Social fund launched for digital innovation

A new fund has been set up that will give over £160,000 to initiatives that use digital platforms which tackle social needs in innovative ways.

Nesta’s ShareLab fund will work with local councils, NHS trusts and community groups to provide digital support services. They hope to build on the success of ShareLab’s 2017 grant fund, which supported eight projects with a social purpose.

One successful project was the Hearts Milk Bank breast milk donor scheme – the first non-NHS milk bank in the country. ShareLab’s £40,000 grant helped the project go from a concept to a rapidly growing service which now helps babies at 22 hospitals across the country.

This year, the fund will focus on initiatives which relieve pressure on public services. Each project will receive up to £30,000 and additional business development support from Nesta to help put their ideas into practice. The six new projects are:

• Fairbnb (£25,000) matches homeless families to homeowners with room to spare, while they wait for permanent housing. The platform has piloted successfully in Croydon – where it could save the Council £1 million a year if rolled out. The funding will allow the model to go online so it can be scaled up and trialled across London.

• Community ReUse network (£25,750) collects and upcycles unwanted furniture and makes it available to vulnerable families. Founder Sunderland City Council aims to redevelop the current prototype to allow a city-wide (and potentially national) roll out of the platform.

• Equal Care Co-op (£30,000) will connect people needing care and support at home directly to care-workers and will empower people receiving support to offer it to others. As well as reducing costs, it will allow people to establish consistent relationships resulting in better quality care. The grant will help the co-op develop the platform and pilot it in Yorkshire this year.

• Families Connected (£17,500) gives families with loved ones in prison practical advice about prison visits and provides an avenue for peer-to-peer emotional support. As well as developing the platform the ShareLab grant will help Sussex Prisoners Families to test digital approaches to supporting families in crisis locally.

• Patient Transport Oxfordshire (£30,000) by OxFed is an innovative collaboration between local health services, community transport services and Oxfordshire County Council. They will prototype a digital service which matches patients to the transport services they need to get to medical appointments – whether that’s an ambulance or a lift from a volunteer.

• HomePointr (£29,500) provides people with homes by linking referral agencies to social housing providers across Scotland. The social enterprise, based in Falkirk, quickly matches available housing to people with different needs – streamlining the process of renting.

Alice Casey, senior development manager at Nesta said: ‘Web platforms have shown how powerful they can be in disrupting consumer services like taxis and holiday lets. ShareLab projects tap into that same potential to tackle important social challenges in new ways- such as housing provision, refugee integration and social care.

‘Since the programme began in 2016; platform technology has become more accessible and affordable. However, only a few pioneers are harnessing the opportunities of this technology for social good. These six pioneering projects will add to the growing evidence of what communities and public services can achieve when they work together.’