Long list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) relating to Neighbourly and how the platform operates.
Neighbourly is an award-winning giving platform and a free tool for charities and community organisations. We help businesses make a positive impact in their communities by donating volunteer time, money and surplus products to local causes, all in one place.
Neighbourly is for:
Neighbourly is B Corp which means we are a for-profit company with a social mission. This enables us to scale sustainably and provide a platform and service which is free for charities and community organisations.
Neighbourly is free for charities, community organisations and individuals to use. Companies are required to have a licence to use the platform, which means that any donations given by a company can go to the charity in full.
When an individual makes a donation to a charity on the platform, we charge a small transaction fee to cover costs. This is 5% of the gross donation amount, excluding any Gift Aid declaration (which is exempt).
We currently accept charities and community groups from the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey.
You can view all the charity pages, company pages and campaigns on the site without an account. However, with an account you can:
If you would like to join as a charity or community organisation, please create a page. If you are an individual user, please create an account.
Log in and head to your dashboard - from here you can amend your profile, password and email address. You can also access preferences and connect your social media accounts.
A good cause page on Neighbourly is a free space for charities, community groups, CICs and schools to raise awareness, ask for help and receive donations of money, volunteer time and surplus food and products from businesses. Good cause pages can also be used to set up volunteer events and fundraising pots for individuals to support. Each page includes an ongoing record of donations and social impact.
If you are new to Neighbourly, you can create a page on this link.
If you already have a page, you should not create a second one for the same organisation. Log in and you’ll land on your dashboard where you’ll see a link to your existing page, and an edit icon that lets you make changes.
You can check if your organisation already has a page on Neighbourly by searching here.
Any charity, community group, CIC or school can create a Neighbourly page and receive support. However, you will only be eligible to use the Individual Giving fundraising feature to receive credit/debit card donations from members of the public if your organisation is a registered charity or CIC. Some grant programmes are only available to registered charities so we recommend adding a charity/CIC number to your page if you have one.
Your page should include a detailed summary of your organisation and how you would make use of any donations received. It should include information about the sort of help you need, the number and type of people you support and a good image. You should keep the page regularly updated so we can provide you with the right opportunities.
If you are applying for surplus food donations, please see the extra information required on your page in our surplus FAQs.
When you create or edit a page, you will be able to choose your primary work area, organisation type and focus areas. You can also select a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). SDGs are broad, top-level impact categories agreed by the UN. You should select the SDG that you feel best fits your organisation, then use the other category sections to provide the detail.
Neighbourly’s good cause pages feature an impact panel highlighting all the support, volunteer events, financial donations and surplus that the organisation has received and coordinated through the platform. This panel also shows top company supporters. For prospective volunteers and supporters, this information is great for highlighting community impact and partnerships.
If you’re new to Neighbourly or haven't had a chance to get active yet, your panel may not have appeared, but it will start building as soon as your activity does.
The panel uses some information that you’ve entered previously into your dashboard. If you’d like to update this information you can login and follow these steps;
Once you’ve made changes, please wait 24 hours to see the updates live on your page.
Once your page is complete, published and vetted, you’ll be alerted by email about any opportunities including grant funds and volunteer offers. If you would like to let your supporters know about your page, you can use your social, digital and offline channels to spread the word - social share buttons are located on every page, volunteer event and fundraising pot. You can also copy the link to your page and paste it into email footers or blogs.
It's a good idea to keep your page up to date so that Neighbourly and potential supporters know what your current activities and needs are.
To edit your page, log in and you’ll land on your dashboard. Click the settings icon next to the page you wish to edit and you’ll see the various page sections. As a minimum, please make sure that your page details, categories, organisation type and impact sections are filled in and up to date.
You can invite a colleague as an administrator to help you manage your page. This will give them editing rights so they can amend the page content and create volunteer opportunities and fundraising pots. They will also be notified by Neighbourly about important updates and offers of support from businesses.
To invite an administrator by email, edit your page and go to the Page admins section.
