Building a network on Warp It

The following guide details the quickest and most effective ways of building a strong network including “friending” other public and private sector bodies, as well as 3rd sector (social enterprises, not for profits and charities).

When an item is advertised on Warp It the internal staff of the primary organisation are always prioritised. However as the item approaches the deadline the item/s can be advertised externally. (If the storage settings are disabled). Items are advertised to the primary organisation’s ”friends” first (or Priority 2 partners) and then further afield (Priority 3).

When organisations partner or link up on the system both organisations become Priority 2 to each other. That is if an item is approaching it’s deadline in Org A – it is advertised to Org B staff before the rest of Warp It is able to claim the item

Partnering organisations

By partnering, organisations can prioritise which other organisations get to hear about their surplus items first. On the other side, your organisation gets prior access to the partner organisaion’s surplus resources.

To partner organisations

1. Log in as the admin


2. Go to “Build Networks” section on left hand side


3. Click “Search Organisations”- Leave the text box blank to search all organisations for possible close links


4. Click into the organisation and send a partnership request

Use the partnering facility to friend any other organisation on the network.

In the admin area check which organisations you have requested partnerships with. On the left hand side you can check which organisations are already linked- and search others.

Building 3rd sector capacity in your network

As a large organisation there are items that you would prefer to go onto a useful 2nd life rather than end up in a skip. The more partners the organisation has, the more likely it is that skip charges will reduce and waste will be prevented. There are a few ways to build your 3rd sector capacity.

Setting up a local portal for your own charities

Your organisation will probably already have links with local charity and community groups.

Warp It is the perfect way to strengthen bonds and collaborate.

It is possible to set your own local charity portal up. This has worked very well with other customers link Bath and North East Somerset Council; See here.

The benefits of setting up a local portal for charities is:

1. Great demonstration of Civic leadership


2. Brand the charity portal up with your logos


3. Brand the charity portal up with your organisation name


4. Better, more meaningful relationships with local charity & community groups


5. Better communications with local charity for one off announcements etc


6. You control who joins the portal


7. You control the portal settings


8. Charities apply to you directly

What now?

If you want to set up your own charity portal - please contact us with the details of the person who will lead on it as well as your chosen portal name: Eg warp-it.co.uk/newcastleunicharity and we will action this for you

Link with local Voluntary Community group organisation

A great strategy is to approach the local umbrella organisation for charities and voluntary groups in the area. These organisations are like a member group and represent local 3rd sector. When the umbrella groups joins up to Warp It they get their own portal. All of their members can join. This is a very efficient way of building your network as you only have to deal with one friend request.

Examples of very popular community umbrella groups include Glasgow Social Enterprise Network (GSEN) (warp-it.co.uk/GSEN) and Sunderland Voluntary Community Action (warp-it.co.uk/VCAS) who combined have facilitated £50K of surplus assets into their membership - saving £50,000!

To find your local 3rd sector umbrella organisation use google and the search term “location voluntary community group” see www.ncvo-vol.org.uk or speak to your outreach department of your organisation.

Use staff connections

The organisation’s staff have the most meaningful links with local 3rd sector. Please see the template email below, to send to staff to encourage 3rd sector ties via staff. These relationships prove to be very strong and as such transfers are more efficient than other 3rd sector groups.

Outreach / partnership department

The strongest ties will be with local 3rd sector. You may have an outreach department who already work with local 3rd sector. If this department exists there will probably be a list of local charities.

Getting the 3rd sector to sign up

Please direct all 3rd sector to www.warp-it.co.uk/charities. Subscription is free.

We provide free guidance and support (guides, workshops etc) for 3rd sector members. Please ask any of your 3rd sector partners to email info@warp-it.co.uk to access the support.

Linking with schools

When the local Council joins Warp It all of the schools within the boundary get access. Friending the local council is an excellent way of massively increasing the partners who can get access to your local charity. If your local Council is not using Warp It please pass your local contacts to info@warp-it.co.uk and we will endeavour to get them to join

Email to staff seeking 3rd sector connection- please copy and send to staff

Dear [staff]

Are you involved with a local charity, community group, faith group or club?

Are you looking for office furniture or other resources for your charitable social purpose activities? Look no further!

XXX have signed up to a resource reuse network called Warp It. The system allows staff to give away and claim surplus resources for their work activities - saving procurement spend. More info here (XXlink to your internal Warp It pagesXX)

However sometimes we cannot find homes inside the organisation in the timeframe and these resources become surplus to requirements- so we pass these to local charitable groups.

The online portal allows charitable and community groups to claim surplus or underused resources from larger organisations, like a corporate Freecycle.

Resources include furniture, fixtures and fittings, stationery, files curtains even office plants!..anything really.

To sign your local community or charity group up for free visit www.warp-it.co.uk/charities. You have to be a charity, social enterprise, community or faith group delivering a social objective to join. So sports clubs, scouts and brownies and any groups serving a social or charitable purpose can join.

We are encouraging all third sector organisations to join the scheme. It is free, so why not? Save money on your purchasing spend.

XXXX and others are uploading spare resources now - in fact we have some resources on the system now which if not claimed internally will become available on XXX- so keep an eye out!