Neighbourly donated over 38 million meals in 2022
Giving platform Neighbourly has reported an impressive year of growth in 2022, with the Bristol-based business surpassing the milestone of 100 million meals redistributed and doubling the number of corporate partners on the platform.
New corporate partners in 2022 included Pret A Manger, Hampshire Trust Bank and WSP, who join the likes of M&S, Aldi, Lidl, B&Q and RSA Insurance.
With the need for charitable support soaring as a result of the cost-of-living and energy crises, the engagement from the business community is welcomed.
During 2022 the Neighbourly platform facilitated the donation of over 38 million meals’ worth of surplus food, aided the delivery of 31,000 employee volunteer hours and disbursed £5.2 million in grants. These programmes supported more than 7,000 local charities and community causes, who in turn help a total of over 2.6 million people in the UK and Ireland every week.
Neighbourly’s platform automatically measures the financial impact of support for all its clients, along with other social and environmental impact metrics. Total financial impact since the platform’s launch in 2014 now sits at over £250 million, with the goal being to deliver £1 billion in impact by 2025.
Neighbourly CEO Steve Butterworth said: “There have been enormous challenges for everyone involved in the charity sector over the past 12 months, but we’ve seen strong growth in our impact and the resources that we’ve been able to channel to those that need them most.”
In direct response to the continued high demand faced by local causes, as identified by Neighbourly’s quarterly survey of community groups, the business established the Warm Communities Fund in December; a ‘needs-led’ donation fund designed to support those charities and community groups in its network providing ‘warm banks’ and food donations. The fund has raised £50,000 to date.
Neighbourly was also awarded a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise and expanded the team by 65%, to nearly 100 staff members, as the business continued to scale and grow at pace.
Steve Butterworth continued: “We’re immensely proud of our achievements to date, which are thanks to the hard work of the whole Neighbourly team, our network of good causes and our corporate partners. Looking ahead, we remain committed to channelling resources that our clients have to give into the heart of local communities, as well as developing new platform features to further enhance our impact. We have ambitious plans to grow our offer while remaining true to our values as a founding UK B Corp, and to do this in a way that meets the increasing need for community investment.”
Picture: CEO, Steve Butterworth & COO, Zoe Colosimo.
