New online guide offers socially-conscious listings to Londoners

London-based site is creating an online community that combines social enterprise and entertainment.

Two former charity executives have started GOTiLo – an online community that offers the opportunity for ethical city explorers to find out the latest information on the growing social enterprise entertainment and leisure scene. GOTiLo is the brainchild of Asheem Singh and Adam Glass, formerly interim Chief Executive and Associate Director at leading UK charity leaders network ACEVO, who hope the site will act as an ‘ethical concierge’ to highlight entertainment and leisure options that both excite and give back to the community.

The guide, which is currently in beta-testing, will eventually be made up of a series of online communities where contributors can add listings for people, companies, and events that focus on giving back to society and the environment. Recently, we have seen restaurant listings based on volume of Uber traffic and a database of local children’s activities, but this is the first site to offer listings based on combining social enterprise and entertainment. According to Glass, “The way we approach ‘doing good’ has fundamentally changed – and this is particularly true among younger people. For many of us, it is no longer seen as an add-on, but something we seek to incorporate into our everyday lifestyle … Moreover, there’s an ever-growing eco-system of social enterprises and volunteer-driven networks which are building on this sentiment. GOTiLo is all about bringing these two groups together.”

Examples of GOTiLo stories and listings include community-owned pubs, restaurants that source food from their doorstep, hipster hangouts that raise money for good causes, undiscovered gig venues, and permaculture clubs. Initially covering only London, GOTiLo hopes to expand to other cities soon. What other combinations of interests might make a good focus for an online city guide?