Reflections on our charity partnership with City to Sea: A year of strategic collaboration

At Unfold, we believe in partnerships that drive real, sustainable change. Our collaboration with City to Sea has been focusing on supporting the development of City to Sea’s Refill app strategy by providing oversight and expertise across design and technology. We also provided digital mentorship to help upskill and share knowledge to members of the City to Sea digital team.

One of the standout moments for us in this partnership was facilitating a value proposition workshop with the City to Sea team. In this session, we took a deep dive into the core of the Refill App, analysing who its users are, what problems the app solves, and how we can make it even easier for people to engage with refill and reuse options.

Hannah, Digital Platforms manager at City to Sea, explained that “Viewing the app through this strategic lens was a fantastic exercise for the team to take a step out of our usual routine, learn some new skills, and fully understand the value we can deliver to our app user community, businesses and brands, and reuse innovators.

Harry was a great critical friend during this process, and provided valuable challenges to our assumptions – the whole workshop was a real game changer for the app’s internal positioning, and helped shape the development roadmap for the next year to deliver an even bigger impact.”

As part of our work with City to Sea, we also filmed a video series that explored the overlap of the charity and tech sectors. Our aim was to show how these industries can collaborate to tackle the climate crisis and make digital platforms more sustainable. We discussed the importance of understanding users, leveraging technology to reduce waste, and the power of uniting for a greater cause. It was an opportunity to share our ideas and engage in meaningful conversations that we hope will spark change across sectors.

Together, we have developed a strong and tangible roadmap for the Refill app, to realise City to Sea’s vision of being the go-to destination for all your reuse, refill and return shopping needs. It’s been fantastic to see the Refill app go from strength to strength this year, by putting technology at the forefront and embracing change, we believe that a future where refill and reuse options are accessible to all is at our fingertips. We look forward to seeing what unfolds.. Next!

A word from Jane, CEO of City to Sea:

“Sharing expertise and skills with mission-aligned local business partners delivers multiple benefits to City to Sea. From brainstorming value propositions to problem-solving technical challenges, we really have valued and enjoyed working with Unfold and count them as a valuable member of our network!”

The Refill app is a powerful tool in the fight against waste, connecting users to places where they can eat, drink, and shop without relying on single-use packaging. Whether it’s grabbing a coffee during your commute, refilling your water bottle on the go, or shopping zero waste, Refill is putting the power of sustainable living right at your fingertips. We’re excited to see how the Refill App continues to grow and help more people make a positive impact on the planet”.