Tag: Impact Report

Scottish libraries play key role in success of UK-wide circular economy project

Winners of the John Lewis Partnership’s Circular Future Fund – one year on

  • Four projects reveal their 12-month progress: creating ‘lend and mend’ hubs in libraries, helping to make menstrual cups mainstream, redesign children’s shoes to make them last longer and technology to enable polyester to be recycled again and again
  • The £1 million fund was launched in November 2021, calling for new ideas and innovations to transition towards a more circular economy
  • The Circular Future Fund was raised from the sales of 10p plastic bags
  • The Circular Future Fund impact report can be viewed at: hubbub.org.uk

An innovative ‘lend and mend’ initiative in nine Scottish libraries has played a significant role in the success of a new UK-wide circular economy project.

The John Lewis Partnership and environmental charity Hubbub, has this week published an impact report, detailing the progress of four trailblazing projects that were awarded funding as part of the Circular Future Fund, created to find pioneering circular economy ideas.

In 2022, four projects were each awarded grants of between £150,000 – £300,000, from 245 applications, to develop their innovative solutions that challenged the ‘make…use…throw-away’ culture of modern society. The £1 million fund was made possible by the sales of 10p plastic bags through the John Lewis Partnership.

Helping menstrual cups go mainstream, redesigning children’s shoes to make them last longer, creating ‘lend and mend’ hubs in libraries and enabling polyester to be recycled again and again were the winning projects chosen by an independent Grant Fund panel of industry experts. Each winner was then supported by Hubbub to develop and achieve their ambitions.

The successful projects have each reported significant progress with proven results that leave a strong legacy for their respective industries. By sharing their learnings and challenges in the report, they hope to inspire others to follow in their footsteps towards creating a more circular economy.

Key outcomes from each project are detailed below:

SCOTTISH LIBRARY AND INFORMATION COUNCIL (SLIC) – Establishing ‘lend and mend hubs’ in Scottish libraries  

SLIC’s project aimed to create a network of lend and mend hubs across Scotland to support communities to repair, reuse, rent and upcycle everyday items.

The difference made:

  • Nine hubs have been created, with early indications suggest hubs have the potential to reach around 2,000 people per year through sewing and mending classes alone.
  • All libraries are offering equipment, workshops, and tools free of charge to overcome cost barriers for the public, making everyday circular economy actions more accessible.
  • The hubs are fitted out with circularity in mind, using repurposed office furniture saving 5 tCO2 compared to buying new and upcycled peg boards that were part of Kenya’s display at COP26 in Glasgow.

SLIC plan to create a toolkit, disseminated through workshops, to share their learnings and help other library services across the UK replicate their approach.

Marion Kunderan, head of programme on the SLIC ‘Lend and Mend’ project team: “With the ongoing cost of living crisis, the Lend and Mend Hubs have the potential to support families to make more sustainable choices. 

“Libraries are trusted community spaces without agenda and have an opportunity to provide a space where communities can take action through practical everyday solutions locally.”

DAME – Helping menstrual cups go mainstream 

The perfect circular sustainable period product, the menstrual cup, has existed for decades, yet it remains a niche product that only 5% of people with periods use.  DAME aimed to break down the barriers to using menstrual cups. They gained insight of the barriers to cup use, through surveys and a small user group trial, identifying the main concerns as comfort, leaking, and inserting a menstrual cup, plus cleaning it.

The difference made:

  • To help combat these barriers, the project created a myth-busting cup user guide, featuring Hayley Morris which is viewed 4,500 times per day.
  • DAME also designed a groundbreaking self-sanitising menstrual cup, removing the need to boil or sterilise cups. Launched in June, the self-sanitising period cup has achieved several ISO standards to prove its safety and effectiveness.
  • Each cup is predicted to contribute 99 times less carbon over its lifetime[4] (compared to boiling a traditional cup) and avoids the need for 2,860 disposable period products per person over a lifetime of periods.
  • Next DAME are exploring charity partnerships to see if the cup could be available to those experiencing period poverty, and sharing the user guide content with educators to help more teenagers to try and stick with menstrual cups.

PIP & HENRY – Redesigning children’s shoes to make them last longer 

Pip & Henry’s research and development project explored extending the life of children’s shoes. Young children replace shoes every 4 months, while 85% of shoes currently end up in landfill. Pip & Henry’s project aimed to explore two solutions to disrupt the children’s footwear industry.

