On 1 December we launched our ‘Optimism is our Weapon’ appeal to help grow our programme and reach more young people in 2023. Thanks to the generosity of our network, donors, bursars and supporters we totally smashed our target and raised over £20,000, which will enable us to fund 20 new places on our nine-year programme.
The money from this appeal will go towards (amongst other activities):
- Providing mentoring and coaching sessions for young people from underrepresented backgrounds
- Funding travel bursaries for young people who would otherwise be geographically isolated from arts/culture/learning opportunities
- Managing high-quality safeguarding with young people
- Providing one-to-one time and tailored support to every single mentor, mentee, coach and coachee in our programme, as well as our Young Community
- Providing our network with even more opportunities to give Young Talent a hand up, and resources to help them call for deep change in their field
We're also delighted to welcome six new members into our Bursar Club this month. Bursars pledge the annual cost of supporting one young person through our nine year programme - £1,000 or £83/month - and enjoy invitations to events, updates from our co-founders and a personal thank you pack. If you are interested in joining the Club please consider it - you could change a life for £20/week.
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who donated or shared the appeal - we couldn't have done it without you!