Giving as good as you get: Nesta selects 50 Semi-Finalists to tackle isolation in old age and waste reduction

6/11/12

50 Semi-Finalists are now in the running for two £50,000 challenge prizes looking at how to bring people together in new ways to combat the pressing social concerns of isolation in old age and waste reduction. The Semi-Finalists have been selected as part of the Giving Challenge Prizes, run by Nesta, the UK’s innovation foundation, and funded by the Cabinet Office.

Each group of 25 Semi-Finalists will compete for one of five Finalist places in their respective category. Each finalist will be supported with money and advice to put their ideas into practice. Ultimately the two projects which demonstrate the most success will be awarded the £50,000 prize.

The shortlisted projects and organisations have come up with a wide range of ideas to reduce waste and isolation in old age - from local wood collections and recycling schemes, to community based travel schemes and new ways to get older people exercising. Some of these projects include:

Tackling social Isolation:

Eating and Meeting

Digital Bake Parties arranges for older people with a passion for baking to visit younger people in their community to swap skills, and hosts local inter-generational bake-off parties. Wheels to Meals collects people from home and take them to their chosen lunch venue to eat out with others.   

Connecting people

The Radio Club develops the 'call-in' format to support older members of the community, allowing them to socialise live on air from the comfort of their home - chatting and sharing stories. The Reading Agency mobilises digital reading groups, while Recreating the Picture Palace plans to takes theirmobile cinema club directly to people in their homes or care facilities.

Reducing waste:

Managing waste from food production

Proper Oils will make it easier to recycle household cooking oils, providing households with storage vessels and community collection points, while Grounds to Green will reuse and recycle coffee grounds in Brighton and Hove. FareShare Harvest Champions will work with farms around Manchester to use 'outgraded' crops (those not meeting specification for retail) to make meals from produce that would otherwise go to waste.

Improving recycling

Bags of Goodies will reward the collection of small electrical items and textiles with a small donation given to a person's chosen cause or a voucher to spend with local retailers.  The Museum of Bad Design will work with communities and manufacturers to improve the design of everyday objects so they are more easily recyclable. The Rubbish Diet plans to expand their programme which gets people to change their lifestyle like a food diet to reduce their waste, often by up to 50-80 per cent.

Vicki Purewal, head of challenge prize design at Nesta, explains, "The number and quality of entries to the Giving Challenges programme shows that people do want to tackle the prominent social issues facing their communities, and that they have potential to make a big difference.  Through these challenge prizes we want to develop these new ideas to make use of community-level giving to have a big impact on the pressing social concerns of isolation of older people and waste reduction."

Minister for Civil Society Nick Hurd, said "We want to make it easier and more compelling for people to get involved in their communities. That's why we set up challenge prizes to give organisations an exciting opportunity to come with ideas to solve social issues such as tackling isolation in older people or helping reduce waste in our communities."

Full list of Ageing semi-finalists:

• Age UK Cheshire East
• Age UK Exeter
• Age UK Lancashire
• Bexley Accessible Transport Scheme
• DiSC CIC
• Fair Shares Gloucestershire
• Gransnet
• Helen Platt Ltd
• London Borough of Camden
• London Play
• Magic Lantern Film Club
• NANA
• North Bristol Advice Centre
• Online Centres Foundation
• Plunkett Foundation
• Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB)
• Stonewall Housing
• Sustrans Limited
• The After Work Club
• The Fox and the Squid
• The Reading Agency
• Tottenham Hotspur Foundation
• Uniitee Ltd.
• USS Ltd
• West Midlands Special Needs Transport

Full list of waste reduction Semi-Finalists:

• Bag of Goodies
• Proper Oils
• ReclaimFun
• Sustainability One Stop Shop
• Community Textile Collection
• Workspring
• Quick Compost
• Grounds to Green
• The People's Kitchen
• VillagePowerCIC
• The London Orchard Project
• National Community Wood Recycling Project (NCWRP)
• Just in Time Food Network
• The Devon and Cornwall food Association
• Brixton People's Kitchen
• FareShare Harvest Champions
• Gleaning Network UK
• The Rubbish Diet
• The Restart Project
• Newmarket Open Door
• Compost Doctors
• Museum of Bad Design
• Wood Doctor
• Hackney City Farm
• Food rescue squad

Notes to Editors

For further information or to arrange an interview please contact Suzi Browne on 020 7438 2611/ Suzi.browne@nesta.org.uk or Natalie Hodgson on 020 7438 2614/ Natalie.hodgson@nesta.org.uk 

About Nesta: www.nesta.org.uk  

Nesta is the UK's innovation foundation. We help people and organisations bring great ideas to life. We do this by providing investments and grants and mobilising research, networks and skills. We are an independent charity and our work is enabled by an endowment from the National Lottery.

Nesta Operating Company is a registered charity in England and Wales with a company number 7706036 and charity number 1144091. Registered as a charity in Scotland number  SC042833. Registered office: 1 Plough Place, London, EC4A 1DE

• The Giving Challenges have been set to encourage community innovation in the giving of time, skills and resources for social good. They are funded by the Cabinet Office and will see one idea from each of the challenges awarded £50,000.
• The semi-finalists will be supported to develop a detailed plan for their idea. In January, five concepts for each, with the potential for sustainability and scale, will be selected to test their ideas. They will receive up to £10,000 and professional advice to set up and test their projects before a winner for each challenge is selected in September 2013 and awarded £50,000.
• Ageing Well Challenge Prize: challenge tasks organisations and groups to develop ideas to reduce the isolation and / or increase the mobility of vulnerable older people by creating new opportunities for people to give time, skills and resources.
• Waste Reduction Challenge Prize: offers a prize for the innovation that achieves the biggest measureable reduction in waste, by providing new opportunities for communities to come together to give time, skills and resources