A product that raised £76m for good causes in 17 years has been discontinued by the company that made and sold it. 

The hand and body lotion Charity Pot, produced by the cosmetics company Lush, was dropped at the end of last month.

The product was launched in 2007, with all of the proceeds (minus taxes) going to good causes.

“The aim was to donate small grants to the grassroots activists causing mischief and he [Lush co-founder and chief executive Mark Constantine] envisioned creating absolute chaos if we managed to raise a million from Charity Pot,” Lush said.

But since its launch, Charity Pot sales have raised more than £76m of the £100m total raised by Lush for charitable causes. 

The company used the funds to give out grants of between £100 and £10,000 to charities with limited resources that found it challenging to source funding from elsewhere.

It has distributed more than 17,000 grants in 175 countries.

“Following Lush reaching the significant milestone of over £100m in donations, the business feels that this is the right time to reflect on charitable giving as a whole and assess the funding needed to meet the current challenges the world faces at this critical time,” Lush said.

The company said it would continue to support human rights, social justice, animal rights and environmental protection through charitable products and fundraising for “particular causes that are pertinent at any given time”.

Lush said it planned to launch “keystone products” to raise money for projects in “priority landscapes” around the world.