SPORTING MEMORIES
Using sport to help people with dementia
Piloted in 15 care homes in Leeds, Sporting Memories uses sports images, reports and memorabilia to stimulate conversation among older people with dementia and now runs more than 80 groups in the UK. sportingmemoriesnetwork.com
NHS CHANGE DAY
A day of pledges for NHS improvement
Established by a Twitter conversation among NHS staff in 2012, this grassroots movement designates a day in March to make pledges big and small to improve the service. More than 800,000 were made this year.
changeday.nhs.uk
FRONTLINE
Training graduates to become social workers
Former teacher Josh MacAlister founded Frontline in 2013 to encourage graduates into social work. The two-year training course – the first one started this summer – aims to change the lives of vulnerable children living in London and Manchester. thefrontline.org.uk
WIKIHOUSE
Designing and printing houses
Develops hardware and software for people to design, download and "print" houses and components that can be assembled with a minimum amount of skill or training. Individuals can make donations to fund whichever aspect of the process they are interested in. wikihouse.cc
OOMPH! WELLNESS
Improving life for the elderly with exercise
Oomph! stands for Our Organisation Makes People Happy! Set up three years ago in Scarborough by Ben Allen with the aim of making exercise classes fun for older people, they currently have more than 100,000 participants in London. oomph-wellness.org
CODERDOJO SCOTLAND
Free coding clubs for young people
Aims to teach young people between seven and 17 how to code, develop websites, apps, programs, games and much more in a sociable environment. coderdojoscotland.com
GOOD FOR NOTHING
Helping to accelerate change
The Good for Nothing community, established in the UK in 2010 and now present in countries around the world, brings together thinkers, doers and makers online and through regular collaborative events. goodfornothing.com
CASSEROLE CLUB
Tackling loneliness and malnutrition
Established in 2011 to help people share extra portions of home-cooked food with others who might not be able to cook for themselves – 80% of diners are over the age of 80. casseroleclub.com
BREATHE AHR
Improving health through art
A social enterprise from Guy's and St Thomas' Charity, it was set up in 2012 by Yvonne Farquharson with the aim of designing innovative ways of using the arts and creativity in healthcare to boost the health of patients. breatheahr.org
VOLUNTEER IT YOURSELF
Teaching the young building skills
Encourages young volunteers to take responsibility for the upkeep and management of youth clubs, gaining vocational accreditations leading to apprenticeship opportunities with local employers. They've refurbished 59 buildings in the UK, and 1,047 young people have earned a City and Guilds qualification. volunteerityourself.org
HOME WORK PLAY
Sustainable design for first-time buyers
A London crowdfunding enterprise of architects, solicitors, engineers and builders that builds flats indexed at local wages as opposed to market prices. It currently has building projects in Clapham, Hackney and Tooting Bec. homeworkplay.com
BOX CHICKEN
A healthy street food campaign
The project sells peri-peri chicken as a low-fat alternative to fried chicken to schoolchildren via mobile kitchens in Newham, London. wearewhatwedo.org/portfolio/chicken-shop
CARE CHARTS UK
Helping carers and those they care for
Created in July 2010 by Zoe Harris of Horsham in West Sussex, whose husband was in the final stages of dementia and about to go into care. The charts' symbols aid communication between patient and carer and are particularly useful when the patient can no longer communicate their needs for themselves. carechartsuk.co.uk
YEAR HERE
Graduate social leadership programme
Helps graduates with leadership potential to develop their skills and links them up with companies with a social responsibility remit. Has teamed up with the Cabinet Office, Age Concern, Centre Point and the YMCA. yearhere.org
FIGSHARE
Free public platform for data and research
Enables users to upload research and share it. Founded in 2011 by Dr Mark Hahnel, who recognised that the bulk of his work was not available to the wider research community. figshare.com
BIG GREEN GAP YEAR
A living wage for gap-year volunteers
A University of Gloucestershire student union initiative, this offers green work placements to school leavers. On completion, students will receive a fee waiver of up to £4,500. bit.ly/1vMP2zg
THE SEVERN PROJECT
Employment for recovering addicts
A Bristol-based initiative that produces and delivers salad to restaurants and shops, providing jobs and training for those recovering from substance abuse or with mental health issues. It has created urban farms to promote ecological diversity. thesevernproject.org
STREETBANK
Sharing skills with neighbours
As well as reducing consumption and waste, Streetbank is a way of sharing and lending useful skills or items within a community. Sam Stephens founded the non-profit firm in 2010, and it now has almost 40,000 members worldwide. streetbank.com
CAMPAIGN BOOTCAMP
Campaigning skills for marginalised people
Campaign Bootcamp teaches young people the technical and campaign skills they need to make change within their communities and organisations. The company actively supports women, people with disabilities and people of marginalised cultures, faiths and ethnicities. campaignbootcamp.org
SUPER KITCHEN
Promoting healthy eating and food foraging
Founded by Nottingham single mother Marsha Smith, the cafe helps families eat a decent meal together a day made out of fresh ingredients, using surplus supermarket and local produce. thesecretkitchencafe.com
FAIR TAX
Promoting corporate tax responsibility
The fair tax mark is a label for firms and groups that are good taxpayers. The mark shows consumers the firms they can trust to help them spend their money where it counts. fairtaxmark.net
ELIOT HIGGINS
Founder of the Brown Moses blog
The Brown Moses blog began in March 2012 by covering the Syrian conflict. Higgins uses video footage, satellite images and eyewitness reports on social media to find stories from around the world. His analysis is often cited by the press and human rights groups. brown-moses.blogspot.co.uk
REAL JUNK FOOD PROJECT
Turning unwanted food into cafe meals
Adam Smith's Leeds project, created in 2013, tackles food waste from shops and supermarkets by turning it into meals for a cafe, staffed by volunteers, where customers pay what they think their meal is worth. therealjunkfoodproject.co.uk
IAN THOMAS
Children's services director, Derbyshire council
Thomas's missions have included opening the service to include more communication with young people, and work to include more creativity in the system. He has improved educational outcomes for children in care and plans to further his work nationally.
