One Hundred and Eighty Tonnes and Counting……..

Giving World Online has hit a significant target of redirecting 180 tonnes of surplus stock away from landfill and onto benefit people in need.

Thanks to the latest donation of 3000 single bed mattresses we are now past our 100 tonnes milestone and working towards our next Giving World Online big target - 300 tonnes redirected from landfill.

Meanwhile many of the mattresses are being redistributed to hostels and refuges around the country, providing homeless and isolated people with a safe, clean and comfortable place to sleep.

Giving World Online has now seen over £700,000 worth of company donations touch the lives of 175,000 vulnerable people.

Director, Rama said: "This has been a great year for Giving World Online and hitting this milestone is the icing on the cake at this time of year. Thanks to all the companies and organisations that have made this possible; they have all contributed to making a really positive impact on the lives of many of the poorest and most vulnerable members of society."

The DEFRA Waste Review

Recently the Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Rt Hon Caroline Spelman MP, announced that the Government would undertake a full review of waste policy in England. Preliminary findings are due to be announced by Spring 2011.

The current Waste Review will be looking to implement measures to cut landfill waste which could have a big impact on businesses. According to Defra, for every tonne of household waste produced, commercial, industrial and construction businesses produce another six tonnes.

One of the ways the government intends to help businesses reduce waste and increase recycling is through voluntary responsibility deals.

Announced by Environment Minister Lord Henley the voluntary responsibility deals on waste will remove the need for further regulation and will lead to less waste and more recycling with the added benefits of businesses saving money and helping to protect the environment

The good news is that companies donating goods through Giving World Online save money on storage and disposal costs whilst meeting Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility goals. Giving World Online is ideally placed to offer a solution for companies with quality goods to dispose of and it doesn’t cost a penny.

16/09/2010 - Giving World Online Commended by Beacon Fellowship

We are all delighted that Rama and Sujata Bhalla have just received a Beacon Prize 2010 ‘Highly Commended’ certificate in the New Initiatives Category for launching Giving World Online.

With previous Beacon winners including the likes of Sir Bob Geldolf, Jamie Oliver and Big Issue founder John Bird, to even be considered alongside such great company is a real achievement.

The sisters were nominated by Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Community Foundation and Leicestershire First.

The Beacon Fellowship Trust commented, “Our panel of independent judges thought your achievements were remarkable; that you were nominated by your peers proves that your contribution to charitable and social causes is truly inspirational.”

Sujata Bhalla said: "We were really surprised to receive our Beacon Prize Highly Commended certificate. Receiving recognition like this is a great boost and confirms that Giving World Online is making a valuable contribution to communities and the environment."

The Beacon Fellowship Charitable Trust was established to help change the climate of giving in the UK; to encourage everyone, not just a few, to take personal responsibility for charity in the UK. Beacon works to uncover and recognise extraordinary achievements in the world of charity.

Read the original story and more at Giving World Online's site.

Charity benefits from donated hot plate

Today we follow the life-cycle of a Victor Crown Hot Plate and Cabinet, recently donated by Capital One and gratefully received by Whitwick Community Coffee Shop.

Manufactured by Victor Catering Equipment, The Victor Crown mobile catering hot plate has been serving Capital One’s workforce for most of its life. Recently, Capital One restructured which involved upgrading their restaurant. This meant the hot plate was no longer needed, but what to do?

Throwing it away would be bad for the environment. It would need to be taken apart and dealt with in line with the appropriate regulations, which is often expensive. It would be much better to allow its life-cycle to continue since it is still in good working order.

So it was on offer to a good home through Giving World Online and ultimately donated to the Whitwick Coffee shop this July, giving it a new lease of life.

Whitwick Community Coffee Shop is a charity that works to combat social exclusion by running events and activities designed to bring people in the local community together, such as a lunch club each weekday. Here they serve home cooked meals to around 400 people per week, mostly young mums and the elderly.

They were really pleased to get the hot plate. It will allow them to serve the meals quickly and efficiently giving them more time to spend with people.

It’s great to see companies like Capital One being so keen to help the environment and the community. They were delighted by the opportunity to do both at once by giving a community group the support it needs whilst preventing items from going to landfill.

A Chance to Learn From the Top

One of Europe’s senior Television Executive’s took time out of his demanding schedule to meet a group of young people working at a Leicester based charity.

Arthur Bastings, Executive Vice President and Managing Director for Discovery Networks EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) paid a visit to Leicester based UK charity Giving World Online (GWO) to meet the Future Jobs Fund (FJF) team.

GWO founder and director, Sujata Bhalla is delighted that Mr Bastings agreed to visit the offices. She said: “It is a great opportunity that such a high profile and busy executive is taking the time to come and meet our FJF team. Some aspire to leadership roles and to have the chance to meet a senior executive of Mr Bastings’ standing is a rare opportunity.”

One employee said: “It is a unique chance to learn from someone of Mr Bastings’ calibre, I hope to find out more about how to progress in management, what key leadership skills you need to develop and take forward any advice he has to offer.”

Mr Bastings oversees the strategic development and daily operations of Discovery EMEA’s six lines of business across the region, which distributes 13 television brands via 40 network feeds to 217 million cumulative subscribers across 105 countries, with programming customised into 24 languages.

Founders of Giving World Online win UnLtd Award

Giving World Online founders Rama and Sujata Bhalla recently received a Level 2 Better Net award from UnLtd (http://www.unltd.org.uk/), in recognition of their innovative http://www.givingworldonline.com/ charity model. The website connects charities and community groups to businesses with new but surplus stock, which is then donated free of charge.

UnLtd is a charity that supports social entrepreneurs, organisations intended to make a positive contribution to society. Level 2 Awards are awarded to individuals with innovative entrepreneurial projects which demonstrate scalability and long-term growth potential and offer inspirational solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing communities, wider society and the world.

There was a celebration event in London on the 24th June at the Hoxton Apprentice, one of a group of apprentice restaurants owned by the charity, Training For Life. It is a social enterprise aiming to give people who have rather lost their way in life a chance to get their lives back on track, learning the skills that will secure them employment in the hospitality industry.

You can read more about the awards here:

http://www.unltd.org.uk/download/Level2_AW_Spring2010.pdf

Giving World Online embrace Social Media

Giving World Online has recently increased their online presence, by rolling out a social media campaign. Along with the established, and soon to be revamped website http://givingworldonline.com, and new blog that you are reading at this very moment, you can also follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/GWOtweets and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Giving-World-Online/131061573580129

Please get involved. We would love to hear from you.