The difference made:

  • Over the year period, Pip & Henry actually developed three concepts to work towards their vision of an expandable shoe and shoe that can be more cleanly separated into their component materials and therefore more easily recycled.
  • They hope to launch a capsule collection in 2024 and are exploring licensing concepts to help scale their circular shoe innovations.
  • The project has provided in-depth knowledge about the environmental impacts of footwear manufacturing methods and material innovations, plus how to design for better end of life recycling.
  • Pip & Henry plan to share their learnings and insights with the footwear manufacturing and recycling industries, to help create an industry step change to more circular shoe designs.

UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS – Innovating technology to enable polyester to be recycled again and again   

Polyester is the world’s most common textile fibre and yet only 15% of polyester produced is made from recycled polyester (mostly from plastic bottles) [7]. Currently there is no true circularity in the polyester industry because the dyes in polyester mean it cannot be easily removed which prevents it being recycled back into new virgin polyester fibre. The University of Leeds’s innovation created new novel ‘switchable-solubility’ dyes that enables them to be switched from water-soluble to water-insoluble to colour and de-colour polyester.

The difference made

  • The research proves the dyes can be both added to, and removed from polyester, enabling the dye, water and fabric to be recycled with huge potential environmental benefits, needing less energy and water use, and removing the need for auxiliary chemicals in the dyeing process.
  • The introduction of the new CO₂ technology delivers a truly circular process that has the potential to recycle directly and mechanically some of the 57 million tonnes of polyester fibre produced globally each year[8].
  • The University of Leeds also made a bonus discovery, in that their technology also works on other fabrics such as denim and existing dyes in polyester.
  • Next the project plans to scale the technology to test at industrial scale, plus complete a full environmental lifecycle analysis.
  • The University of Leeds will share their discoveries with the textile and recycling sectors, plus exploring commercialising the technology to maximise its reach and impact.

Marija Rompani, Director of Ethics and Sustainability at the John Lewis Partnership, said: “The Circular Future Fund allowed us to connect and support leading innovators to enhance their circular business models and drive the shift in circularity within the industry and society.

“I’m so excited to share their findings, and hopefully this is just the beginning of the impact that each of the winning projects will have.”

Saskia Restorick, Director at Hubbub, said: “The four projects, while very different in nature, shared an ambition to bring innovative, creative and entrepreneurial approaches to designing out waste in their respective sectors.

“This forward-thinking fund, along with the winners’ hard work and dedication has enabled them to find tangible solutions and gain huge amounts of insight and knowledge. It has been a pleasure working with them and seeing their ideas come to life.

“We look forward to seeing how they develop and to sharing their successes to inspire even more innovation to speed up the transition to a more circular economy.”

The Circular Future Fund aimed to identify innovation and challenge the status quo, to boost the circular economy. The four projects have delivered on their ambitions, leave a strong legacy and offer tangible examples of the circular economy in action.

To find out more about the four projects, their impact and legacy, the Circular Future Fund impact report can be viewed at  hubbub.org.uk

Crimestoppers Scotland Impact Campaign: Five people arrested and charged with murder

Scotland’s trust in Crimestoppers sees anonymous information play vital role in catching murderers, fugitives & drug dealers

Over the past year (1st April 2021-31st March 2022,) independent charity Crimestoppers Scotland and their youth programme Fearless received over 16,000 contacts from the Scottish public.

As a result of anonymous information from communities across Scotland, over 350 (357) people were arrested and charged, including five with murder. Contacts about drug supply, manufacture and dealing continue to rise and the charity passed on information to the police which helped recover a ‘street value’ of drugs worth over half a million.

Fearless, the youth programme of Crimestoppers, saw over 58,000 young people from all across Scotland visit the charity’s youth website Fearless.org and reported crime – 100% anonymously – more than ever before. 

