The Scottish beer company's Unicorn Fund is set to benefit a range of organisations

A Scottish brewer has pledged to donate millions of pounds to charity.

BrewDog announced this week that it will give away a fifth of its profits – with half the money being shared equally amongst staff and the other half being donated to good causes.

The Aberdeenshire based company has expanded massively in recent years through use of crowdfunding, and said that up to £45 million could be generated through the new Unicorn Fund over the next five years.

Of the total 10% of profits donated to good causes, 5% will go to charities chosen by BrewDog’s Equity Punk investors, and 5% will be issued to charities chosen by its global team of employees.

In order to allocate the fund to organisers, BrewDog’s teams and shareholders will be given access to an online platform where they can assign their portion of funds to charities of their choosing, comprised of seven ‘spotlight’ charities, and 13 additional charities.

Any funds not allocated voluntarily by staff and Equity Punks from their allowances will be automatically distributed to the seven spotlight charities that will be selected.

Co-founder James Watt said: “At BrewDog, we care about two things above all else; our beer and our people. We want to make the best beers on the planet, we want to be the best company to work for, and we want to build a radically new type of business that we can all be proud of.

“Giving away 20% of our profits – forever – is not about altruism. It is about impact. It’s not about profits. It is about purpose. This is the biggest community-fuelled, crowdfunded charity contribution in history.”

BrewDog has been the fastest growing food and drinks company in the UK for the last five years, and its rapid growth has been underpinned by strong profits, most recently, £7.1m in 2016. It has said that it hopes other companies follow suit in re-investing in staff and making donations to good causes.