First month in the new job - "Fancy jumping out of a plane?". I felt obliged and that they'd hold this against me in my review (joking, they wouldn't actually) so I said yes. "Fancy jumping out of a plane, paying for the privilege and then raising money for a great cause on top of that?". Sure.

I am raising funds for Year Here​, a pioneering social business​. Launched in 2013, Year Here is a postgraduate course in social innovation based in London, designed to cultivate entrepreneurial approaches to entrenched social problems.

Year Here Fellows start by spending 5 months volunteering in care homes, homeless hostels and youth services across London where they work directly with service users and lead ‘innovation projects’ that aim to leave a legacy​ and pave the way for future innovations​. Fellows ​then go on to run a community engagement project for a local council or housing association client​ before develop​ing​ their own social venture idea from scratch.

We will be raising funds for ​Year Here's incubator phase, where Fellows are supported by entrepreneurs and experts to rapidly develop and test their ideas for social change. Many of these seeds grow into successful social businesses and charities beyond the programme. This fits perfectly into Forward3D's fail fast, agile work practice. We feel driven to contribute to the growth of a steady stream of new ventures in London that we can support with our digital marketing expertise in the future.

In the last couple of years, ​the Year Here incubator has​ launched​ a raft of​ social ventures in fields as diverse as ethical fashion, social design, homelessness and educational inequality. They've been recognised as Shackleton Leaders, Ashoka Changemakers, New Radicals and Housing Excellence​ ​Award Winners.