Big Society funding creates new social action organisation

The minister for Civil Society, Nick Hurd, has announced 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 Charity Times 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 new offering to families, and a programme to support people with mental illness, for launch in 2012-13.

The Cabinet Office’s investment will also assist the new organisation to take to the commercial market 'Cosmo', a 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.

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."