The Cabinet Office and Nesta today announce a second open call for game-changing ideas to increase giving.

The Innovation in Giving Fund was launched in September 2011 by Nick Hurd, Minister for Civil Society as part of a £34million package to increase levels of social action. It is managed by Nesta, the UK's innovation agency and aims to back innovative ideas for increasing volunteering and charitable giving.

£2.45million has already been awarded to 32 inspiring organisations that have developed innovations that have the potential to deliver a significant increase in giving and exchange of time, assets, skills, resources and money. These include Timto, an online gift list service for celebrations like children's parties that encourages some of the gift to go to charitable causes, Slivers of Times, which that matches people with time to give with those that need it, and The Amazings, which supports retired people to share their skills and expertise with others in the community.

Today (29 May 2012), a second call for ideas opens in a bid to find even more ideas that could have a significant impact on the giving capacity of the country. 

Minister for Civil Society Nick Hurd said: "There is no shortage of inspiring ideas and projects around the UK that need a little bit of help to get off the ground. That's where we come in - the Innovation in Giving Fund will award grants and support so that people can make their projects fly. This is about putting power in people's hands so they can make a real difference in their communities."

Chief Executive of Nesta, Geoff Mulgan said: "There is no shortage of innovative ideas to inspire giving on a greater scale than ever before. We're delighted to be able to unearth even more of these in this second funding round."

Grants of up to £50k are available for innovations that have the potential to deliver a significant uplift in the giving and exchange of time, assets, skills, resources and money to achieve social goals and public benefit. They should be able to demonstrate the potential to have national impact at a significant scale - engaging people in the hundreds of thousands over time. Proposals can be at any stage of development, from an early stage idea to something with a proven track record and the possibility of going to greater scale.  For those that prove to be successful, there will be the opportunity to receive significantly more financial backing from the Fund. 

Specific criteria and the application form can be viewed at www.nesta.org.uk/giving.

Applicants will be required to submit a short video application in the first instance. The closing date for applications is 15 June 2012.  To see previous video applications visit https://vimeo.com/channels/263446

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Notes to editors:

For further information, please contact Guy Bilgorri at [email protected] 020 7438 2611 or Jan Singleton at  [email protected] 020 7438 2606

The Innovation in Giving Fund is one of a number of new policies announced in the Giving White Paper in May 2011. For further information please see: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/giving-white-paper

To see further information about the inspiring organisations that have already received backing from the Innovation in Giving Fund, visit www.giving.nesta.org.uk

About Nesta

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