Innovation in Giving Fund

The Innovation in Giving Fund aims to invest in, support and grow innovative ideas that will bring about a step-change in the giving and exchange of time, assets, skills, resources and money and which have a credible route to being self-sustaining in the longer term.

Building on the success of the first round of the Fund, Nesta and the Office for Civil Society have launched the Open Innovation Programme to support charities with national reach to increase their impact through adopting and integrating innovations that increase levels of giving.  This document outlines the purpose of the programme, what we are looking for, what is on offer and how to get involved. 

The Innovation in Giving Fund

In May 2011, the Government's Giving White Paper announced a range of measures to support new and better ways to enable the giving and exchange of time, assets, skills, resources and money, including the Innovation in Giving Fund.

"Our ambition is to stimulate a step change in giving... to make it easier and more compelling to give time and money... to give better support to the trailblazers and innovators." 

Frances Maude Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General and Nick Hurd Minister for Civil Society

The Innovation in Giving Fund is a £10m fund running over two years managed by Nesta, the UK's Innovation Foundation.  In September 2011 we launched the first round of the Fund with an open call for ideas.  Over 430 applications were received and so far 32 innovative ideas have been backed with over £2.5m, ranging from crowd-funding platforms that help social projects connect with supporters to new online tools to organise personal care networks.

More details of the innovations supported through the first round of the Fund can be found here: http://giving.nesta.org.uk.  A further open call for ideas will be announced in May 2012.  

Open Innovation Programme

Building on the success of the first round of the Fund, we are now looking to work with medium to large charities that can take innovative approaches to giving to a larger scale.  

This programme responds to the feedback we've heard from established charities about the need for practical and financial support to help develop new partnerships around innovations in giving.  

Our ambition over the next year is to support a group of charities with national reach and who want to use their expertise, networks, assets and capabilities to find new ways to engage more people in giving that supports their mission.  That could include finding new and more powerful ways of maximising donations, getting more people involved in giving their time or unlocking idle and under-utilised resources and assets for social goals. 

Examples like the National Trust's support for Landshare show the potential that comes from combining imaginative innovations with the scale of established charities.  We want to work with charities that are committed to collaboration and who want to develop new partnerships with innovators outside their organisation.  

The programme will utilise the successful approaches to open innovation that are increasingly common in commercial organisations to accelerate the pace and scale of impact of innovations in giving.  

What the programme will offer

Over the course of a year, the programme will offer financial and practical support to a small group of charities and the innovators that they choose to collaborate with.  The overall programme will benefit from £1.5m in funding and participants will receive: 

• Development funding
• Expert support to design and run an open innovation process
• Connections to innovators and potential partners
• Opportunities for collaboration and peer support
• A programme of workshops and events
• Ongoing practical support throughout the year

As well as supporting around 10 established charities through an open innovation process, the programme will seek to generate learning, insights and products that are of benefit to whole sector. 

How to get involved

At this stage we are looking for medium or large charities to express an interest in being part of the programme.  Please tell us, in no more than 800 words, why you are interested in the programme and why you think it is a good fit for your organisation, including the opportunity or challenge that you think this programme could help you with. Please respond by email (giving@nesta.org.uk) no later than noon on Wednesday 9 May 2012. 

Please note that we are looking for charities that: 

• Have national reach, with the expertise, networks, assets and capabilities to take innovations in giving to scale
• Are committed to the idea of open innovation and the aims of the programme
• Have senior leadership commitment and are willing to devote sufficient resources to the programme

The Innovation in Giving Fund is focused on increasing giving and exchange of time, assets, skills, resources and money in England.  For the purposes of the Open Innovation Programme, your organisation must be a charity registered with the Charity Commission and the benefits of your work should focus primarily or significantly on England.

Nesta will evaluate expressions of interest and invite selected charities to one of three workshops in late May to discuss your challenges and opportunities, which will inform the programme design. 

Decisions on who to invite to be part of the programme will be taken in June, with the programme activity starting in July.  This programme will involve intensive activity lasting up to one year and charities must be prepared to commit sufficient time and resources for this period.

Relevant links

White Paper for Giving 

Green Paper for Giving