Please check the person you would like to hand over your page to has a Neighbourly account, then contact us to request that they are replaced as the page lead.
If you are new to Neighbourly, you can create a page on this link to get started. You can create a volunteer ‘need’ or an ‘opportunity’ as part of your page set up. A ‘need’ is a quick way of describing a volunteer requirement. An ‘opportunity’ is a more detailed volunteer event that volunteers can sign up to .
If you already have a Neighbourly page, log in and click the settings icon next to your page to edit it. Click on the ‘Volunteering’ section and then choose the option to create a ‘need’ or an ‘opportunity’.
Registered charities and community interest companies (CICs) are eligible to fundraise on Neighbourly via individual giving.
If you are new to Neighbourly, you can create a page on this link to get started. You can create a fundraising pot as part of your page set up. You'll also be prompted to set up an account with our payment provider, Stripe, so that you can securely receive any funds donated.
If you already have a Neighbourly page, log in and click the settings icon next to your page to edit it. Click on the ‘Individual donations’ section to connect or set up a payment account with Stripe. Then click on the ‘Fundraising’ section and choose the option to create a fundraising pot. Fill in the details including the purpose of the fundraising and add a good photo. Once you’ve published your pot, you can share it using the social icons on the page.
For more information, please see our fundraising FAQs.
You can log cash or cheque donations on your fundraising pot to show how they have helped progress towards your goal. Click on the ‘Fundraising’ section of your page and choose the option to ‘Add money raised’.
If the donation is from a company or branch with which you have a Neighbourly relationship there will be options for you to associate the funds with that company. Once you've done this, the company will receive a notification and be able to view the donation online.
Please contact us to request deletion of your page.
Before your organisation can start collecting food, fundraising or join one of our programmes, your Neighbourly page must have a ‘verified’ status. Verification involves us checking the credentials of your charity or group. Once vetted, all new pages will show either a blue verification tick (for charities) or a green verification tick (for non-profits and community groups). Pages will be re-verified periodically. Verification is quicker if all the sections of your Neighbourly page are properly filled in. In some cases we may ask for further information.
1 - Register for free by creating a page on Neighbourly for your organisation. Your page should include a detailed summary about your organisation and how you will use the food donations, as well as any supporting website/social media links and pictures. See the ‘What information do I need to include’ FAQ below. If you already have a Neighbourly page, login and edit the page by adding the information above and completing the ‘food approval’ section.
By setting up a page you will be agreeing to our terms and conditions. Please note that you must be an established community organisation, school or charity to join. Surplus donations are free and we do not partner with PLCs or for-profit organisations for these schemes.
2 - Upload a current Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate (dated with the last 2.5 years) to the ‘food approval’ section of your page. A Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate is a minimum requirement to join the Neighbourly surplus schemes as this provides assurance that there is a knowledge of food safety (for transporting, storing and redistributing) within the organisation. Alternatively, you can add a link to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) Rating for your premises.
Our vetting team will aim to review your page within 1 week. We may have to ask you for more information about your work before we can approve your page for surplus collections. All information regarding your activity should be uploaded to your Neighbourly page, but please do not upload any private documents or private information in the publicly visible area.
If you are approved for surplus collections we will then get in touch with any availability at stores within 6 miles of your premises. Please note that we might not get in touch straight away - this is dependent on the collection slots we have available and may take some time. Please do not pick up surplus from our partner stores until you have received a confirmation email from us and a notification to say that a donation is available.
You can search online for ‘Level 2 Food Safety & Hygiene training’ or ask your local council. We can recommend this short course by Virtual College which can be completed online within 2-3 hours.
To be approved for surplus collections, your page should include evidence of your work, including:
- How the surplus will be used and who will be benefiting from it
- How you identify service users and their needs
- What premises your group operates from
- If there is a charge for the service(s) provided by your organisation
- If you are a registered charity, CIC, social enterprise or non-profit organisation
- Any other services your organisation provides other than food support
- If your group currently collects surplus from any other retailers
- If there have been any local media articles or similar that demonstrate your organisation's work in the community
- Any photographs of the work your organisation does
- Any partnership with other local good causes or council members who may be able to provide a reference
- Recent social media links
To add another administrator, the page lead should login to their dashboard, choose the relevant page and select ‘Edit’, then go to the ‘Page admins’ section and enter the details of the person they wish to invite.
