We're Altogether Better: Government Big Society Funding Enables Transition Of Award-Winning Beatbullying Into New Social Action Organisation

25 January 2012

TODAY the Minister for Civil Society, Nick Hurd MP, announces that £1.3 million from The Social Action Fund has been awarded to enable the creation of new not-for-profit organisation, We're Altogether Better, formed to tackle social issues digitally.

We're Altogether Better is run by the team behind the award-winning children’s charity, Beatbullying, which was established in 2002 and has received on-going Government support for its pioneering anti-bullying work.

Through this funding, up to half a million children and young people will be supported through the new not-for-profit organisation, and nearly ten thousand new volunteers will be recruited to significantly increase the support available to the most vulnerable in society. As the new organisation grows, millions of the most vulnerable and at risk young people across the UK will be supported.

Following an initial grant from the Transition Fund in Spring 2011, this latest investment enables the organisation to publicly launch and expand its online mentoring and advice services, such as CyberMentors, FutureYou and MiniMentors.  It will also create a major new offering to families, and a programme to support young people with mental health issues, for launch in 2012-13.

Significantly, the Cabinet Office’s investment will also assist the new organisation to take to commercial market 'Cosmo', the unique software framework which powers its existing proprietary counselling and mentoring services.
Cosmo is a real-time chat and messaging platform that provides a safe online environment through which an organisation can engage with people directly and immediately. The software framework also includes diagnostic tools and administration dashboards that allow organisations to manage, monitor and evaluate their service provision effectively.

Chief Executive, Emma-Jane Cross, said:

“We are indebted to the Cabinet Office for its faith in the ambitions of We're Altogether Better; never has there been a more urgent need to protect our society’s most vulnerable people.

“Thanks to this support, Beatbullying has made the distinct transition into a cutting-edge social action charity, inspiring digital volunteering for the 21st century.  We will now be able to assist thousands of children, young people and adults across the UK, and in doing so, help progress the bold ambitions of the Big Society.

“We believe that We're Altogether Better can help heal social fissures such as racism and violence, improve mental health, unburden the NHS, combat truancy and poor educational attainment, put young people into work, and enhance community cohesion and social mobility.

“In recent years, the need to improve the support provided to the most vulnerable people in society has been widely acknowledged.  This forward-thinking funding from the Cabinet Office has created a modern, digital social action organisation that will meet this need.

“We have evidence that our services, including those this funding will enable us to extend, are successful. CyberMentors, which is powered by Cosmo, has already helped over 1.4 million children and young people and seen a 60 per cent reduction in child-on-child violence in schools where it is implemented.

“We look forward to helping many more people.”

Minister for Civil Society Nick Hurd said:

“In its ambition to support the aims of the Big Society, We're Altogether Better will report back to the Office for Civil Society, and directly to Nick Hurd MP, on its success in the recruitment and development of the 10,000 new volunteers who will take social action online to help children and young people in crisis. We’re Altogether Better will also further report on progress of delivery of Cosmo into other civil society organisations.”

For more information, visit www.werealtogetherbetter.org or www.wearecosmo.com (full websites are in development).

-ENDS-

For more information, interview with a Beatbullying spokesperson or statistics please contact:
Beatbullying - Sherry Adhami | sherry.adhami@beatbullying.org | 0781 400 4963

NOTES TO EDITORS:

About We’re Altogether Better
We’re Altogether Better is a brand new, digital-based, social action not-for-profit organisation. Developed by the team behind the award-winning charity Beatbullying, it was formed in January 2012 upon the acceptance of a £1.3m grant from the Social Action Fund.

We’re Altogether Better will scale up and develop Beatbullying’s independently proven digital support and volunteering programmes to increase social action, improve the reach and scale of support to the most vulnerable, and radically change how people can volunteer, using unique, innovative and inspirational volunteering opportunities.

Existing programmes within We’re Altogether Better include CyberMentors (which reduces bullying in schools by an average of 40% and exclusions by 31%), MiniMentors (which improves friendship and citizenship in primary school by 67%) and FutureYou (which moves nearly 30% of its users into employment or education). These will continue to expand, and more programmes will be developed offering support to the most vulnerable in our society. The first of these new programmes, to launch later this year, will be an online mental health programme offering; online mentoring, counselling and psychotherapy, using Cosmo technology.

Directors and patrons of We're Altogether Better and We Are Cosmo; include Professor Tanya Bryon, Annika Small, Tim Waldron and Dr Catherine Walker. 

For more information go to; www.cybermentors.org.uk, www.minimentors.org.uk, www.thefutureyou.org.uk
www.werealtogetherbetter.org (full website in development) www.wearecosmo.com (full website in development)

About We Are Cosmo

We are Cosmo, trading as ‘Cosmo’, is a new Community Interest Company (CIC), which delivers the power of We’re Altogether Better’s proven digital social action platform to other civil society organisations. It safely and efficiently connects organisations to people, allowing organisations to scale and move their social action models online. In turn, it builds safe communities of support; enabling organisations to better facilitate relationships rooted in giving (either time or money) through effective mentoring, counselling, engagement, advocacy and activism. Cosmo also facilitates the training and development of volunteers and activists by migrating existing models online. Critically, it allows civil society organisations to own, and therefore exploit, their data.

Used effectively by other civil society organisations, Cosmo has the potential to transform civil society by using proprietary technology to mobilise, augment and revolutionise social action. It provides a personalised support network to millions; connecting those in need, and those that can help, directly with organisations that want to change the world. It will provide the UK with the 21st century equivalent of the extended family; Cosmo is a force for social good.

For more information go to; www.wearecosmo.com (full website in development)

About The Social Action Fund

The Social Action Fund is a £20milllion programme that aims to expand, at speed, social action (mostly volunteering) in identified Government priority areas. These areas are:

• Social action related to the Olympics
• Social action that galvanizes local communities to support each other
• Social action targeted at difference life stages, such as the recently retired.

We aimed to grant fund well established national or regional organisations usually under large branded schemes. A strong preference was given to schemes that have agreed match funding.