Impact-driven organisation, Neighbourly, has its sights set on new ventures for the next couple of years. The award-winning Bristol-based platform matches businesses with local good causes. After highlighting the huge benefits of Neighbourly, the organisation is expanding to help medium size enterprises increase their local social and environmental impact.
Neighbourly takes the uncertainty out of doing good by connecting businesses that want to give time, money or surplus products to the local communities that need it most. And now, mid-tier organisations can find and support the local charities and causes their staff and customers care about, through employee volunteering, surplus product redistribution, and financial donations.
The startup has ambitious forecasts for the new features, which will contribute to Neighbourly facilitating £1bn worth of impact by 2025.
Connecting with new communities
Following a recent consultative survey, Neighbourly found that as with the enterprise segment, mid-sized businesses are placing even greater importance on supporting local communities.
The vast majority believed that supporting local good causes through volunteering and grants is more of a priority now than pre-pandemic, and that visibility of this is important to their customers and employees. Impact reporting was also described as a real priority, to enable the business to understand and share how their contribution has helped.
The unique features not only create transparency around what’s needed locally but also enable companies to measure the positive effect of their giving programmes through real-time impact dashboards which provide social and environmental metrics for ESG and sustainability reporting.
After collaborating exclusively with enterprise-sized businesses, Neighbourly has a host of impressive achievements supporting its next stage of growth. Working with the likes of M&S, Aldi and Virgin Media O2, Neighbourly has facilitated the donation of over 120,000 volunteer hours, £23 million in funding, and over 125 million meals worth of surplus food. This equates to a total financial impact of over £255m and a C02 saving of over 198k tonnes.
Formly based in Bath, you can now find the team in the Bristol hub, Engine Shed. Its network of over 25,000 thousand verified local causes is mapped against impact themes and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
“Using the Neighbourly platform will not only enable them to help build happy, healthy, and more resilient communities, but also to measure their positive impact”
This means businesses can easily connect their available resources and measure the positive impact they are having on their business, employees, local communities, and the planet. Neighbourly is currently the only platform which enables businesses to manage all their local giving in one place, helping companies to put their communities at the heart of responsible business.
The city-led activations will aim to shine a spotlight city-by-city on local needs highlighting how businesses nearby can support with the resources they have to give away.
“We’re pleased to be supporting Neighbourly in the launch of their mid-market offering. As an organisation, we represent the interests of over 200 businesses, and they have told us that they want more innovative ways to support the local communities they operate in, including through volunteering and allocating grants,” explains Steve Bluff, Head of Redcliffe & Temple Business Improvement District (BID).
“This programme has a strong alignment with our vision to help make the area we represent vibrant, thriving, and sustainable for the whole community. We look forward to seeing the local impact we can collectively create through this platform.”
The expansion comes as local communities need support more than ever. “We’re delighted to bring our platform capability to a wider range of companies, at a time when demand for support from charities and local community groups is at an all-time high due to the cost of living and energy crisis,” says Neighbourly CEO Steve Butterworth.
“Mid-sized businesses tend to operate in the heart of their local communities and have strong geographical ties. Using the Neighbourly platform will not only enable them to help build happy, healthy, and more resilient communities, but also to measure their positive impact, which is truly unique to Neighbourly.”
As part of this new launch, Neighbourly is also calling on small charities and community organisations across the UK to sign up for the platform for free and to connect with resources from the local business community. Organisations can express their interest by simply creating a profile for the platform.