You can find this information in the Neighbourly Food Terms and Conditions. Please take particular note of the section on the Transportation, Storage, Handling, Traceability and use of Products.
There are a number of reasons why you might not have received any notifications. It is possible that your Neighbourly page may not be approved for collections, or there may not be any available slots in your local area. If you know that your page is already approved, and in the schedule to collect, it may be that your partner store is not making any donations.
To check the progress of your application, or if there are issues with a partner store, please contact the surplus team on food@neighbourly.com.
If you are unable to collect surplus for a period of time, you should add a collection break. Log in and go to www.neighbourly.com/mycollectionschedule. On this page you can scroll down to 'Add a break' and then enter your start and end dates. This will pause all of your store collections for that time. If you want to add a break for certain stores but not others, please contact us.
The information from the FSA on the following link will help you check how your organisation is affected by the new prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) allergen labelling requirements and what to do to ensure you are compliant: FSA: Introduction to allergen labelling changes
Specific guidance with regards to the Neighbourly surplus redistribution scheme can be found on our Natasha's Law information page. This page includes a link to allergen information for any loose food products our partner companies make available for distribution.
Neighbourly is not able to facilitate any specific product requests or one-off donations for the purposes of raffles, fundraising events or hampers.
Contact Neighbourly in the first instance. We may ask you to contact your partner store if it is something that can best be resolved locally.
You will receive a notification by email if there is a suitable grant fund that your organisation can apply for. The application is done through a simple online form.
Head to your user dashboard and you will be able to see your grant applications and their current status.
Neighbourly will notify you about the outcome of your application by email. You can also check the status on your dashboard. If successful, you will be asked to enter your bank details and provide a supporting document. All banking information is subject to vetting and we will contact you if we need more information to verify your details.
After your application is approved, payments can take up to 3 working days to process. We will email you when we have sent payment.
The Neighbourly Foundation (charity 1189514) is an independent foundation which collaborates closely with Neighbourly. The Foundation administers all of Neighbourly’s grant programmes. If you receive a grant payment through the platform, it will be facilitated by the Neighbourly Foundation.
In some cases we are able to make payment to a non-charity bank account as long as you are able to provide supporting evidence that can link this to your organisation.
For some grants we accept applications from not-for-profit community organisations as well as charities and CICs, however the criteria for each grant is different and you will be able to view the grant criteria before you apply to see if your organisation is eligible.
Registered charities and community interest companies (CICs) are eligible to fundraise on Neighbourly via individual giving.
If you are new to Neighbourly, you can create a page on this link to get started. You can create a fundraising pot as part of your page set up. You'll be prompted to set up an account with our payment provider, Stripe, so that you can securely receive any funds donated. Our team will need to approve your application, which normally takes around three working days.
If you already have a Neighbourly page, log in and click the settings icon next to your page to edit it. Click on the ‘Individual donations’ section to connect or set up a payment account with Stripe.
You can create a fundraising pot by clicking on the ‘Fundraising’ section and choosing the option to create a fundraising pot. Fill in the details including the purpose of the fundraising and add a good photo. Once you’ve published your pot, you can share it using the social icons on the page.
Neighbourly will check information found at https://www.gov.uk/find-charity-information. We'll also use additional sources of publicly-available information. We reserve the right to withdraw fundraising approval from a charity at any time.
To register with HMRC you'll need to register online or fill in the HMRC CASC Registration Form (CASC(A1). To find out more about applying to become Gift Aid registered visit https://www.gov.uk/claim-gift-aid/overview.
