INNOVATION
Neighbourly
A team of employees carrying out environmental volunteering
A food bank in Bristol distributing suplus food
Launched in 2014 as the first solution of its kind, Neighbourly is a multi award-winning community investment and engagement platform, connecting businesses with thousands of local good causes to make a positive and measurable impact in our neighbourhoods. Companies including M&S, Sainsbury’s, Lidl, Heineken, Samsung, Aldi, B&Q, Danone, Cadent and RSA Insurance use Neighbourly to donate volunteer time, financial support and surplus food and products to local good causes across the UK and Ireland, enabling them to activate and scale their social purpose locally, through measurable programmes to the benefit of the communities they serve. The Neighbourly platform gives businesses access to thousands of vetted small charities and community causes that are working at a hyper- local level to tackle a wide spectrum of societal and environmental challenges. This enables businesses to use their resources to create far reaching positive impact from the ground up, evidencing their contribution in response to global challenges like the climate crisis and the pandemic, and in turn building trust amongst their customers, employees and stakeholders.
Measurable local impact Where many businesses are still struggling to deliver authentic action and impact through their sustainability programmes, Neighbourly corporate partners are able to activate a localised approach, creating transparency around their initiatives, evidenced by public facing impact metrics. This enables partners to demonstrate that doing good for society and the environment is truly embedded in their business model and values. One of the biggest problems Neighbourly addresses is understanding and surfacing the unique and constantly evolving needs of local communities and the causes that operate within them. This allows the platform to provide real-time insights so that corporate partners can respond quickly to fluctuations in community needs, and for stakeholders to gauge local challenges and levels of demand. The platform enables businesses to have a positive impact across three different product lines, offering businesses a flexible approach to share the resources they have - be that money, time or excess products. As of April 2022, the platform had facilitated the donation of more than 85 million meals of surplus food and 1,100 tonnes of surplus products, over £17 million in funding, and 80,000 employee volunteer hours.. A founding UK B Corp As one of the UK’s founding B Corporations, Neighbourly is a for-profit company certified by the non-profit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. Neighbourly’s B Corp status means its purpose and values are at the heart of its business strategy and decision making. The company’s business
Surplus food donations ready for distribution
model means it can offer a completely free, fair and flexible platform for local causes to access support, whilst generating revenue from corporate partners to grow and scale the platform to maximise its impact for the good of society and the planet. On receiving the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the Innovation category, Steve Butterworth, CEO at Neighbourly said: “It’s an absolute honour for Neighbourly to have been recognised with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise. “The last few years have been incredibly tough for local communities and businesses alike. To have been able to grow a technology solution that’s helped organisations have a positive local impact during this time is testament to a changing world in which being a successful business is being one that is a force for good.” NEIGHBOURLY Engine Shed, Station Approach, Temple Meads, Bristol BS1 6QH Tel: 0117 422 0866 • hello@neighbourly.com www.neighbourly.com @nbrly nbrlyuk neighbourly @nbrly
A team of employee volunteers refurbushing a community centre
Queen’s Awards Magazine 2022
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