Our Work

Open Innovation Programme

As part of the Cabinet Office funded Innovation in Giving Fund, Nesta is delighted to announce that 10 medium to large scale charities have been selected to take part in the second phase of the Open Innovation Programme, which helps charities take innovative approaches in giving to scale. The programme focuses on opportunities for charities to collaborate with existing innovators within and outside of the sector to grow externally sourced ideas within their own organisations.

Responding to feedback we have heard from established charities on the need for practical and financial support to help develop new partnerships around innovations in giving, the programme will use successful approaches to open innovation that are increasingly common in commercial organisations to accelerate the pace and scale of impact of innovations in giving. This could include finding new and more powerful ways of maximising donations, getting more people involved in giving their time or unlocking idle or underused resources and assets for social goals.

The programme is split into two phases. Phase one was the development stage working with a portfolio of 28 selected charities to support them to identify their giving challenges and develop collaborative solutions to them. In phase two, 10 charities will receive funding of up to £120,000 each to support the implementation of their proposed solutions. 

In addition to funding, phase two offers:

  • Support events: To enable charities to develop their skills and confidence in using open innovation to deliver step-changes in giving 
  • Networking events: A series of networking events will be run to support continued partnership development and continue to connect charities to existing innovators in the giving field. 
  • Coaching support: As in phase one, each charity will be paired with a dedicated coach who will support them to derive most value from the programme, support partnership working and in addressing any implementation challenges. 

Nick Hurd, Minister for Civil Society: "The Open Innovation Programme will support charities so that they have the resources to develop new ways to engage people in giving time or money to charity. It's important that we give charities the means to develop their ideas and use some of the same inventive approaches that have been successful in the commercial world."

Helen Goulden, Director of Nesta's Public Services Lab: "The Open Innovation programme sets its sights firmly on working with charities who have identified big challenges they want to work on to increase giving. The charities that have been selected into the programme have demonstrated a real appetite and ambition to work with people and ideas from outside the sector to develop high-impact solutions and take great innovations in giving to scale."

The Innovation in Giving Fund was launched in September 2011 by Nick Hurd, Minister for Civil Society as part of a £34m package to increase levels of giving. To date the fund is supporting a range of game-changing ideas, all of which can be found here.

The charities selected to participate in the second phase of the Open Innovation Programme are:

  • Age UK: a sharing platform that raises donations while reducing isolation in old age.
  • The Children's Society: real-time updates and transparency for supporters on the difference their donation is making to a local project.
  • FoodCycle: testing new ways to grow volunteer hub networks, building on models such as the growth strategy behind the Mexican food chain, Chipotle Mexican Grill.
  • Keep Britain Tidy: making it easier to share time, skills, resources, money and take action in your local community and at a national scale through the 'Love Where You Live Sharing Network'.
  • Marie Curie Cancer Care: developing a loyalty-based gaming platform, with free and paid-for games.
  • Mencap: developing 'Kids for Good' - a fun, easy and safe way for children to raise sponsorship from friends and family online.
  • National Trust: launching a family volunteering day, The Big Family Day Off, bringing together employee volunteering and family days out.
  • United Response: tapping into the cultural norm of gifting at celebration events to grow the giving of time and money through developing the 'Give Where You Live' platform where friends and family of the charity's beneficiaries to donate to their local service.
  • WWF and Scope: together, these two charities will apply social psychology insights to mobile giving and create a toolkit for charity fundraisers.
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*Charities selected to participate in the first phase of the Open Innovation Programme were: