Nightingale House Hospice wins Innovation in Income Generation Award
Howard Lake | 24 October 2013 | News
Nightingale House Hospice has won the Innovation in Income Generation Award at the third annual Help the Hospices Awards.
It won it for its unusual social enterprise project based on the sale of eco-friendly cardboard animal bedding.
Income from cardboard boxes
The award-winning intiative came about when the hospice came across a cardboard baling and shredding machine for animal bedding. It saw it as an opportunity to set up a social enterprise and develop a new and sustainable income stream.
The machine had been used for the training of long-term unemployed people and people with special needs to work in a factory. Although selling the bedding was not the hospice’s primary objective, research into animal bedding indicated that it could prove a source of income.
Corrugated cardboard is proving a cost-effective alternative to traditional straw products due to the cost and availability of straw. Corrugated cardboard has all the properties of straw as well as higher absorption and good insulation. It is also environmentally friendly as it can be spread on fields in the same way as straw products.
The first phase of the business focused on horse owners within a 50 mile radius of the hospice. The second phase involved reduced pack sizes for the small animal market.
Initial set-up costs were £10,000, which covered the cost of purchasing the machine and moving it to the Wrexham area. Overheads were kept low by moving the hospice’s retail shop distribution centre to new and larger premises which could be shared with the social enterprise.
John Savage, CEO of Nightingale House Hospice, said that in their first full year Ecozorb Animal Bedding Solutions Ltd are expecting sales of £30,000 and a profit of £12,000 – £15,000. Over the first five years they are looking to grow the business to a turnover in excess of £60,000 generating profits in the region of £25,000 a year.
About the Help the Hospices Awards
The Innovation in Income Generation Award was announced together with the winners of awards for Innovation in Volunteering and Innovation in Clinical Practice.
The Help the Hospices Awards are supported by The National Gardens Scheme, which opens 3,800 gardens of quality, character and interest to the public each year. Since 1996 the National Gardens Scheme has donated £2.6 million to hospice care and is the largest funder of Help the Hospices work.
Photo: corrugated cardboard by Creative Nature Media on Shutterstock.com
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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.