fair trade:

Campaigning and education is undertaken by giving talks to various groups and organisations including schools;

Organising special events and fundraising taking part in the annual Fairtrade Fortnight;

Working with various groups to lobby both local and national politicians with a view to achieving change in the system of world trade;

Directly supporting some producers in developing countries by giving financial assistance towards the purchase of raw materials and equipment, and by providing markets for the goods they produce through the shop in Paisley, stalls and online sales.

Becoming involved:

We have many people supporting the work that we do - some are friends of rainbow turtle and some are volunteers. If you would like to help in some way we would be delighted to hear from you.

Volunteering

Our volunteers are our greatest asset - without them giving their time over many years we would have been unable to acheive as much as we have.

Most volunteers work in the shop but if you have other skills that you think might be of use to our organisation please contact us.

The amount of time you give to working with us is entirely up to you - a few hours every week, fortnightly or even monthly... every little helps.

Simply fill in an application form and return it to us. You can pop into either of our shops and pick one up or download it here. We will respond to your application as soon as possible; Please be aware that we do not always have vacancies for more volunteers.

Become a Friend of Rainbow Turtle

Rainbow Turtle is a registered Scottish Charity and you can support the work that we do by becoming a Friend of Rainbow Turtle.

A Friend of Rainbow Turtle regularly donates to the Rainbow Turtle charity, supporting our producer partners.

Becoming a Friend of Rainbow Turtle will:

keep you connected with the local and global work of the charity
inform you through newsletters how the families in the Nicaraguan project and Pedro in Mozambique are getting on
enable you to contribute to the work of the charity at our AGM
give you up to date information about new Fair Trade products
provide an opportunity to view and sample such goods at special retail events
allow you to take advantage of a special 'Friends' Discount' of 5% on all purchases from Rainbow Turtle shop in Paisley
help us to continue supporting our producer partners financially and allow them to plan their futures with confidence

If you would like to know more about becoming a Friend of Rainbow Turtle please contact us.

Links:

Scottish Fairtrade Forum
Fairtrade Foundation
British Association for Fair Trade Shops (BAFTS)
Just Trading Scotland Ltd

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