When corporations donate to charity, it's often far-flung global causes that benefit. That's still entirely commendable, of course, but British grocer Waitrose recently launched a locally focused giving program that enlists customers' help in focusing on issues closer to home.
Kicked off last month, Waitrose's Community Matters program assigns each store GBP 1,000 each trading month to donate among three local organisations such as community groups, schools or local divisions of national charities. Customers nominate the organisations to benefit, and Waitrose's local democratic bodies make the final selection. Customers are then offered a token each time they shop that can be inserted in any of three Perspex tubes—one for each of the selected charitable groups. At the end of the month, the pile of tokens donated to each organisation is weighed and the beneficiaries receive a corresponding proportion of the cash. Following a trial in four Waitrose stores, the Community Matters program is scheduled to be in place at all branches in the next two weeks.
A similar program is in place across the Atlantic at upscale chain Whole Foods, where customers who bring their own bags are rewarded with "wooden nickels" that can be deposited in boxes assigned for donation to select local charities. And as interest continues to grow in all things local (see our sister site trendwatching.com's still made here briefing for more on that trend), consumers will increasingly appreciate having a direct hand in choosing who to help in their local community. One to emulate around the globe!
Website: www.waitrose.com
Contact: customer_service@waitrose.co.uk
Spotted by: Maria Dahl Jørgensen
So-called dark restaurants, where sighted customers are literally thrown into utter darkness and served by blind waiters, have been around for nearly a decade. Since a seated meal goes only so far in giving people a sense of what it's like to live without vision, Lisboa Sensorial organizes blindfolded walking tours of Lisbon.
Developed by Cabracega, a new local creative agency, the walking tours take place in Alfama, which is Lisbon's oldest district. After being securely blindfolded, participants are steered through Alfama's narrow streets by a blind guide from the ACAPO (Portuguese Association for the Visually Impaired). The guide shares how he experiences his surroundings, and encourages participants to fully explore their altered perception of "the narrow streets, the smell of grilled sardines, the sound of a Fado that can be heard from afar." A guide with historical knowledge of the area also accompanies each group.
Cabracega explain that their project has two main goals: to provide participants with a new sensorial experience of their surroundings through the stimuli of smell, touch, taste and hearing, and the absence of vision. Secondly, they aim to make sighted people more aware of how the visually impaired experience the world, from a decidedly positive angle. Instead of focusing on perceived limitations, the tours allow blind people to take the visually unimpaired on an exploration of their alternate domains of stimuli, codes and references. Tours cost EUR 20 per person, all of which goes to ACAPO. The first tours took place earlier this month and were fully booked, and Lisboa Sensorial will be back with new sessions in September. Like the aforementioned dark restaurants—which spread from Zurich to London, Amsterdam, Montreal and beyond—this seems like a concept that's worth copying to other cities.
Website: www.cabracega.org/lisboa-sensorial
Contact: info@cabracega.org
On August 31st, the streets of Shoreditch, London, will be overrun by adults on kids' tricycles as part of a new annual race to benefit local charities and social entrepreneurs.
Thirty teams of up to three adults each will be invited to compete in the Shoreditch Grand Prix, based on the level of sponsorship they can raise by Aug. 14 on behalf of a charity or social project. Using supplied vehicles, they'll then race to be first to complete the 5-lap course through the city streets some two weeks later. In the words of the event's sponsors, "it's a pedal powered race of epic proportions, mixing the glamour of Monaco, the endurance of Le Mans and the idiocy of adults attempting a street race on children's toy tricycles." ;-) The race is the brainchild of UnLtd, a charity that helps nearly 1,000 budding social entrepreneurs each year with a mix of cash, development support and networking, as well as creative agency Thin Martian and UnLtdWorld.com, a social network for social entrepreneurs. The aim is to run the event on a yearly basis in London, and then replicate it across the UK and eventually license the format globally, its organizers say. Corporate entry packages for the race start at GBP 1,000. An additional five trikes designed by artists will also be auctioned on eBay, which is one of the event's sponsors.
Whereas most fundraising events are tailored to established charities, the Shoreditch Grand Prix takes a different twist—and a refreshingly lighthearted approach—by focusing its efforts on diverse social entrepreneurs, social businesses and individuals running community projects. It's a localized way to support the efforts of those working for local social change—one that can be licensed and copied in communities around the world. (Related: New brand for a new sport.)
