Examples of innovations in giving

To give you some inspiration, these are some examples of projects which have been funded through our Innovation in Giving Fund and others that relate to older people.  Click on the links to find out more.

• Tyze Personal Networks is an online tool that facilitates the provision of formal and informal care by enabling people to create a private community centred on one person. http://giving.nesta.org.uk/project/tyze/
• The Good Gym unlocks volunteering potential by channelling the energy that people spend on exercising and turning it into positive social action. In fact, it has two very simple aims: to increase volunteering in the local community whilst creating an additional motivation to exercise and keep fit without a treadmill in sight! It was set up to connect elderly and isolated local residents with a runner on a mission: to get fit, do something useful and to provide a healthy piece of social interaction. http://giving.nesta.org.uk/project/the-good-gym/
• Care4Care is a new membership organisation where members spend a few hours a week supporting an older person in their local community and in return build up their own "care pension." http://giving.nesta.org.uk/project/care4care/
• The Amazings is a new social venture that supports and recruits people who are retired or about to retire to share their skills, knowledge, experience and passion with their local community. Once recruited, these people become 'An Amazing'. http://giving.nesta.org.uk/project/the-amazings/

Other projects

• The Cumbria County Council Voluntary Car Scheme is intended for those people who have no other means of transport. Volunteers are available to collect older people from their home and take them to their chosen destination for a reasonable cost. The service can be used for a variety of purposes including: Making connections with buses or trains; Doctor, Dentist or Optician; Shopping, etc.  http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/roads-transport/public-transport-road-safety/transport/commtrans/voluntarycars.asp
• Older People for Older People (O4O) was an EU Northern Periphery Programme funded project, helping older people help themselves. Working with older people in remote, rural and peripheral communities, O4O actively sought to: Engage with older people's skills, experience and knowledge; Nurture enterprising and proactive activity among older people; Build older people's capacity for innovation, action, enterprise and voluntary activity. http://www.o4os.eu/
• MiCommunity is not just an IT course. Its aim is to use intergenerational volunteering to build a stronger sense of community and connectedness between young volunteers and older people, bridging differences in age, ethnicity and culture, and challenging negative stereotypes. http://www.ageuk.org.uk/london/Our-services/MiCommunity-project/