My initiative is designed for and delivered in London
Yes
I am 18 years of age or above, by the application deadline.
Yes
My organisation is a registered UK entity and has a London-based address.
Yes
My organisation is a non-profit (e.g. school, university, or local authority) — not a for-profit, which can only join as a partner.
Yes
If there is a for-profit organisation as a partner in my initiative, they work on a cost-recovery basis only.
Yes
My solution is implemented at scale, or if not, I have a clear business plan, a minimum viable solution (prototype, pilot, or proof of concept), and evidence of work or impact in London within your coalition.
Yes
I am aware that, if I am submitting more than one application to a Challenge run by Ashoka and Go! London, only one of them is able to progress through the stages.
Yes
Are you an employee (and their children and grandchildren) of Ashoka or any of its respective affiliates and participating advertising and promotion agencies?
No
I have read and accepted the Challenge Terms & Conditions
1
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Are you an Ashoka Fellow?
Are you applying from an organization founded by an Ashoka Fellow?
If you are applying from an organization founded by an Ashoka Fellow, please specify the name and organisation of the fellow below.
Initiative Title
Climate Aware Kit & Equipment borrowing scheme (CAKE)
Lead Organization Name
Wheely Tots
My initiative is designed for and delivered in London
1
Year that you started/ registered your organisation
2015
Website URL(s) or Social Media Handles
https://wheelytots.com/
Initiative Stage
Pilot-Stage (The first activities have happened, and you have proof of concept)
Sectors/Themes: What topic does your project most directly relate to?
Business & Social Enterprise
Initiative Summary: Describe your initiative in one sentence
Climate Aware Kit & Exchange (CAKE) is a pilot sports and physical activity equipment borrowing scheme aimed at supporting underserved Haringey families and young people. Shaped with our community, CAKE builds on Wheely Tots’ successful bike borrowing membership scheme which, in its tenth year, serves almost 300 local families. CAKE addresses the issue of young people being unable to participate in sports due to unaffordable quality kit & equipment, especially important with the increased frequency of adverse weather, while challenging the negative impacts of “buying new” on the climate.
Challenge Focus: What topic does your initiative most directly relate to?
Climate action through awareness and engagement
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve and who will benefit the most from your solution? How close are you to the problem and/or community impacted?
Climate Aware Kit & Exchange (CAKE) tackles the problem and impacts of underserved Haringey young people struggling to access high quality sportswear. It also challenges the culture of ‘buying new’, which depletes the earth’s resources and generates landfill waste. We’ve been working with underserved young people and their families in East Haringey for over 10 years. Haringey is a highly unequal borough where 39% of children live in poverty; our neighbourhood ranks highly across multiple indices of deprivation. Listening to families and grassroots sports coaches, we see first hand the impact of quality sports kit being unaffordable. Ultimately it can lead to young people being unable to participate in physical activity, especially during more frequent extreme wet weather. “I know I can be better but my boots are rubbish and my feet get wet. It gets me down. My mum doesn’t have the money right now for new ones so I’m not playing this winter.” Djibriel, 7. “You’ll always get takers on size 8 and 9 football boots - kids go through them so quick. The smaller sizes will give the scheme its volume.” Clasford Stirling MBE London Elite & Broadwater United Solving this problem matters to us and our community because it improves our children and families' health and wellbeing while addressing the climate crisis by encouraging reuse and raising awareness.
Your approach: How are you addressing the problem outlined above? How are you using the power of sport and physical activity to build awareness, shift behavior, and enable sustainable participation for all in response to the climate crisis? We'd love to know about the origin of your idea, and what was your "aha" moment" that led you to take action?
CAKE expands our established bike borrowing scheme, used by almost 300 local families, into shared football and basketball footwear for primary-age children: a priority identified with our community because of this group’s frequent need for bigger shoes. During our pilot, we’ll collaborate with local grassroots sports providers and manufacturers to enable at least 50 underserved Haringey young people to access quality footwear. We’ll then further test and refine our offer based on feedback. CAKE uses the power of sport and physical activity to respond to the climate crisis by: -Building awareness: we’ll experiment with including climate-related information + digital prompts with borrowed items, encouraging responsible consumption -Shift behaviour: our existing infrastructure and networks of ~1300 local families will enable straightforward participation in a circular economy: borrow online in less than 2 minutes; well-developed CRM. Instead of one-off messaging, weekly sessions + advocacy from trusted coaches will normalise borrowing kit for families. -Enable sustainable participation for all: a pay as you feel model will ensure inclusivity while enabling cross-subsidy from those who can afford it “I coach these kids, I know them. I can say 100% when we make this scheme work I’ll personally recommend it to them. The parents and planet will love us,” Hesketh Benoit, Master Basketball Coach, Haringey Basketball for All After listening to families’ frustration, anger and sadness at the unfairness of the world, our aha moment was realising that access to quality, more expensive kit is more important to families than owning it, proven by our bike borrowing scheme. By expanding our offer, we keep children active while reducing unnecessary consumption and waste.
