Community Fridge Investment Fund

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Investment fund for Community fridges!

The Community Fridge Investment Fund, a fantastic collaboration with Co-op, offers an opportunity to access up to £5,000 in funding to fuel your initiatives and drive your social and environmental impact goals!

With this fund, we want to deepen the impact of fridges and address the issues that come up time and time again, like volunteer recruitment, lack of capacity or dependency on grant funding, just to name a few. 

We’ve listened to the network and identified areas where our support could address these problems through encouraging innovation, enhancing existing activities, adapting to new and future challenges and using research and insights to enable groups to become self-sustaining.

We are seeking applications from established fridges needing support and we are delighted to be offering groups £5,000 to take their fridge further.

This funding will be available on a rolling basis over 6 weeks and applicants who are unsuccessful will be able to apply again as many times as they like within that window. We will be allocating grants on a continuous basis until the funding allocation is distributed.

What might the funding be used for?

The focus of this funding is to improve the longevity, self-sufficiency and social/ environmental impact of your community fridge. Applications might include:

  1. Improving buildings

    Improving buildings and facilities related to your fridge

  2. Training and learning

    Training and learning opportunities for your team

  3. Expanding service

    Extending and/or expanding the existing service that the fridge group provides

  4. New initiatives

    Using insights from previous projects to evolve into new initiatives (“survive mode” to “thrive mode”)

  5. Equipment and technology

    Upgrading equipment and technology

  6. Communications

    Reaching more people through marketing and communications

  7. Fundraising

    Improving your income generation and fundraising

  8. Recruitment

    Volunteer recruitment and management

  9. Innovation

    Trying out new and innovative ideas

  10. Collaboration

    Working with other groups to make your project stronger

  11. Reducing waste

    Reducing waste and making best use of resources

  12. Core costs

    Capacity or core costs (this could include rent for the facility or salaries for permanent staff. Please note that core costs should be no more than 1/3 of the funding received)

  13. Evaluation

    Evaluation or impact measurement

Case studies

Repton Connect

Repton Connect used the grant to employ a member of staff to coordinate more food recovery from farms, retailers, and food producers. "This funding has been brilliant – it allows us to enhance our capacity and effectively manage surplus food." – Beth Rice, Repton Connect

Lochwinnoch Community Fridge

Lochwinnoch applied for funding to extend their fridge capacity and improve accessibility, adding more fridge space to serve their community. "Thank you for this new funding! – It turns around our capacity issues and lets us serve more people effectively. Don’t hesitate to apply for the funding; it can make a huge difference." – Lochwinnoch Community Fridge

Yaxley Community Fridge

Yaxley Community Fridge used the funding to install an air conditioning unit to keep their space and volunteers cool. Non-refrigerated items now stay fresher for longer, and volunteers are much more comfortable, especially in summer! "We should have done it sooner! The heat in the room in past years has been unbearable." – Yaxley Community Fridge

Waddesdon Hall Community Fridge

Waddesdon Hall used the funding to build toilets at their community fridge, which allowed them to offer more services and run activities for longer. Their advice for other groups: “Take a step back, engage with your supporters, and put together a compelling case study. Every community fridge represents a strong and impactful cause that funders are likely to support, so don’t be afraid to think big and aim high!” – Waddesdon Hall Community Fridge

The Feed Foundation

The Feed Foundation used the funding to support volunteer recruitment at their fridge. "The funding from Hubbub has allowed us to thoroughly develop our volunteer training programme, helping with retention and consistency by ensuring volunteers are fulfilled beyond their roles." – The Feed Foundation

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