Winner from Social Innovation Camp December 2008, GoodGym. Their idea was captured and recorded by the Creative Coop: http://www.creative-coop.com/

1. Good
Gym
GG01/FEB09

2. What is this document for?
You have probably received this document because Ivo Gormley thinks you
are potentially suited to contribute something very useful to his BIG [social] Idea.
The aim of the next few pages are to help you understand what he is trying
to achieve, the people already behind the idea, alongside the challenges and
opportunities he faces and the partners he needs to engage to move forward
- and finally, most importantly....
...where YOU fit in!
If you’d like to get involved please contact:
t. 07903 311 844 e. ivoivoivo@gmail.com

3. Good Gym provides lonely housebound
older people with regular human contact
and motivation for people to run and get fit.
Here’s some background... Good Gym so far... in February 2009
People all over Britain run, jog and lift weights and achieve Good Gym is the brainchild of Ivo Gormley who took the idea
nothing particularly useful. The Good Gym aims to make it to Social Innovation Camp 2008 and was one the the two
easy for people to channel this energy toward social good. winning ideas. The pitch from Social Innovation Camp can be
seen at http://tinyurl.com/goodgym
The project will set up a framework for people to integrate
brief visits to isolated older people and the delivery of useful
items to good causes/ dependant individuals into their With some initial funding (c. £5k) and support from a few
exercise routines. people, including the Social Innovation Camp team, Ivo
is looking to build a team to help move the project from
Loneliness and isolation are some of the biggest challenges concept to reality.
faced by older people in Britain face today. Research
released by Help the Aged last week states that nearly half Ivo’s vision is that if the Good Gym model is well structured
a million pensioners only leave their houses once a week, a and easy to adopt then it can be ‘franchised’ out to ensure
further 300,000 are entirely housebound; overall a million old that it is locally relevant and accessible via an online
people in the UK are suffering the misery of loneliness. interface, eg www.goodgym.org/towerhamlets. Ivo does not
The Good Gym aims to make a small contribution to necessarily want to ‘run’ Good Gym (excuse pun), he’d just
resolving this problem by providing regular, friendly human like to see the idea take off and create its own momentum.
contact.

4. What’s ahead for Good Gym?
Challenges
Proof of concept > Prove concept via R&D
Security issues regarding older people > strategic partners and advice needed
Need to make it easy to volunteer > slick process needed
Access to databases of older people > legal advice/local authority/charity and outreach orgs input
Access to runners/volunteers > marketing channels to be identified
Ivo’s lack of time to dvelop the idea > resources needed
Opportunities
Fitness and social exclusion are on the agenda nationwide > GG ticks many boxes: obesity, community, women in sport...etc
London Olympics 2012 – social and sports context!!! > Tessa Jowell’s Special Advisor has shown interest in GG
30 or so runners are keen to help with R&D > engage with volunteers clearly and monitor feedback
What does the big idea need to help move it forward?
• A voice of authority/seniority eg a GP selling the idea to outreach organisations
• A 6 month period of R&D around ‘how it will actually work/benefit people to present
stats to outreach organisations before any web development or publicity
• Legal support around vetting runners (eg CRB checks/levels of security) and runner
disclaimers (in case of injury etc)
• Brand development to help with communicating proof of concept towards a beta web
build (with Headshift) and possible franchising model
• Strategic partners in older people and cultural sectors to advise on how the concept
could work best in reality

5. Next steps?
Key next steps involve establishing proof of concept and
communicating this persuasively to potential partners who
may help carry the concept to fruition. Bringing the right
levels of skills to the project now, either paid or in-kind,
will make a big difference to creating trustful engagement
around the idea – essential to building a working protoype
to illustrate the potential scale of social impact which Good
Gym can generate.
About Ivo
The big [social] idea infograms on the following page gives Ivo works at thinkpublic looking at
a snapshot of the landscape for Good Gym both up to different ways in which people can
proof of concept and beyond. It is designed to help identify play a greater role in the design and
what team/relationships need to be built around the idea delivery of public services. He is
and, perhaps more importantly, show anyone interested in interested in the role of technology
supporting this big [social] idea how they might fit into the in shaping our social and public
big picture. lives and is working on numerous
projects exploring this issue
including the documentary Us Now.
Interested in Good Gym? Ivo has been running to visit a man
called Terry twice a week for the
If you are interested in Good Gym and would like to last 5 months.
find out more specific information about the project
and how you fit in please contact Ivo Gormley on
07903 311 844 or ivoivoivo@gmail.com