Information from the public has achieved the following:

  • 16,328 pieces of anonymous information were sent to Police Scotland & Law Enforcement. Whilst the headline figure is slightly below last years (a small decrease of 1%), this followed a record high year. 2020-21 saw the most disseminations (16,515) from the charity to Police Scotland in 34 years of Crimestoppers.
  • Dangerous criminals and wanted offenders were thwarted. Over 350 (357) criminals were arrested and charged by police due to Crimestoppers information in Scotland. This was a fall of 35% on previous year.
  • Five people were arrested and charged with murder/unlawful killings
  • Three people, who were on the wanted list, were caught and charged
  • Nearly 50 (48) disqualified and uninsured drivers were arrested and charged
  • 54 drink/drug drivers were arrested and charged
  • Over a dozen (13) charged with hate crime
  • Firearms: Two were arrested for firearms offences, with one firearm and three hauls of ammunition were recovered
  • ‘Street’ value of drugs recovered over half a million: £541,901
  • Value of property and cash recovered: £192,856

Over the past year, 12,709 pieces of information were recorded as `actionable intelligence’ by law enforcement. This means that 78% of all Crimestoppers anonymous information sent to Police Scotland was high-quality information.

In 2022, four new £20,000 rewards were offered to support investigations that needed our support. We also issued another combined reward of £20,000.

Thanks to police action after receiving Crimestoppers reports, nearly a thousand positive outcomes followed (935). This was a 20% increase on the previous year and included 163 vulnerable and safeguarding issues.

Angela Parker, National Manager for Crimestoppers Scotland, said: ‘We are continually grateful for people across Scotland who come forward and trust us with their information.

“From drug dealing to child harm and neglect, we heard from thousands of people concerned about crime in their communities. We are so encouraged and grateful to those who contacted our charity – thanks to you, life is better for many and communities across Scotland are safer.” 

Police Scotland’s Assistant Chief Constable Gary Ritchie said: “The annual report makes it clear that our communities remain confident in using the service provided by Crimestoppers. The information provided anonymously helps Police Scotland’s officers tackle crimes that affect our citizens. 

“We also want to acknowledge the support that Fearless provides to our young people, in schools and our communities which undoubtedly helped their resilience during the past few difficult years and understand that we can also play a part in keeping everyone safe.”

“We continue to work in partnership with Crimestoppers to encourage those who may be concerned about getting in touch with us directly to call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or visit its website to make a report anonymously.”

Minister for Community Safety Elena Whitham said: “The clear, significant impact that the information provided to Crimestoppers has had on tackling crime shows the power we all have to help keep our communities safe.

“It is extremely encouraging to see so many young people through the Fearless campaign play their part to help tackle crime. The information they have provided along with many thousands of others who have come forward has resulted in more than 300 less criminals on our streets last year.

“I would like to thank Crimestoppers, Police Scotland and members of the public for their support and efforts. The Scottish Government is backing this with £3.4 billion for justice system in the next financial year to fund vital front-line services, provide continued support for victims and witnesses, and to tackle the causes of offending.” 

The Women’s Fund for Scotland celebrates investing £3million to organisations across Scotland

  • The Women’s Fund for Scotland has so far invested around £3 million to over 640 groups and is the only sex and gender specific grant maker in Scotland
  • Almost 1,000 life-changing grants have been made by The Women’s Fund for Scotland
  • 42,967 women and girls have benefited from The Women’s Fund for Scotland funding

The Women’s Fund for Scotland (WFS), a charity created to help girls and women across Scotland, has released its 2022 Impact Report.

The report details the way WFS has been able to inspire and empower women across the past 20 years to help them overcome inequalities that affected their freedom, health, income, pay and power.

Founded in 2002, WFS is the only gender-specific grant maker in Scotland and the report highlights that to date, it has invested around £3 million in over 640 groups helping almost 43,000 women and girls. The work of the fund has helped to create 48 social enterprises and the grants have supported 65 women to become self-employed.

The report highlights many examples of the life-changing impact support from the fund has had on women from all walks of life in Scotland.

The fund has helped and supported a wide range of groups across Scotland from a textile training project, partnerships with Glasgow Girls Football Club and the Women’s Business Station, supporting Deaf Link to develop a tailored service to meet the needs of deaf women and girls experiencing abuse, to the “Followitapp”, a digital resource for women being stalked that is accessible through the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre.

One user of the app described how it has helped her record incidents, and feel like she doesn’t have to have the evidence of her stalker in her home:

“I never felt safe. I was at breaking point. When the App didn’t exist, I wrote things down. I would get to the stage where I didn’t want to write it down anymore. I didn’t want it lying about my house. It was just a constant reminder of my stalker. I just wanted to forget about it all.

“In the App, the time and date are already there for you, and it’s a lot quicker. You don’t need to fill in all the information there and then. I filled the rest in when I got to a safe place.”