Yes – as part of the approval process, you'll be given the option to provide information about your participation in the HMRC Gift Aid scheme. By doing this, you'll be declaring that your charity is legally compliant with the requirements for Gift Aid, is registered with HMRC under the Gift Aid scheme and that the fundraising activity you're undertaking is eligible under the rules of the scheme.
Donors will be offered the option to include a Gift Aid declaration as part of their donation. By doing this they confirm that they're a UK taxpayer and eligible for Gift Aid and wish for your charity to reclaim the tax paid under the Gift Aid scheme.
Stripe is an international online payment provider through which people can make card payments safely and securely. When you set up an account with Stripe, Neighbourly won't see any of your account details (account numbers, username, password etc.), these are held solely with Stripe. Their service allows us to protect donors by processing card payments securely without their details being stored or processed by Neighbourly or charities.
A number of organisations use Stripe to handle their payments including Comic Relief, Apple Pay and Deliveroo.
Donations made through Neighbourly will show in your Stripe account (minus the 5% fee) straight away. Stripe will subsequently transfer the funds into your nominated bank account. The first payment from your Stripe account to your bank account is made seven days after the date of your first donation. After this, payments are made on a seven-day rolling basis. For example, a donation made on a Monday would be paid into your bank account on the following Monday.
We charge a small transaction fee equal to 5% of the gross donation, exclusive of any Gift Aid declaration. Fees are deducted automatically through Stripe before donations are credited to your account. There are no additional fees.
Our aim is to cover our costs for the service and ensure charities know exactly what they will receive. We feel this is the fairest and most transparent way of charging for everyone involved.
Donors will only be able to cancel a donation if they contact us within 48 hours after it is authorised on the website. After this time, donors will need to contact you directly to request a refund, which will be at your discretion. Where a refund is provided, any fees charged by Stripe will also be returned.
Your Neighbourly page will show details of the donations received to date, along with a running total. You can also access a report from your dashboard. Donations will appear in the report 30 days after they have been made. This is to allow for any cancellations or changes to Gift Aid declarations.
When a donation is made, the donor is given the option of not showing their name with the donation. These donations will show up as anonymous on Neighbourly. However, their details will be included in your donation reporting so you can reclaim Gift Aid, if applicable.
If you have received a donation to your fundraising activity directly (not through Neighbourly) you can still log this on the site to show how it has helped towards your goal. Go to the relevant fundraising pot and click on 'Add money raised'.
If the donation is from a company or branch with which you have a relationship on Neighbourly, there will be options to associate it with that company. The company will receive a notification and be able to view the donation online.
On Neighbourly you can create a ‘need’ which is a quick way of describing a volunteer requirement before all of the details have been worked out. You can also create a volunteer opportunity which is a more detailed volunteer event that volunteers can sign up to. Opportunities are typically used to recruit volunteers for activities lasting no more than one day. You can set up multiple opportunities if you wish. These can be used to request any type of skill set, which you can add in the description.
If you have a regular opportunity, you can use the ‘clone opportunity’ tool to create a copy of an existing listing, then just amend relevant details. For example, if it's a regular weekly event you can change the date each time.
The Neighbourly system will create an attendee list for each volunteer opportunity listed. You can download this list, including contact details, from the event page. If you've asked to approve volunteers, you'll receive an email when someone wants to volunteer, and you'll need to log in to accept them. You can message volunteers individually via Neighbourly.
If you have volunteers attending who aren't registered on Neighbourly, you can record the number of extra attendees after the activity has begun. The volunteer listing page will show these as extra volunteers from the community.
If a company would like to support your volunteer opportunity with employee volunteers, you'll be notified by email and you'll be able to offer a number of volunteer spaces to that company.
Neighbourly will send out a short email to thank everyone who signed up. You can also download the attendee list, including contact details, from the event page.
You can head to neighbourly.com/volunteering to view all the current listings and click on a volunteer opportunity to find out more. However, many volunteer opportunities are created with spaces for employees of particular companies only. If you find a good cause that you would like to volunteer for that doesn't have spaces for members of the public, you can register your interest in volunteering on their page.
