Do you bulk buy baked beans?

Have you been collective buying groceries with members of your community to help save money? Or have you been recycling your neighbour’s unwanted garden waste; creating compost to deliver social benefits? If you answered an enthusiastic “yes”, the time has come for you to share your ideas, and get involved in the ‘Buy Better Together Challenge’!

The Buy Better Together Challenge is a brand new, exciting initiative by Co-operatives UK and BIS to inspire new models of community buying, and promote shared learning, including ideas just like yours! A £60,000 pot will go towards training, mentoring and seed funding for stand out projects, including £15,000 for the overall winner!

On your marks, get set…..

With less than a month to go before the 15 May deadline, it’s time to get involved and send in your application form! The challenge is now open to applications from groups and organisations within the public, voluntary or business sectors, which focus on creating new or developing existing community buying schemes.

Entrants are asked to address one or more of the below challenges:

Challenge One: Project aimed at creating a platform, tool or vehicle to help individuals to come together and form a community buying group.
Challenge Two: Project aimed at enabling existing or new community groups to develop their purchasing power by working collectively on behalf of individual consumers.
Challenge Three: Project aimed at businesses to empower their employees or consumers to group for community buying.
In the spotlight

The criteria for judging the prize will include:

• The greatest potential in terms of saving money and getting better quality
• Achieving long lasting impact or sustainability
• Being able to engage a community successfully
• Having social benefits, including helping disadvantaged consumers
You will need to make sure that you are 100% happy with what is required of your application, so please click here for more information on the judging panel, Challenge Introduction, and Online Application. Good luck!

Streetlife might be right up your street

Local social network, streetlife.com, is a great place to suggest and coordinate collective buying, whether that’s groceries, heating oil, office or gardening supplies.  Streetlife makes it easy to connect with people nearby, ask questions about your area, and share news, events and recommendations with neighbours.  Their mission is to unite neighbourhoods across the nation and build a trusty source of local knowledge, but it all depends on people like you getting involved… so please sign up and help spread the word!