Sue Robertson, Chair of the Women’s Fund for Scotland, says: “Our impact report provides the perfect opportunity to raise awareness of the important work that The Women’s Fund for Scotland supports. 

“In Scotland you are never more than 50 miles away from an organisation funded by the Women’s Fund for Scotland, and more than 42,000 girls and women have benefited from our funding. This is something we are extremely proud of and hope to build upon in the coming years.”

Shona Blakeley, Executive Director at The Women’s Fund for Scotland adds: “We are extremely proud of all the support we have been able to offer over the years.

“However, this is only possible thanks to our supporters, and we rely on their generosity and kind donations. For those who would like to donate, you can do so via our JustGiving page – https://www.justgiving.com/womensfundforscotland”

The full impact report can be found here:- 

ImpactReport2022_compressedDownload

https://www.womensfundscotland.org/project-stories/impact-report-2022/

Children’s Hearings Scotland release Impact Report 2021-22

Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS) has released their annual Impact Report for 2021 – 2022.  In this Impact Report, we highlight some of the major achievements from the year and how we have delivered on our duty as a Corporate Parent. 

Key elements of this year’s Impact Report include:

–          Partnering with the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration, Scottish Government and The Promise Scotland to form the Hearings System Working Group, which delivered its Issues List in March,

–          Celebrating 50 years of Hearings in April 2021,

–          Launching our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy,

–          Launching the CHS Promise Programme, which is a cross-organisational project that includes all the work we are doing locally and nationally to improve the hearings experience for children, young people and families,

–          Adapting to various significant changes to the laws around children’s hearings, including the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 which ensures brothers, sisters, people with brother/sister-like relationships are given new rights in hearings,

And most importantly, despite the ongoing challenges brought by the pandemic, the provision of over 21,000 hearings which took place to support and protect nearly 11,000 children in Scotland. 

National Convener and CEO, Elliot Jackson, said: “The CHS Impact Report shows the work and reflection of the dedication and contribution of our Panel Member and Area Support Team volunteers and CHS National Team staff. 

“As we progress with our vision for the future of the Children’s Hearings System it has been a privilege to look back and see what we have achieved over the last 12 months and look forward to seeing how we shape the next phase especially our focus on improving the hearings system through the Hearings System Working Group”. 

Over the course of this year, we worked with our volunteers and partner organisations to listen to and help support and protect nearly 11,000 children. 

As we go forward, and look towards how we can further improve the Hearings System, we are committed to putting the voice of children and young people at the centre of everything we do, and to working together to make Scotland truly the best place to grow up in.

impact-report-2022Download

Cost of Living Crisis: New report by One Parent Families Scotland

Out of the COVID pandemic and straight into a #costoflivingcrisis …

One Parent Familes Scotland asked single parents accessing their services about the main issues affecting their lives and what needs to be done to tackle them.

Read OPFS’s cost of living impact report: https://bit.ly/39N9i0e

Impact_Report_Key_themes_AprMay22Download

Big Issue Invest supports local enterprise Homes For Good

  • Social investor reports supporting 184 social enterprises in past year
  • In turn, investees supported over 1 million people across the UK
  • Social investor outlines new strategic direction with ambitious target to increase the assets under BII management and advisory to over £500 million by 2030

Big Issue Invest (BII) has launched its 2020-2021 Impact Report.

The report revealed that the social investment arm of The Big Issue, supported 184 social enterprises across the UK with £39.7 million Assets Under Management (AUM) at March 2021*.

The report detailed how, in turn, those 184 social enterprises were able to support over 1.16 million customers across the UK in the same period.

The organisation reported that, of BII’s total investment portfolio, over 62% of the 184 investees of the past year are based in areas of high deprivation**, where capital can have the greatest social and economic benefits, including London, the North East and North West.

20% of BII’s total portfolio is invested into organisations directly tackling inequality in the UK in order to improve health, education and job outcomes in deprived areas.

BII’s investments in Scotland, the North East, East Midlands and the East of England have significantly increased during the period.

For example, £5 million was invested in Scotland- based social ventures with a major investment in the social lettings agency Homes For Good.

£1.7 million of investment was made into social enterprises in the East of England, with a change in value percentage of 667%.

Of the total number of investments, 16% support people living in poverty and/or financial exclusion, 11% support people living in precarious housing or who are homeless, 12% support vulnerable young people, 11% support people experiencing unemployment and 9% support people with mental health needs and conditions.

