We partner with organisations and companies who are committed to increasing opportunities for young people. We have a strong track record of creating bespoke, mutually beneficial partnerships with a range of businesses and across different types of collaborations. From Charity of the Year and brand collaborations to grant giving and programme funding.
Pears Foundation were at the heart of the UK Youth Covid Relief Fund, launched in January 2021. This was a two-phased emergency funding scheme for youth organisations facing a very real risk of closure due to the devastating impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Fund was launched with an initial commitment of funding from Pears Foundation and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation (thanks to match funding from DCMS through the Community Match Challenge).
The total funding awarded to 118 youth organisations was more than £1.8m. The initial funding attracted further grants of £7.5m for the UK Youth Covid Relief Fund and the youth sector in general, including another Pears Foundation award of £239,650, granted in December 2021.
Spirit of 2012 (the London 2012 Games Legacy funder) and the #iwill Fund (a joint investment between the National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport) have been a longstanding funding partners of UK Youth.
In 2018 the collaboration launched EmpowHER, a social action programme aimed at tackling low levels of well-being amongst young women and girls. More than 1,800 young people completed the programme by its conclusion in 2021. Legacy funding from Spirit of 2012 has enabled UK Youth to test new approaches to embedding learning and scaling EmpowHER with selected delivery partners.
Most recently, Spirit of 2012 and #iwill Fund partnered with UK Youth to deliver Inspire 2022. Designed in partnership with Local Trust, Inspire 2022 was inspired by the tenth anniversary of London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games where a promise was made to Inspire a Generation and the multiple national and international events which will take place next year.
This youth-led social action programme provides young people with grant funding and support from youth workers to work with their community to research, plan organise, promote and deliver events which respond to community needs, and leave a legacy of skills and knowledge for future social action.
In early 2022, Julia and Hans Rausing partnered with UK Youth to launch an ambitious £10m fund to improve the mental health support and provision for young people through youth work.
99 local youth organisations were selected to receive three year funding and a tailored package of support including workshops, training and skills to help them grow communities of best practice. The fund was boosted by an additional £1m from the Westminster Foundation, whose funding will support those organisations in rural communities.
This incredible support from Julia and Hans Rausing has enabled UK Youth to innovate and grow its ground-breaking grants plus model, which believes in giving long-term, flexible funding to allow youth work in local communities to flourish, coupled with critical wrap around support through training and resources.
UK Youth is excited to partner with KFC on Hatch, an employability programme which provides training and paid work experience placements for young people aged 16-25 who are not in education employment or training, or are at risk of being so. The programme aims to help break cycles of inequality, disadvantage and unemployment for young people in the communities that KFC serves.
Hatch was piloted in Manchester in 2022 with over 80 young people completing and more than half finding full time employment as a result. In 2023 and beyond, UK Youth and KFC will scale up Hatch to reach more young people in locations across the UK to help more young talent take flight.
