£10m Innovation in Giving Fund for technology to boost giving and volunteering
Howard Lake | 7 September 2011 | News
The Office for Civil Society has announced a £10 million fund to support new ideas for increasing volunteering and charitable giving.
The Innovation in Giving Fund was announced in the Giving White Paper published in May 2011 and is part of the £34 million Social Action Fund that is designed to increase levels of social action.
Citing technology services like Freecycle and JustGiving, Nick Hurd, Minister for Civil Society, said: “We want to root out the visionary ideas that too often never get the backing they need. We’re very open-minded about this, but ideas must have real potential to increase the giving of time or money.”
The Innovation in Giving Fund will be managed by the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts (NESTA). Applicants are invited to submit a short video elevator pitch alongside their application form.
The Government is particularly keen to see ideas that focus on reciprocity, pro bono, donations, and sharing resources.
Charities Aid Foundation welcomed the announcement. Hannah Terrey, Head of Policy at CAF, said: “This fund could help to catalyse the development of new ways to give and engage, and also build on the many initiatives already out there.
“However, it is vital that there is also investment to modernise and transform important existing schemes such as Gift Aid and Payroll Giving so that their full potential can be realised and they are not left behind in a world of digital giving.”
The deadline for applications is 14 October and videos will be published publicly.
www.nesta.org.uk/home1/assets/features/innovation_in_giving_fund
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.