The top five Sustainable Development Goals contributed to by BII’s investees were: Good Health and Wellbeing (31%), Decent Work and Economic Growth (17.4%), Sustainable Cities and Communities (16.3%), Quality Education (10.3%) and Reduced Inequalities (8.2%).

The report showed that 9,490 people are employed by BII’s investees across the UK and provide 6,900 volunteering opportunities for people in local communities. It also revealed that 76% of investees focused their impact at a local rather than national level.

The report detailed BII’s support of social enterprises during the pandemic. BII provided £3.2 million of grants to 118 grantees across England as part of the National Lottery Community Fund’s ‘Social Enterprise Support Fund’ and supported the Resilience and Recovery Loan Fund to disburse £5.5 million through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

It also provided 61% investees with repayment holidays. Over 50% of BII’s investees managed to grow or maintain their work during the Pandemic.

The report also laid out the foundations of the new BII strategy: We Back Human Potential.  BII’s new strategy, which includes an ambitious target to increase the assets under BII management and advisory to over £500 million by 2030.

Danyal Sattar, CEO of Big Issue Invest, said: “In the past year, we have been inspired by the way that social enterprises and charities across the UK have responded to the unprecedented challenges faced by their communities whilst also overcoming challenges within their organisations.

“I am proud of the Big Issue Invest team who have worked tirelessly in supporting our investees to keep the lights on, adapt to new operating environments and to continue to deliver impact to their customers.

“We were part of two major sector responses to the pandemic: the Social Enterprise Support Fund and the Resilience and Recovery Loan Fund. On top of this, we continued to support over 180 organisations with £39.7 million of investment.

“During this period, we have launched a brand new strategy as an impact investor. Driving everything we do, we will champion impact-first investing; we will push for social equality and we will provide a broader range of support that is ‘more than money’.

“Over the last 12 months, BII has continued to prioritise improving diversity, equity, and inclusion in our work. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our investees for their engagement on this issue, as well as our many partners and the networks in the sector who continue to push the social investment and social sectors to be more inclusive and accessible to social purpose organisations and the wider communities they support.”

BII-IMPACT-Report-20-21-NEWDownload

For more information and to download the 2021 Impact Report, please visit:

www.bigissueinvest.com.

76% of Scots intend to donate to a local charity this Christmas

·      85% believe that supporting a local charity is more important than in previous years

·      Community charities top the list of popular causes, while health and animal and wildlife initiatives are also front of mind for residents

76% of Scottish residents intend to donate to a charity close to home this Christmas because of the current climate, a new study has found. 

Data released from Ecclesiastical Insurance’s 12 days of giving campaign shows 10,361 people in the country have so far nominated a local cause to receive a £1,000 donation. 

And an overwhelming number 85% believe it’s more important than ever to support the work of local charities, as a result of the Coronavirus crisis. 

12 days of giving from specialist insurer Ecclesiastical will see 120 different charities receive an early Christmas gift of a £1,000 donation. 

Members of the public are being asked to nominate a charity close to their hearts to receive a festive financial boost with nearly 140,000 people suggesting 3,927 good causes already, in the last two weeks alone. 

247 Scotland based charities have been nominated so far and are in with a chance to win £1,000. 

Community charities are the most popular causes as voted by residents so far. Health organisations and animal and wildlife initiatives are also high priorities. 

Ten lucky charity winners will be announced each weekday from 7 to 22 December. 

It’s quick and easy to nominate a charity online.

Nominations are open until to 21 December and you can vote for your favourite charity at www.movementforgood.com/12days 

Winners will be drawn at random – and while it’s not a popularity contest, the more times a charity is nominated the more chance it has of being selected. Ecclesiastical is encouraging everyone to use their social media channels to ask people to vote for their favourite cause to give them the best possible chance of winning. 

Mark Hews, Group CEO of Ecclesiastical, said: “It’s incredibly humbling to see that Scottish residents are more likely than ever before to make a donation to a local cause this Christmas, despite the difficult year that most of us have faced personally.

“As a commercial company with a charitable purpose, giving back is at the heart of our business. Our annual 12 days of giving Christmas campaign will help charities change lives for the better and we know that for many charities, £1,000 can make a real difference. We’re encouraging everyone to nominate a cause close to their hearts this Christmas to be in for a chance to win a festive financial boost.”

Ecclesiastical recently launched its latest Impact Report to celebrate some of the many good causes it has helped.