PEEK VISION
Testing eyes anywhere in the world
A team of ophthalmologists, engineers, business experts and software developers has created an affordable and portable smartphone-based system to conduct eye examinations – from surgeries to patients' homes, even in the remotest of settings. peekvision.org
SLEEPIO
Teaching sleep improvement without pills
Founded by sleep expert Professor Colin Espie and former insomnia sufferer Peter Hame, this website provides a range of tools and expert information on the science behind insomnia, exploring everything from the body clock to REM sleep and snoring to melatonin. sleepio.com
DO NATION
Donating by doing
This firm encourages people to donate action rather than cash. It works with individuals, companies and universities to encourage friends, employees and students to make environmentally friendly pledges in their everyday lives via its website. thedonation.org.uk
ROOTLESS GARDEN
Caring for the elderly through gardening
Nadia Daghistani and Indie Shergill set up temporary gardens in care homes around London to engage with elderly people who have dementia. rootlessgarden.strikingly.com
GRAVITY LIGHT
Generating light from gravity
Seeking to provide affordable light sources for the developing world, Jim Reeves and Martin Riddiford designed a device that generates light by using a descending weight. It launches next year. gravitylight.org
BIO-BEAN
Recycling coffee grounds into biofuels
Established this year by Benjamin Harriman and Arthur Kay, this processes more than 30,000 tonnes of coffee waste and turns it into pellets that can be used to power buildings and vehicles, reducing carbon admissions and dependency on conventional fuels. bio-bean.com
LEEDS DATA MILL
Open data platform for Leeds businesses
Created by open data expert Mark Barrett in 2013 with the aim of creating a new generation of data-driven citizens and businesses, saving time, cost and resources. An iPhone app, described as a "TripAdvisor for healthcare" recently reached number one on iTunes. leedsdatamill.org
DOT DOT DOT
Homes for volunteers
There are almost half a million long-term empty homes in the UK while many people can't actually afford to rent or get onto the property ladder. This website allows people to live in a local empty home as a property guardian in return for doing at least four hours per week of volunteering work for charity. dotdotdotproperty.com
DIGITAL MUMS
Online social media training for mothers
Created last April by Kathryn Tyler and Nikki Cochrane, this provides training to mothers in Hackney, London and helps them find apprenticeships as social media managers in small local firms. digitalmums.org
SPACE HIVE
Transforming public spaces
Former architecture journalist Chris Gourlay founded this crowdfunding platform in 2012 to help local communities improve their public spaces. Recent projects include a new garden in Hackney's Morland estate. spacehive.com
THE SUNDAY ASSEMBLY
Non-religious congregation celebrating life
Comedians Pippa Evans and Sanderson Jones convened the first Sunday assembly – a fortnightly non-religious service helping people improve their lives – in London in 2013. Now there are 28 around the world. sundayassembly.com
SPARK AND METTLE
Helping young people develop work skills
This charity uses coaching, tech and collaborative events to build character strengths, personal skills and the networks young people need to succeed in work and life. sparkandmettle.org.uk
THE CITY TALKING (HEBE MEDIA)
Media company and creative consultancy
Designed to reach and engage a young Leeds audience, the organisation began life as a Facebook page and is now a newspaper that reaches 25% of under-35s in the city. It aims to develop open-data communities, and then feed that data back into content. thecitytalking.com
CODE CLUB
Teaching children to code
A nationwide network of free after-school coding clubs for children aged 9-11. Children are taught one project a week and learn how to make games, animations and websites. codeclub.org.uk
UMOTIF
Software for patients and clinicians
A socially minded software firm helping people to lead healthy and independent lives. Using its apps, people can monitor their health and share data with health professionals. umotif.com
SCIENCE SHOWOFF
Sharing knowledge through entertainment
Open-mic cabaret nights for scientists, communicators, teachers and the like, which raise money for charites such as Save the Children. Performers might tell jokes, play songs, read poetry, or give any kind of performance at all. scienceshowoff.org
CROWDFUNDER
Raising funds to get projects started
The UK's leading crowdfunding platform, connecting projects with communities and raising money, awareness and support to make ideas happen. It has has raised over £2m to date, providing an alternative means of funding that allows individuals to take their ideas forward and make them a reality. crowdfunder.co.uk
CIVIC SYSTEMS LAB
Seeding a local civic economy
A group that seeks to develop new open ways to produce a sustainable society while tackling poverty at a time when local authorities are stretched. The aim is to understand and develop citizen-led change and the civic economy, working with a wide range of partners from across the public private and third sector. civicsystemslab.org
SCHOOL FOR HEALTH AND CARE RADICALS
Virtual-learning healthcare programme
This five-week course operates via web seminars and chat forums, encourages healthcare professionals worldwide to find ways of improving patient care. The second term begins in January 2015. changeday.nhs.uk/healthcareradicals
SO SAY SCOTLAND
Promoting participative democracy
A politically neutral, "broad-minded", non-profit and currently voluntary project, imagining Scotland as a hub of democratic innovation. sosayscotland.org