Collaboration with young people and the community: In what ways does your initiative engage young people and community members closest to the problem? What role do they play in building the solution you deliver?
To engage local young people and their families who are most impacted by a lack of access to sports kit, we use the Public Participation Spectrum (Inform, Consult, Involve, Collaborate, Empower); the basis for all our collaborations. In addition to conversations with local young people and their families about the need for CAKE, 28 young people from Project 2020 youth club and our DofE Cohort and Haringey Basketball Association have completed a survey about how to raise awareness of climate action through the scheme. Their ideas include: -A climate information card with each item borrow summarising the carbon saved to date by the item -Tik Toks highlighting the positive impacts of a circular economy and reusing sports kits with premium brands -Sharing information on youth-led challenges to reduce personal carbon footprints showcasing quality brands To reach and engage children, young people and their families across the borough, we’ll work with our local coach networks via Active Change Haringey, Haringey Development Sports Trust, the Council and primary schools. We’ll use surveys, focus groups and form a steering group to enable different levels of participation including: -Shaping ideas about the items we purchase and brand partners we target -A competition informing the logo design with local primary schools - e.g. our most local Willow and Belmont Primary Schools -Adult and Child Scheme ambassadors who encourage their peers and parents to borrow rather than buy new -Inviting a small group of children to co-create the scheme through attending workshops in school time
Potential for/Evidence of Impact: How do you imagine your initiative will make a difference in raising climate awareness, shifting behaviors, or reducing environmental impact or harm? If you have already implemented it, what difference have you made so far? What is the impact your initiative has had¡, and/or what impact do you envision having in the future?
To understand CAKE's impact, we'll adapt our existing theory of change outcomes: - 80% of young people / families report improved feelings of connectedness to each other and climate awareness - 80% of young people / families report increased mental and physical wellbeing and climate health - 80% of young people / families report realising their own assets to support themselves, each other and the climate To measure and evidence these outcomes on our community, we'll use our existing methods: - Mini survey at the point of first borrow and on return to understand 1. Motivation for participating in scheme 2. How often an item is used to calculate avoided carbon 3. Stories of use (which we'll use to inspire others to join, share) 4. Any impact on other lifestyle areas eg food, travel, fashion Additionally, we’ll collect photos, testimonials, case studies, feedback from coaches, children’s and parents, team observations and reflections, debriefs Hubspot, our CRM will enable us to quickly capture quantitative data: Number of young people / families accessing CAKE Number of items borrowed and the number of times they’ve been borrowed We’ll work with Zellar to refine our understanding of the carbon avoided due to our scheme. We know this can have an enormous impact: since 2014, by avoiding purchasing 1,476 bikes our bike borrowing scheme has saved at least 130 tonnes of C02 (based on 90kg embodied carbon per bike from https://www.frogbikes.com) and we know this is a very conservative calculation excluding travel etc The speed of impact will depend on how many items are borrowed and how quickly we can scale post-pilot.
Innovation: What is different about your initiative compared to other solutions that are already out there? How is your approach original and innovative?
Our scheme is innovative because it’s practical (easy to access), membership-based and local (creating community and fulfilling a desire to connect) and is ambitious in inspiring loyalty (ultimately to the planet). It’s original and very saleable because it combines our existing infrastructure, ways of working, our local networks and relationships and taps into our community’s desire for “the best kit”, membership benefits, and the sense of belonging all of us crave and enjoy. We know big brands will sell us their kit and some are looking at subscription based models, however they lack the direct human connection that we have with our communities. Ultimately they will either sell us products or we will collaborate and shift their thinking to a circular economy approach. We’ve also invested nearly 15 years refining our tech, particularly our CRM, and it is now very scalable. “Wheely Tots’ HubSpot automation is unusually sophisticated for an organisation of its size and purpose, rivalling and in some areas exceeding the operational maturity seen in many UK B2B SaaS businesses.” Richard Tank, Founder, Hey Rebels Our Innovation isn’t just technical - it’s behavioural and bold redefining what it means to "own" something. We make borrowing normal, not novel, and reward care as part of the social fabric. Over time, that shift changes how young people and families think about consumption itself. We are building diverse , resilient alliances, bringing together community groups, retailers, repair specialists, and global brands. Partners like Timpsons, Blue Bee, Nike, Ecover, and Decathlon become not competitors but collaborators - all of us testing how circularity works in real life.
Roles and Responsibilities: Describe how responsibilities are shared among your team or partners.