Website: www.shoreditchgrandprix.com
Contact: www.shoreditchgrandprix.com/contact.aspx
This past spring we wrote about ECHOage, a Canadian venture dedicated to doing away with wasteful kids' birthday parties and focusing them instead on giving one gift and supporting one cause. Now DreamBank—also out of Canada—is bringing a similar concept to the grown-up world.
DreamBank aims to help people 18 and over fund their dreams by posting them online and inviting friends and family to contribute toward their realization. Posting a dream is free, and dreams must simply be valued anywhere between CDN 20 and CDN 20,000—examples currently on the site range from paying off student loans to attending the 2010 Olympics. Donating toward a dream is an eco-friendly alternative to traditional gifts, the site says, noting the many unwanted items that typically get exchanged each year, or are never used. It also helps a charitable cause. When they post a dream, users of the site are asked to choose a charity they'd like to support, with options including CARE, Doctors without Borders, the African Wildlife Foundation and Kiva. DreamBank deducts CDN 2.25 in fees from loved ones' contributions, and until the dream is realized, the rest gets pooled into one big fund, the interest on which is donated to the charity the user selected.
Users of the site can connect and exchange ideas with other "dreamers," and they can also withdraw their donated cash at any time, closing out their dream. DreamBank, meanwhile, deducts 2.5 percent of their total funds when they cash it out. Launched earlier this month, DreamBank already has more than 30 dreams posted on the site. Financial partners working behind the scenes are PayPal and HSBC.
Is this the gift-giving model for a new breed of consumers? With its focus on one big experience over many small possessions (most of the listed dreams are for experiences), DreamBank should definitely strike a chord with transumers.
Website: www.dreambank.org
Contact: feedback@dreambank.org
Spotted by: Lindsay McDonald
Thousands of bicycles are scrapped each year in Denmark because their owners can't be bothered to have them fixed, or would rather buy a new bike instead. A new initiative from Copenhagen-based Baisikeli aims to reclaim those discarded bikes to help the disadvantaged both in Africa and at home.
Similar to Bikes for Africa, which we wrote about several years ago, Baisikeli (named for the Swahili word for "bicycle") collects second-hand bikes from all around Denmark and sends them to Africa, where they create work, education and transportation. The group has set up projects in Ghana, Sierra Leone and Tanzania, and it ships bicycles to workshops it has established there to train local people in bicycle repair. Financing for the project comes from bike rentals back in Copenhagen, and unemployed people who have been out of a job for three years or more do the handling of the bikes on the Danish end.
In Africa, local mechanics then work with apprentices to repair the bicycles and sell them to local distributors. Many are sold to the local population—offering a better-quality yet lower-priced alternative to the bicycles commonly available there—while others are converted into specially adapted bicycles that can serve as local ambulances and cargo bikes. Baisikeli also donates some bikes to rural Ghanaian children who depend on them to get to school. Profits from the fixed-up bikes that get sold are invested in local projects, while a portion is put back into developing the workshops. Ultimately, the group hopes to offer local mechanics micro-loans so they can start their own businesses, as well as to develop a Fair Trade Baisikeli bike that will be built in Africa and returned to Denmark for rental to tourists there starting next year, according to Copenhagenize. A video on YouTube illustrates the project's goals.
So many projects intended to help Africa's poor are essentially just donations and produce only short-term effects. By developing a sustainable bicycle industry there, however, Baisikeli hopes to give Africans a better future. One to sponsor or partner with! (Related: Microfinance meets mentoring.)
Website: www.cph-bike-rental.dk — www.baisikeli.dk
Contact: niels@baisikeli.dk
Spotted by: Copenhagenize via RK
Back in 2006 we wrote about TOMS Shoes, an organization whose matching program donates a pair of shoes for every one that's purchased from the company. Now TOMS has launched a volunteer program by which customers can hand-deliver those donated shoes themselves.
TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie was originally inspired by the disadvantaged children he saw while travelling through Argentina, and TOMS continues to donate its shoes to South American children in need. The Friends of TOMS program, however, now invites customers over 18 to travel there themselves as part of a series of what it calls Argentina Shoe Drops. Each weeklong Shoe Drop takes groups of 15 volunteers to see the places and people that inspired Blake to create his "shoes for tomorrow," distributing donated shoes along the way. Following the inaugural Argentina Shoe Drop last month, additional ones are scheduled for September, October and November of this year. In addition to airfare, the trip costs about USD 1,800, which includes all lodging, group meals, transportation within Argentina and regional group activities. Volunteers are responsible for booking their own flights to Buenos Aires.
There are plenty of organizations out there that offer voluntourism opportunities, including Ritz-Carlton's Give Back Getaways program, which we covered not long ago. But California-based TOMS is one of the first we've seen to link such opportunities with a specific product, giving customers a rich experience as well as the knowledge that they've helped out. A winning combination to consider for any firm with a charitable component!
Website: www.friendsoftoms.com
Contact: shoedrop@tomsshoes.com
Spotted by: Mila Roberts
Sähköautot–Nyt! (Finnish for Electric Cars–Now!) is taking an innovative approach to getting more electric-powered vehicles on the road. The Finnish not-for-profit group, which calls itself an open-source electric vehicle community, wants to sign up 500 or more buyers for its first proposed model. Instead of building a car from scratch, they’ll retro-fit existing Toyota Corollas. At a volume of 500+, the cost of acquiring and converting used, petrol-powered vehicles to run on rechargeable lithium batteries will be on par with the cost of purchasing a standard internal combustion engine Corolla off the lot, and saves the energy needed to manufacture a new hybrid or electric car.
More facilitator than manufacturer, Sähköautot–Nyt! is inviting suppliers to offer components for a prototype conversion kit. Once the conversion kit has been developed, it will use its website to assist customers in ordering a Corolla and a kit, and in choosing a local auto shop that can handle the conversion. While the group says that for the time being its kits will only be available in Finland, its founders are willing to share their knowledge with similar organizations in other nations, as befits the open-source movement.
To be sure, competition will come from the plug-in hybrid vehicles that major auto makers hope to launch over the next several years. Those models will come with warranties and a network of repair facilities, which no start-up organization could hope to duplicate. Still, plenty of early adopters would likely sign up for a vehicle that helps them fight back against the rising cost of fuel. Sähköautot–Nyt! shows how the open-source model could become a powerful tool for (social) entrepreneurs who want to tackle pressing issues sooner rather than later. (Related: Battery-powered trucks — The going is green, and electric.)
Website: www.sahkoautot.fi/eng
Contact: ecarsnow@gmail.com
Spotted by: Antti Kaiponen
As food prices climb and mainstream farming practices fall out of favour in today's increasingly eco-minded climate, there's growing incentive for consumers to farm their own food. Australian Permablitz is a group that focuses on bringing sustainable, edible gardens to the suburban neighbourhoods around Melbourne.
Permablitz picks up on permaculture, an idea dating back to the 1970s that revolves around the creation of perennial agricultural systems whose design mimics ecologies found in nature. Aiming to implement the notion throughout the Melbourne area, Permablitz holds weekend "blitzes" in which groups of volunteers come together to transform a suburban yard into a food-producing organic garden. One planned for June, for example, will be dedicated to helping "Ileana, Gavin and baby Michaela transform their backyard into a fruit, veg, herb and chicken egg producing wonderland." Before each blitz Permablitz coordinates pre-blitz design visits and organises the materials that will need to be donated; post-blitz, it also conducts follow-up visits to check on the results. Along the way, the group hopes to share permaculture skills and build community networks. More than 40 permablitzes have now been held since the group began.
Its founders explain: "Our focus is edible gardens, and our ultimate aim is to make the suburbs edible enough such that should food become unaffordable, we don’t even notice." An undeniably admirable goal, and one that dovetails nicely with the swelling public interest in all things green. And while urban and suburban farming obviously aren't new, we like the blitz approach, which lends an air of instant gratification to the sometimes slowgoing process of gardening. Permablitz appears to operate on a purely volunteer basis—the site is open for anyone to post events—but there's nothing to say the same idea couldn't be implemented with ad support or sponsorships. Time to bring a little permaculture to your neck of the woods...? (Related: Urban farming.)
Website: www.permablitz.net
Contact: permablitz@gmail.com
Spotted by: Emma Crameri
