What is the business?
GoGro CIC is a Community Interest Company based in Greater Lincolnshire, which develops and delivers innovative projects that support people and communities. They have been involved in delivering a variety of projects, such as Holiday Food Activities, Flourish with Food, and Slow Cooks to Save Your Bucks.
The stated vision of GoGro CIC is to:
“Inspire individuals and communities through creative projects that focus on healthy and affordable eating, nature and the environment, and innovation.”
“Ensure creative and environmentally conscious innovations to help improve people’s lives both individually and on a community level.”
“Help people from all backgrounds gain valuable experiences, knowledge and opportunities.”
History:
GoGro CIC is the joint venture of Eamonn Hunt and Rob Hewis, who serve as co-directors of the company. After entering MasterChef in 2012 and getting to the finals, eventually finishing fifth, Eamonn then took a year working in kitchens up and down the country. A year later he opened his first Lincoln restaurant which ended up getting into the Michelin guide for 2017/18 also featuring on TV and in the press. Rob has a Graphic Design background, he worked as a freelance designer and previously within the Local Authority for over ten years where he led on community-based initiatives, health and wellbeing and local wealth building. Both Rob and Eamonn are passionate about community development and sustainable growth.
GoGro’s “Cook, Learn, Grow” project, which was delivered in collaboration with Lincolnshire County Council’s Day Opportunities Team at Ancaster Day Centre, is one of their early flagship initiatives. Through the project, GoGro delivered a course covering safe food management, food handling, knife skills, cooking techniques and recipe design.
How did LORIC help?
Using the summative evaluation data from the “Cook, Learn, Grow” project, LORIC was able to produce a Social Return on Investment report. Based on the data, GoGro CIC was able to demonstrate that for every £1 invested in their initiative, there was a minimum return of £7.30 in social impact. The final report will be presented alongside the summative assessment of “Cook, Learn, Grow” in order to demonstrate the value of the project to the participants and their wider community.
Plans for the future:
GoGro CIC are currently approaching the start of their second year in operation and are planning food-based initiatives that are born from the best practice and lessons from year one. They will be working with food banks to show local residents how to utilise their food parcels in the best possible way; they will be working to improve the quality of food available to some of the most vulnerable people in society whilst also continuing to teach people, young and old, about the techniques that help them to improve their relationship with food, to gain independence and improve health and wellbeing.
Communities are facing more and more financial challenges in 2023 and GoGro CIC aim to support individuals and families by delivering projects that help families obtain slow cookers and similar cost-saving devices. They will also be diversifying their portfolio to support the ever-growing number of people who are suffering from mental health issues, looking at seed-to-fork initiatives and green instillations.
We have always had great belief in the work we do and the outcomes that are achieved for the individuals who work with us, however, it is sometimes difficult for, especially new organisations, to demonstrate outcomes and value for money in a highly competitive funding environment.
Working with Katya and LORIC was so beneficial to us as we were able to communicate what we do easily to someone who understood our work from a different perspective. The information Katya helped us to obtain enabled her to develop our SROI report and ‘social value’ which we have used to evidence the greater value for money that we always knew sent ripples beyond the lives of our beneficiaries but weren’t able to demonstrate – now we can!
We know that more and more funders and commissioners are looking at SRI but believe that this should be considered as much as, or even above actual value – when we see the issues that the NHS are under and we think ahead to the potential health problems of tomorrow, surely SROI will help us to determine the projects that have the greatest impact on society.
GoGro CIC
