Decanter’s most successful charity auction at Christie’s turns wine into water and raises £66,000 for WaterAid

Posted by
Lisa Martin
on
17 October 2018
In
Fundraising
Bottles of red wine as part of an auction

Decanter wine magazine auctioned off more than 4,000 bottles of top quality wine entered into this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA), generating £66,000 for international charity WaterAid – the highest amount ever raised.

The annual ‘Wine for Water’ auction was held at Christie’s King Street headquarters on 10 October, and bidders were able to get their hands on wines from around the world whilst also helping transform lives, with all proceeds going to support WaterAid’s work in some of the world’s poorest communities.

The initiative has been running since 2005, and over the past 13 years, Decanter has now raised over £650,000 for WaterAid to help improve access to clean water, good sanitation and hygiene. 

Currently, one in three people worldwide do not have a decent toilet, and one in nine don’t have clean water close to home. As a result, around 800 children die every single day from related diarrhoeal diseases.

Helena Flippance, Corporate Partnerships Executive at WaterAid, said:

“WaterAid is incredibly grateful to Decanter and its readers for their ongoing support of our work by helping turn wine into water. Through the annual auction, Decanter has raised over half a million pounds over the years – that’s enough to help more than 30,000 people get access to clean water.

“We are so excited that this year’s auction has raised the biggest amount yet! Let’s keep working together to change lives for good; working in partnership, we can make a far bigger impact than we could acting alone.”

Robin McMillan, Managing Director at Decanter Magazine, said:

“We are delighted with this year’s record breaking DWWA Christie’s auction, and immensely proud of our relationship with WaterAid, joining together to raise lifesaving funds. With the hundreds of thousands of pounds already raised, we are really helping to transform lives in some of the world’s poorest communities. 

“It costs about £15 to provide one person with clean water – that’s the average price of just one bottle of wine sold at the auction. Here at Decanter we’re really excited that we can turn our passion for wine into such a precious and vital resource. Clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene are vital ingredients for living a dignified, healthy life.”

The auction consisted of 91 lots. To learn more about WaterAid visit www.wateraid.org/uk/

ENDS

For more information, please contact:
Lisa Martin, Senior Media Officer, [email protected]
+44 (0) 207 793 4524
or Laura Crowley, PR manager, [email protected]  
+44 (0)207 793 4965

Notes to Editors:

WaterAid

WaterAid’s vision is of a world where everyone has access to clean water and sanitation. The international not-for-profit organisation works in 28 countries to change the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 25.8 million people with clean water and 25.1 million people with decent toilets. For more information, visit www.wateraid.org/uk, follow @WaterAidUK or @WaterAidPress on Twitter, or visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wateraid.

  • 844 million people in the world – one in nine – do not have clean water close to home.[1]

  • 2.3 billion people in the world – almost one in three – do not have a decent toilet of their own.[2]

  • Around 289,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by poor water and sanitation. That's almost 800 children a day, or one child every two minutes.[3]

  • Every £1 invested in water and toilets returns an average of £4 in increased productivity.[4]

  • Just £15 can provide one person with clean water.[5]

  • To find out if countries are keeping their promises on water and sanitation, see the online database www.WASHwatch.org

 

[1] WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2017 update and SDG Baselines

[2] WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2017 update and SDG Baselines

[3] washwatch.org

[4] World Health organization (2012) Global costs and benefits of drinking-water supply and sanitation interventions to reach the MDG target and universal coverage

[5] www.wateraid.org/uk