Neighbourly, founded in 2014, is a crowdfunding site for community projects and charities, connecting them with people and companies that want to help out.

Chief executive Nick Davies is a former ad man and says he started the business “to help forward-thinking companies find the right balance between value for shareholders and value for society”.

It raised $1.5m (£1m) in funding from angel investors in 2015 ahead of its international lauch. Companies signed up to its service include Heineken, M&S and Starbucks.

The business makes money from company subscriptions but does not charge community projects anything.

Businesses can also buy into its food redistribution arm, tracking progress on a dashboard, to demonstrate progress to employees and partners. Local initiatives list their projects to attract volunteers and financial backing and so far it has raised more than £2m for causes.