If you are looking for employer-supported volunteer opportunities, please have a look at your employer’s company page and campaign pages to view connected opportunities.
If your plans change and you can no longer attend, log in, then click 'Cancel my attendance' on the volunteer opportunity page.
If you find an organisation that you’d like to volunteer for that doesn't have any opportunities listed, you can register your interest in volunteering on their page.
If your company is already on Neighbourly, please have a look at your employer’s company page and campaign pages to view connected opportunities.
If your company is not on Neighbourly, but has a volunteer programme that they would like to run though our platform, please ask them to get in touch with our business team.
All pages that are approved for fundraising are for a registered charity or Community Interest Company and have been vetted and approved by Neighbourly. The charity must have the appropriate authorisation, permit or licence to operate as a charity, as required by the local laws of the territory in which it operates.
The fundraising page will specify what the charity is fundraising for, and you should make sure you are completely happy with this information before making a donation. Charities reserve the right to use your donation for general purposes. If you want your donation to be used for a specific purpose, or you have any concerns, you should contact the charity directly.
You can cancel your donation on Neighbourly within 48 hours of making the payment. After this time, you will need to contact the charity directly.
All donations need to be made by a payment card (e.g. a debit card or credit card). Our payment provider, Stripe, will process the transaction. All transactions, financial data and the transfer of funds is managed and handled entirely by Stripe, and you'll be subject to Stripe's Terms & Conditions. Once your credit or debit card provider approves the transaction, Stripe will arrange the transfer of funds to the chosen charity.
We charge a 5% transaction fee on every donation to cover costs incurred (excluding any Gift Aid declaration).
Yes – you may be offered the option to include a Gift Aid declaration on your donation. By doing this you confirm that you're a UK taxpayer and eligible for Gift Aid, and wish the charity to reclaim the tax paid under the Gift Aid scheme. Please check whether you qualify for Gift Aid before making a donation – if in doubt, HMRC may be able to help.
We'll need your name, postal address (if the donation includes a Gift Aid declaration), email address and details of the credit or debit card account that you wish to use to fund the donation. You must confirm that you're aged 16 or above to register on the Neighbourly website.
In some cases, we may ask you to provide us with additional personal information to fulfil our legal responsibilities before your transaction is completed. We will keep the personal data you provide to facilitate the donation and provide the charity with the information they need to process, audit and report on donations received and enable them to support claims made under the Gift Aid scheme.
Yes - you have the option of not showing your name alongside the donation on the website. Your details will be shared privately with the charity as part of their reporting so they can manage and audit donations and claims under the Gift Aid scheme. Where a Gift Aid declaration has been made, the charity will also provide these details to HMRC as part of their Gift Aid claim process.
Telephone us on 0117 422 0866 or contact us via the website. Please include your name, telephone number, email address, the time you made the donation, the name of the charity and the donation value. If there was a reference number provided at the time you made the donation, please provide this too.
Please contact us and we'll look into your concerns.
Businesses can use Neighbourly to manage employee volunteer programmes, grant programmes and to redistribute surplus food and products. Surplus redistribution is currently only available within managed-service licences.
If your business would like to support local charities and community causes through Neighbourly, please have a look at our business plans page where you can explore plans and request a demo. There are options for self-managed licences as well as bespoke fully-managed packages for enterprise-size businesses.
Self-managed and bespoke managed-service licences are available. Please have a look at our business plans page where you can explore plans and request a demo.
Licences work on an annual subscription basis.
Self-managed accounts can be set up in a matter of minutes. Your company page and campaign pages can be created once your account is live.
If you would like to discuss a licence, please contact our business team on this link: neighbourly.com/getintouch
The Neighbourly Foundation (charity 1189514) is an independent foundation which collaborates closely with Neighbourly. The Foundation administers all of Neighbourly’s grant programmes. If you make grant payments through the platform, it will be facilitated via the Neighbourly Foundation
Before a good cause can receive support through Neighbourly they must have a ‘verified’ status. Verification involves us checking the credentials of the organisation so that we are happy to connect them to your programmes. Once vetted, all good cause pages show either a blue verification tick (for charities) or a green verification tick (for non-profits and community groups). Pages are re-verified on an annual basis.
