Neighbourly (community investment platform)

Neighbourly is a community impact and giving platform based in Bristol, UK. The platform hosts pages for upwards of 30,000 small charities and community organisations across the UK and Ireland, connecting them with businesses offering surplus food and products, volunteer time and financial donations.[1][2]

For example, supermarket chains including Aldi, Lidl, Marks and Spencer and Sainsbury's have partnered with Neighbourly to redistribute surplus food and products to food banks and community groups.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][excessive citations]

Neighbourly has also partnered with businesses including Penguin,[11][12][13] Danone, Coca-Cola EP,[14][15][16] Heineken,[17] B&Q,[18] Southern Co-op[19] and Samsung to manage and deliver their corporate impact programmes - such as employee volunteering and charitable grant distribution. Neighbourly provides detailed social and environmental impact data for clients to measure and report on the overall impact of their programmes.

Neighbourly was founded in 2013 by Nick Davies,[20] who appointed Zoe Colosimo as COO. In 2018, Steve Butterworth took over the company as chief executive officer. The company is one of the UK’s founding B Corps[21][22] and is accredited by the Good Business Charter.[23]

In March 2021, Neighbourly raised £3M in Series A investment from Guinness Asset Management to expand their senior leadership team and accelerate the growth of the business.[24]

In May 2022 the company announced it had raised £1.6m in an accelerator investment round led by Guinness Ventures.[1]

In March 2023, the company released new capability to allow medium-sized businesses to access the platform to increase their local social and environmental impact through employee volunteering and financial donation programmes.[2]

## Neighbourly Foundation

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In 2020, Neighbourly set up an independent charity - the Neighbourly Foundation - which works to funnel donations and grant money from its donors and partners directly to charities and community groups that are registered on the platform.[25]

## Awards

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In 2020 Neighbourly was ranked in the RWRC Discovery 50 [26][27] \- a list comprising the top 50 retail tech start-ups operating globally. The company was also voted the People's Choice at the Digital Agenda Impact Awards 2020 [28] and won the Tech Company of the Year (for revenues under £5M) and Sustainable Tech Awards at the Tech South West Awards 2020.[29]

In 2021 Neighbourly won the Sustainability Initiative of the Year award at Food Matters Live,[30] Best Community Initiative at the CorpComms Awards,[31] the Social Value award at the National Recycling Awards[32] and the Waste & Resource Management Project of the Year at the Edie Sustainability Leaders Awards.[33]

In 2022, Neighbourly was awarded a Queen’s Awards for Enterprise in the Innovation category[34] and won the Spectator Economic Innovator of the Year award for the South West region.[35]

In 2023, the company won the Management Today Business Leadership Award in the Technology category.[36]

## References

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1. ^ "Neighbourly - where businesses help local good causes". www.neighbourly.com. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
2. ^ Earley, Katharine (2014-05-15). "neighbourly - helping business become a force for good". the Guardian. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
3. ^ Farrell, Steve (2021-01-13). "Aldi pledges to donate 10 million meals to families in need". The Grocer. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
4. ^ Tatum, Megan (2017-01-27). "Lidl launches food waste redistribution scheme with Neighbourly". The Grocer. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
5. ^ "M&S moves to hand out thousands of tonnes of food waste". the Guardian. 2015-10-09. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
6. ^ Farrell, Steve (2019-04-16). "Aldi rolls out direct surplus food donations to entire estate". The Grocer. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
7. ^ Evans, Mark (14 April 2020). "M&S, Lidl and Aldi use charity networks to redistribute food". Better Society. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
8. ^ "Coronavirus updates: Third Sector live blog". www.thirdsector.co.uk. April 9, 2020. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
9. ^ "Aldi is giving away free food to those in need on Christmas Eve". The Independent. 2019-12-18. Archived from the original on 2022-06-18. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
10. ^ "Sainsbury's partners with Neighbourly to distribute surplus food to charities in need". The Grocer.
11. ^ Campbell, Lucy; Marsh, Sarah; Topham, Gwyn; Smithers, Rebecca; Partington, Richard; Davis, Nicola (2020-04-03). "Matt Hancock calls for more volunteers to take part in 'essential' clinical trials – as it happened". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
12. ^ "PRH expresses confidence in industry's prospects on entering third lockdown | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
13. ^ "Penguin Random House UK distributing free books to communities facing hardship during coronavirus crisis". www.penguin.co.uk. 2 April 2020. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
14. ^ Campbell, Lucy; Marsh, Sarah; Topham, Gwyn; Smithers, Rebecca; Partington, Richard; Davis, Nicola (2020-04-03). "Matt Hancock calls for more volunteers to take part in 'essential' clinical trials – as it happened". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
15. ^ "Neighbourly Community Fund – NIVO". 9 April 2020. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
16. ^ Briggs, Fiona. "M&S, Lidl, Aldi, Danone and Coca-Cola European Partners create fund to support community organisations helping those most at risk during coronavirus crisis and urge other businesses to join them". Retail Times. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
17. ^ Don, Andrew (2016-03-22). "Heineken the latest business to join Neighbourly social platform". The Grocer. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
18. ^ "Community re-use | B&Q in the Community | B&Q". www.diy.com. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
19. ^ Leader, Alice (2020-11-09). "Southern Co-op sets up fund for food banks with £5,000 donation". The Grocer. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
20. ^ "Neighbourly Limited". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
21. ^ Clensy, David (2017-05-02). "Rise of Bristol's ultra-ethical B-Corps businesses". BristolLive. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
22. ^ "Neighbourly | Certified B Corporation". bcorporation.uk. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
23. ^ "Neighbourly". Good Business Charter. 2020-10-09. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
24. ^ "Tech for good: Bristol-based Neighbourly bags £3M to connect businesses with local charities". UK Tech News.
25. ^ "The Neighbourly Foundation - Charity 1189514". register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
26. ^ "Discovery 50 - Download the Report today". download.retail-week-connect.com. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
27. ^ "Retail Discovery 50: Peak one of 50 businesses powering the new retail world". Peak. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
28. ^ "DigitalAgenda Announces Impact Awards Winners 2020". DigitalAgenda. 2020-06-23. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
29. ^ "Tech South West Awards 2020 Winners Announced – Tech South West". December 2020. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
30. ^ "Awards and winners". Food Matters Live. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
31. ^ "CorpComms Awards 2021 - Winners". corpcommsawards.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
32. ^ "Winners 2021 | National Recycling Awards & Forum". nra.mrw.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
33. ^ "2022 Finalists". edie Sustainability Leaders Awards 2022. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
34. ^ Baker, Hannah; Telford, William; Arthur, Andrew (2022-04-20). "Queen's Awards 2022: All the South West winners announced". Business Live. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
35. ^ Spectator, The (2022-11-11). "Economic Innovator of the Year Awards 2022 – the winners". The Spectator. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
36. ^ "Winners 2023". MT Business Awards. Retrieved 2024-01-16.