CAKE is coordinated by our core team and supported by a strong partnership network across sport, youth engagement, and technology. We use a RACI structure to ensure that decisions are transparent and responsibilities are well defined. David, our CEO provides strategic leadership, supported by the Project Manager, Lydia, who oversees budgets and Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning. Day-to-day delivery is coordinated by Rhiannon, who oversees communication flows between core staff - Michael, Agnieszka and Nicolette - and our specialist partners. Weekly meetings, documented using Zoom AI , support us to stay on track. Community delivery is championed by our local grassroots partners - including Active Change Haringey (Gemma ), Haringey Basketball for All (Hesketh), London Elite/Broadwater United Football (Clasford), and Haringey Sports Development (Burk) . Schools and partners such as Project 2020 youth club, Haringey Play Association help us to connect with over 1,000 families to share and test our idea with. Digital innovation will be supported by Hey Rebels, who design the user journey and incorporate tech for kit tracking and participant feedback. We'll have support for developing a business plan from Mark Cotton Consultancy. Specialist partners extend this impact: we’ll seek sports kit and circular economy support from Blue Bee, Decathlon, Nike, Berghaus, and Alpkit; Zellar will help up verify carbon data; and Ecover and Arterton will advise on garment care from different perspectives. International grassroots sports insight will come from Laureus Sport for Good. Stakeholders will meet monthly to evaluate progress, refine the model, and plan the next growth phase. We'll build a project structure that is replicable across London boroughs, creating a scalable pathway from the Haringey pilot to a wider, city-wide network and beyond.
Viability and Scalability: How are you setting your organization up for success, and what is your plan to ensure operational sustainability of your solution and its impact? What are your ideas for scaling your initiative to the next level?
We have a 15-year track record of delivery, multi-year funding, and strong governance. We've built and tested a circular “borrow - use - return” model for bikes and cycling-related kit, proving that when the offer is simple and local, families borrow and return gear reliably. Our model is low-infrastructure and mobile - operating from schools, youth centres, and hubs without heavy capital outlay. We follow a repeatable workflow: collection, sorting, lending, return, repair. We've invested in online systems and software to make transactions easy and trackable. This data allows us to manage stock so items stay with families rather than in storage. Every item pays back its cost over two years, driving growth through reuse rather than new purchases. CAKE will enable us expand into other sports kit, then replicate the model across boroughs. We will use the £10k and two months of capacity building to test expanding into sports footwear and complete a robust business plan, financial model, and investor pitch, aiming for investment-readiness within six months. Mark Cotton Consultancy, specialising in social enterprise planning, is ready to help refine our collateral if selected. We’re poised to scale this circular economy model, ensuring sustainable access to sports equipment for all. Our proven tech-led infrastructure and community-rooted approach make us ready for this leap.
Upcoming Milestones: Please provide an overview of the milestones that are required for your initiative to come to fruition/ to grow.
On confirmation of capacity building -Kick off meeting with core local partners -Follow up with wider equipment suppliers -Create marketing, MEL plan - e.g. surveys at time of borrow -Adapt Customer journey Tech for Non bike products On commencement of Capacity Building (2 month, post 25 March) -Action research cycle - plan, test, reflect, learn -Bi Weekly meetings with local partners to cascade learnings from capacity building -Co develop logo with children & young people -Purchase equipment + storage + care products and commence obtaining feedback from the first 50 borrows -Distill feedback to stakeholders and continue to evolve the basis membership offer On confirmation of award (31July) -Finalise marketing plan -Regular stakeholder meetings -Launch CAKE -Share with families via schools, youth clubs, sports providers (newsletters, posters, WhatsApp groups etc) -Borrows take place -Collect and collate info - e.g. how long borrowed for? -Business plan, investor pitch and Financial model developed
Capacity-Building Participation and Support Funding: If you were to make it as a finalist, you will be required to participate in an 8-week capacity building programme. If funding/ cost is a barrier to your participation, we may be able to offer up to 10,000 GBP of grant money available to support you. Please break down below, if it is the case, what costs you would incur and you would need covered. (Please note that there are restrictions on how the grant money may be used; please refer to the T&Cs for further details (LINK).
We anticipate using the grant money in the following ways to enable us to participate in the capacity-building programme. NB the following costs are indicative. - investment in resoleable Football boots, basketball shoes, trainers (Nike, Puma, Adidas Scudetta etc) - £3350 - Repair work on donated footwear (Blue Bee repairs) - £600 - Support from Hey Rebels tech consultants for Hubspot features - £1900 - Leaflet / design / social media campaign within pilot cohort - £600 - Physical leaflet print and design - A5 postcard size - £253 - Zellar and associated carbon/climate consultancy - £1400 - Support from 6 x Grassroots coaches from local organsiations for word of mouth marketing and outreach (Haringey Basketball for All, London Elite, Haringey Play Association, Haringey Sports Development Trust and Project 2020) - £1500
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