Your company page can be created and managed from your company dashboard once your account has been created. Head to the ‘helpful links’ section.
Your company branches can be created and managed from your company dashboard. Head to the ‘helpful links’ section.
A campaign is a giving programme, organised by a company to achieve an impact goal e.g. improving food poverty in a specific area. You can segment your impact data by campaigns within your reporting dashboard.
An impact theme is the goal or objective of a campaign, focused around addressing a specific problem or providing support in a specific sector or area.
Fill in your campaign activation form in your company dashboard outlining the types and locations of charities you would like to support, and the campaign will be activated for you. You can also search for charities on the platform.
You will find an employee invite link on your company dashboard. Provide your employees with this link so they can sign up and be connected to your company account.
A company volunteering code can be created from your company dashboard. Head to the ‘helpful links’ section. Your employees should input this code when they sign up to volunteer events so that their activity can be connected to your company reports.
You can view analytics and impact reports on your company dashboard. Head to the ‘helpful links’ section.
Fill in your campaign activation form in your company dashboard outlining the types and locations of charities you would like to support, and the campaign will be activated for you.
The minimum you can donate to a single charity or community group through a grant programme is £500. If you would like advice on running grant programmes, please contact companysupport@neighboury.com.
Fill in your campaign activation form in your company dashboard outlining the types and locations of charities you would like to support, and the campaign will be activated for you.
We would recommend that you conduct a risk assessment before volunteering. A template can be provided by contacting companysupport@neighboury.com.
We recommend that you have a volunteer policy in place. We can provide you with template clauses and thought-starters for your policy - please contact companysupport@neighboury.com.
Fill in your volunteer campaign activation form in your company dashboard outlining the types and locations of charities you would like to support, and the campaign will be activated for you. You can also search for charities on the platform.
Call us on 0117 422 0866 or contact us to send an email.
Yes, Neighbourly lets you control what information you share publicly and your contact details are not displayed on the website. You may also choose to anonymise your user profile so that it does not show your full name.
We take data protection very seriously - your personal details are held privately by Neighbourly for the purposes of running our programmes and providing you with relevant information and support. For more information please refer to our Privacy Policy.
Login and head to your Privacy settings where you are able to set your profile private.
Log in and head to your Account settings - from here you can amend your profile, password and email address. You can also access preferences and connect your social media accounts.
Click log in and then select the 'Forgot my password' link. We'll send you an email to reset your password. If you don’t see the email within a minute or two, check your spam folder.
Yes - just sign up for a user account on Neighbourly, then contact us and request that we add you to the page.
Neighbourly should work on almost any browser. However, if you are running an outdated version of Internet Explorer (versions 8, 9 or 10) on an older operating system such as Windows 7 or 8, you will need to update your browser before you can view the site.
Click on the search icon at the top of the site and enter the name of the organisation. You can refine your search using the additional filter options.
You can contact other users via the internal messaging system by viewing their profile and clicking on the ‘Message’ button. This will send a private message without revealing their personal contact details. It isn’t possible to message company leads.
Children under 16 can use the site, but a parent or guardian will need to complete a permission form due to the site using location data. Please contact us for more information.
The Neighbourly logo can be used by charities or community organisations that are on the Neighbourly platform and by our client partners where the use is specifically related to our programmes. A logo pack can be downloaded here. Neighbourly is a registered trademark.
If you wish to raise a concern or complaint about Neighbourly’s programmes or services, please email the details to complaint@neighbourly.com.
Alternatively you can write to us at:
Neighbourly Ltd, Engine Shed, Station Approach, Redcliffe, Bristol BS1 6QH
Neighbourly has a Code of Ethics which underpins our principles, responsibilities and behaviours. We also ask that our community members commit to this standard. It is important to us that we take feedback to improve our service for the future in line with this code, so your feedback is appreciated.