WIREDGOV

A £49.6 million investment to help increase the number of young people taking part in social action was launched yesterday in support of the #iwill campaign.

The ‘#iwill Fund’ is a £40m joint commitment of seed funding by Government and the Big Lottery Fund, boosted yesterday by Comic Relief, Pears Foundation and UK Community Foundations. Together these match-funders will invest an additional £9.6m into the #iwill Fund.

Currently, four in ten young people regularly take part in social action, which includes activities such as campaigning, fundraising and volunteering. The #iwill campaign is working to get at least six in ten 10-20 year olds taking part by the year 2020. This significant new investment will help achieve this goal.

A recent study by the British Chamber of Commerce found that 88 per cent of employers felt school leavers were not sufficiently prepared for work. Of these, 57 per cent cited a lack of 'soft skills' such as communication, team-working and resilience as a key reason for this – all skills that statistically improve amongst young people if they get involved in social action.

Charlotte Hill, CEO of Step Up To Serve, the charity coordinating the #iwill campaign said:“A Childwise survey revealed recently that children spend an average of 3 hours a day online and 2.1 hours in front of the television; that’s over 35 hours a week of screen time. If we could get more young people to dedicate just 1 hour a month to social action, then everyone benefits. That’s why I am calling on people across the country to get involved in our campaign – this new fund is a key piece of our work to enable more young people to lead positive change.”

The announcement – taking place at the House of Commons – was made alongside the appointment of 50 young people to the official #iwill Ambassador programme. The Ambassadors – all aged between 10 to 20 – have been identified as national social action leaders in fundraising, volunteering or campaigning.

Amongst the new ambassadors is 14-year-old Sohana Collins from London. Sohana suffers from a condition called Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) a disease which affects around 8,000 people in the UK. The condition, which sadly has no cure, causes the skin and other membranes in the body to blister painfully on even the mildest contact. Sohana has campaigned relentlessly to create a research fund to help those who – like her – suffer from the condition.

18-year-old Jake Adams from Blackpool is another of the new #iwill Ambassadors. He first started volunteering at the age of eight at his community centre, before joining Fylde Coast ‘Be Involved’ to help improve the local area. He has since gone on to become Chair of the Blackpool Voluntary Youth Forum and a member of the British Youth Council and says his social action experience has been significant in preparing him for adult life.

Minister for Civil Society Rob Wilson said: "The #iwill Fund will give more young people the opportunity to take part in exciting and innovative youth social action projects, developing their skills for work and life. It's great news that this fund is attracting more investment and demonstrates our commitment to creating an environment where individuals and communities can thrive."

Gemma Bull, Big Lottery Fund England Portfolio Development Director, said: “With this new partnership of funders we have a huge opportunity to support young people to develop their skills and confidence. Through social action the #iwill Fund will be an important tool to put young people from a variety of backgrounds in the lead and open up opportunities. In turn, these skills will benefit their local community and people of all ages. We look forward to seeing the impact it will have.”

This first group of match-funders will be targeting their investment to reach a range of young people: Comic Relief will develop opportunities for young people from areas and backgrounds currently least likely to participate; Pears Foundation will be supporting activity within education, health and social care; UK Community Foundations will create small grants for local social action opportunities through their network of 43 Community Foundations in England.

For media enquiries, contact: Dominic Cotton
Email: dominic.cotton@stepuptoserve.org.uk
Telephone: 07713 086014

Notes to Editors

Big Lottery Fund

• The Big Lottery Fund is the largest funder of community activity in the UK. They put people in the lead to improve their lives and communities, often through small, local projects.
• They are responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised by National Lottery players for good causes. Every year they invest over £650 million and award around 12,000 grants across the UK for health, education, environment and charitable purposes.
• Since June 2004 they have awarded over £8 billion to projects that change the lives of millions of people.

#iwill campaign

• The #iwill campaign is being coordinated by the charity Step Up To Serve (Charity No.1154588). It was launched in 2013 after Government research into how the business, education, public and voluntary sectors could support young people to engage in social action (campaigning, fundraising and volunteering) between the ages of 10 and 20.
• HRH The Prince of Wales is Patron of Step Up To Serve and the #iwill campaign. To date more than 600 organisations from across UK society have pledged to support the campaign goal of enabling more than 60% of 10-20 year-olds to participate in social action.
• To help reach the #iwill campaign goal, a digital mapping tool called Horizon has been developed. This will give campaign partners an understanding of what youth social action opportunities are happening, where and for which groups of young people. The campaign team and partners are calling for youth social action providers to share their data through the site.
• The Horizon platform is being supported by British Gas and has been developed in partnership with Generation Change. For more information about it visit horizondata.net
• More information can be found at www.iwill.org.uk and @iwill_campaign

The #iwill Fund

• A Leadership Board, made up of representatives from Government, Big Lottery Fund, Step Up To Serve and young people, will oversee this investment.
• This board will identify priorities and attract other funders to both grow the central pot and provide additional match-funding for youth social action providers.
• For more information about the fund visit http://www.iwill.org.uk/about-us/iwill-fund/ or email the Big Advice team at Big Lottery Fund: general.enquiries@biglotteryfund.org.uk or call 0345 4 10 20 30