Who did The Society Foundation help to support last year?

Each year, Society gives at least 10% of its profits to 'The Society Foundation'. This is an independent charitable trust that we helped to set up in 2014. Its purpose is to provide grant funding to organisations or programmes that are trying to help potentially vulnerable people into employment. This includes the recently homeless or vulnerably housed; ex offenders; and 16-24 year olds not in employment, education or training. Society's colleagues also support the Foundation through fundraising efforts and by volunteering their time.

As we approach the Foundation’s second grant round, we wanted to reflect on some of the projects it has supported so far:

Beyond Food Foundation
After volunteering for the Tsunami relief team in Sri Lanka in 2004, Simon Boyle, a successful chef, decided to devote his time to helping those less fortunate than himself. Beyond Food runs programmes which use training in food preparation as a vehicle for getting people back into the workplace. The Society Foundation helped with the purchase of fundraising and communications software, with a view to making improvements to their supporter communications and growing their funding base.

Switchback
Switchback is a London-based prison rehabilitation charity which uses a mentor-trainee model to help young offenders make real and long-lasting change after their release from prison. The donation Switchback received helped it invest in an external evaluation of the organisation.

London Reclaimed
Based in the South East of London, London Reclaimed trains 16-25 year olds in carpentry through an intensive year-long programme specialising in high quality bespoke furniture. The Foundation’s grant helped London Reclaimed invest in the improvement of its IT infrastructure and to purchase new dust extractors and respirators.

Junction 42
Junction 42 provides education and mentoring to offenders and ex-offenders in communities in the North East of England who face significant barriers to employability. With the support of the Society Foundation, the charity was able to purchase ten new bicycles and invest in other equipment to be utilised by those it supports as they attend interviews, work-based training, volunteering commitments, and employment opportunities.

Action Foundation
Action Foundation was founded by Julian Prior in 2006 in response to the needs of the local area. The charity provides support for people who are isolated from the community to help them overcome their exclusion. The Foundation’s donation went towards an investment in more robust and effective monitoring and evaluation of its databases.

Applications for this year’s round of funding are currently under review by the trustees, with an announcement due in the next couple of months. Thank you again to everyone who submitted this year.