Cause UK specialise in supporting ethical businesses, good causes, festivals and the arts with award winning public relations services.
As a leading award-winning ethical PR agency, we're proud to celebrate our 15th anniversary. Read the full press release below.... 2025 marks 15 years of delivering positive PR! Based in…
Based in Harrogate, Cause UK is run by two sisters, Clair and Ann Chadwick, and is unique thanks to its creative approach.
Since its inception in 2010, the agency has been dedicated to using journalism, storytelling and leveraging their media know-how to amplify the voices of organisations working to make a positive impact.
Its clients operate across the arts, public, social enterprise, tourism, health, education, and conservation sectors, as well as ethical businesses.
Cause UK has won multiple awards, including Prolific North’s PR Agency of the Year award in 2021 and is a certified B Corp organisation, which means it meets the highest standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.
It achieves significant media profile, helping clients boost footfall, revenue, awareness, and reputation.
Clair Challenor-Chadwick, founder and MD of Cause UK, said: “At Cause UK, we work to make a difference in a tangible, meaningful way for our clients, and for our own business. Being ethical is something we feel is integral to what success means, and we’re proud to have delivered a positive impact for 15 years. It isn’t just about chasing headlines, but chasing impact, and proving that PR when done well, can be a powerful force for good.”
It has a reputation for its work across Yorkshire, as well as clients nationwide and has delivered projects internationally in countries including France, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, and is currently supporting a project around clean water and sustainable energy in Malawi.
Clair Challenor-Chadwick, founder and MD of Cause UK, said: “We’re really proud to have thrived as a small business for 15 years, and to have supported so many businesses and good causes to grow.”
Cause UK has provided Public Relations (PR) and marketing support to diverse organisations in the region, including Nidderdale National Landscapes, Visit Harrogate, and tourism attractions. For many years, it’s provided support to Leeds Hospitals Charity’s campaigns, including its high-profile Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease Appeal.
One of the agency’s longest-standing clients is the leading social investor, Key Fund, which has provided support and services worth £76.6m to the social enterprise sector in the last 24 years, supporting thousands of jobs and organisations across the North, which in turn help address societal issues such as homelessness, employability, and food poverty.
Cause UK writes Key Fund’s annual Social Impact report, interviewing and profiling its success stories. The reports help secure support from wider stakeholders and funders in the sector.
It has a strong reputation for its work in the arts, with current clients including Ilkley Literature Festival, the Crime Writers’ Association and the actors’ agency, Articulate Agency. 2025 sees the team advising and supporting a new literary festival for the region, Whitby Literature Festival, which will be hosted this November in the seaside town, as well as supporting the Reading Agency for a campaign with Bradford 2025, to encourage non-readers or lapsed readers to pick up a book.
Clair’s co-director Ann is also a feature writer, and writes stories directly for a number of media outlets, as well as helping position stories on the national news agenda.
Ann Chadwick said: “One of the PR projects I’m most proud of is a recent one. We launched a lobbying campaign for the charity New Writing North to help secure a £5m DCMS grant towards a major new centre for the writing industries to be based in Newcastle. We positioned the campaign on BBC Radio 4 Today, the Guardian, the i Paper, Radio 2, and the BBC, and last month government announced the charity had successfully secured the grant. Their work will impact on generations of local talent and help to rebalance the southern-bias for the publishing and writing industries. To me, it shows the very real, meaningful impact intelligent, mission-driven PR can have for our clients.”
Over the years, Cause UK has also created and produced its own original cultural works, often aligning these to a good cause, including an original stage play, an award-winning film for Sky Arts, and even its own literary festival.
Highlights of Cause UK’s own projects include creating a social enterprise for veterans at risk of homelessness in 2012. The team enlisted celebrity support including Rosemary Shrager, Brian Blessed, and Marco Pierre White for the Veterans’ Artisan Bakery, which still operates at Catterick Garrison.
The agency has attracted a celebrity supporter for its work in the arts and charity – the actor Miriam Margolyes.
The friendship began when Clair set up and ran a Dickensian Festival in Malton in 2015 with Selina Scott, and invited Miriam as a headline guest. She returned several times, and since took part in a Cause UK event at the Royal Hall in Harrogate, and supported numerous charities for the agency.
Miriam Margolyes said: “The combination of intelligence, ferocious work ethic, massive creativity and utter loyalty make Cause UK my top choice.”
In 2022, the team commissioned an original stage play, The Man Who Captured Sunlight, to tell the story of Harrogate mayor, Samson Fox, working with the Fox acting dynasty; Freddie Fox and his mother, Joanna David, attended the premiere of the play at Harrogate’s Royal Hall.
During Covid, the agency was recognised with a cultural recovery grant from the Arts Council as a vital infrastructure support agency for the arts sector.
Cause UK helped relaunch the Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra achieving significant national exposure. The orchestra reformed as a result of the pandemic to support freelance northern musicians, with conductor Ben Crick; Cause UK secured Alan Bennett as the new patron for the orchestra.
In 2023, the sisters produced a film for Sky Arts, Working Classical Heroes, commissioning an original soundtrack by Ben Crick. The resulting film was broadcast on Sky Arts, and won multiple film festival awards. It told the story of teenager Ellis Arey, a working-class lad and boxer who went on to study piano at Leeds Conservatoire. The role helped secure Ellis a part on the Ch4 show, The Piano, with Claudia Winkleman and a recording artist deal.
Clair added: “Reaching this milestone is a testament to our dedication and the trust our clients have placed in us. We’ve had the privilege of working with incredible organisations and individuals who strive to make a positive difference. Our mission has always been to meaningfully amplify their stories and causes, and we’re excited to continue this work in the years ahead.”
About Cause UK
Cause UK is an ethical public relations agency based in Harrogate. The agency specialises in supporting ethical businesses, good causes, festivals, and the arts with award-winning public relations services. Cause UK helps increase client revenue, reputation, and footfall through high-profile media coverage across print, digital, broadcast TV, and radio. The welfare of people and the planet is central to the agency’s mission, and it is proud to be B Corp Certified.
Cause UK | Award Winning PR & Marketing Agency | B Corp