Giving World Online - Redistrubution of good quality, surplus stock

Leicester based charity Konnect9 launched a free to use website, www.givingworldonline.com in December. The site quickly and securely links up companies which have unwanted goods with charitable organisations that need them.
 
Konnect9 is a registered charity that aims to support the lives of disadvantaged people as well as encourage a better sense of community and corporate social responsibility across the UK. Konnect9 redistributes new, good quality surplus goods from UK businesses, which are abandoned or about to be dumped in landfill, to disadvantaged people in the UK and around the world, free of charge.

Our experience shows us that sustained free gifts in kind make a huge difference to people in their daily lives, enabling them to stretch their own limited resources. It also supports their ability and confidence, empowering them to move forward.

Over the last seven years, Konnect9 has redistributed £1.5 million worth of goods, including toys, books, clothing, toiletries, IT equipment, furniture, medical aid and equipment, to 150,000 disadvantaged people and prevented 200 tonnes of business surplus goods going to landfill. To date, goods have been distributed as far as Africa, India and Europe.

Konnect9 has now embarked upon an innovative step-change in its operation, introducing a national (and global) platform for the effective, efficient means of linking businesses that have surplus goods directly with charities and the people they help, through a free online facility - www.givingworldonline.com. The website expands the current service which will always be restricted by available warehouse space and the volume of collections and deliveries that can physically be made.

It's a very simple process. A business with surplus stock (e.g. end-of-the-line goods, samples, odd batches, last season's ranges etc) advertises it on Giving World Online for free. Charities register, search the database of business surplus and receive it free of charge (ex any transport costs) for distribution to the people they are working to help. This could be the homeless, women and children fleeing domestic violence, older people, children and families in need.

An estimated £1.37 billion worth of goods are wasted by UK businesses every year. Yet 12 million people who are in low income jobs struggle to make ends meet and one third of all UK children are living with poverty, meaning they go without some of the things they really need like adequate clothing or three meals a day.

In the current economic climate the situation will only get worse, with more and more people living on the poverty line. The charity sector's already limited resources will be stretched even further. Business surplus may reduce, but will still be available across all industries.

The online presence enables the donors and beneficiaries to deal directly with one another - in a safe, secure and managed way. All the charities registered to the site are checked to make sure they are bona fide.

Every donor receives a personalised record of everything they have donated on the site. They can view details of the charity that received the donations; the number of beneficiaries; and the value and volume of goods diverted from landfill.

The benefits are considerable and include:

For the corporate sector:
. Save money on storage and disposal costs
. Achieve corporate social responsibility goals
. Reduce waste to landfill
. Improve green credentials
. Support local communities at no cost
. A simple, no cost method to increase awareness of ethical practice among companies and their employees.

Environmental impact:
. Reduction in landfill
. Reduced production of methane gas. Landfill gas is created when waste in a landfill decomposes. This gas is about 50% methane and 40% carbon dioxide. These compounds contribute to the formation of ozone, a primary cause of smog and are also greenhouse gases contributing to global climate change.
. Achievement of global waste reduction and sustainability targets.

Social impact:
. Enhancing the voluntary sector's reach and capacity by providing free 'access to excess.', including stationary, computers, equipment, furniture, kitchen units, as well as distributing goods directly to their beneficiaries. The benefit of this no-cost option for small, grassroots organisations working directly with communities, as well as larger organisations with wider reach, cannot be underestimated.
. Education, supporting schools, nurseries, PTAs, organisations working with children with learning disabilities or with children living in poverty. This includes providing learning materials and equipment, such as books, CDs, computers, arts and crafts materials, to schools and directly to disadvantaged families.
. Health, including distributing first aid equipment to war zones; medical aid and equipment, including hospital beds and furniture to developing countries; and toiletry packs to hospitals in the UK.
. Social disadvantage & poverty, including supporting homelessness organisations, refuges, community centres in particularly deprived areas and organisations working to reduce anti-social behaviour.
. People experiencing violence and abuse, including providing toiletries, clothing to women fleeing domestic violence; furniture for women who are being re-housed, often to completely empty properties.

Already, the site has made a demonstrable impact. In less than 2 months, 20 tonnes have been diverted from landfill, helping thousands of disadvantaged people including the homeless, teenage mothers, children with special needs and children and families living in deprived circumstances.

Giving World Online has been established as the social enterpise and trading arm of Konnect9. The site is currently available in the UK only, but when the site has demonstrated that it is sustainable we will initiate a stepped launch in other countries, developing a global programme. Through www.givingworldonline.com we can operate more extensively on a global stage, reaching the most deprived communities around the world.

Currently funded by charitable donations, organisational sustainability will be achieved through onsite corporate sponsorship and advertising.

Sujata Bhalla
sujata@givingworldonline.com
08458 333 783
www.givingworldonline.com