Impact Report – The Fayre of St James’s 2021
As we enter the summer holiday season, we wanted to write and share with you the impact you have enabled through your support of The Fayre of St James’s 2021. That magical evening last November has allowed Quintessentially Foundation to make a real difference in the lives of thousands of children and young people in London.
Thanks to you, we were able to support The Childhood Trust and launch a new grassroots initiative – The Firefly Project – which looks to ‘turbo charge’ community-based charities working with young people to reach their potential.
We are proud to have such a generous, committed community of change-makers by our side as we aim to improve the lives of children and young people. We simply cannot do this without you.
Thank you!
The Childhood Trust Christmas Challenge
Last year’s Christmas Challenge was The Childhood Trust’s biggest campaign, raising over £3.75 million. You helped us raise over £100,000 towards the campaign which funded the delivery of 98 charity projects across London to alleviate the impact of poverty on children and young people living in the capital.
At the time, the children and families helped by The Childhood Trust were facing a stark winter. Research by the charity showed that over 40% of respondents were concerned about the rising cost of living, a situation which has worsened during the course of 2022. At the same time, almost 70% of the children represented by its projects were affected by food poverty.
The Christmas Challenge is one of the two match-funding campaigns that The Childhood Trust runs each year. This means that the +£100,000 that you helped raise for the charity was QUADRUPLED, unlocking a further £300,000 to support grassroots projects aimed at alleviating the impact of poverty on the lives of London’s children and young people.
The Childhood Trust helps over 150,000 children a year. Children like Jayden, aged 10, who have directly benefited from the Christmas Challenge:
Jayden, 10 years old, joined the Feltham Youth Unit when she was 7 years old. Throughout the pandemic, Jayden had been helping to deliver fun online learning sessions for other volunteers, including helping produce a Christmas-themed Badger Live session. Badgers are a youth group set up by St. John's ambulance and together they learn lifesaving first aid skills as well take part in a wide range of fun activities, earning badges and certificates along the way.
Jayden has been juggling schoolwork, badgers and helping out at home. At the time, Mum Laura said: ‘Jayden is a registered young carer for her other mum Tash, who has heart failure and lupus. Jayden is very caring, supportive, and helpful. Lockdown has been hard for Jayden as she was shielding from the family for a long time with only video calls, phone calls and texts with friends and family outside of home.’
''Being a Badger has helped me to learn lots of new skills, and I have gained lots of new friends. At first, I was nervous as I was meeting new people, but now I have gained confidence. My biggest achievement was being awarded the Exemplary Badger Award for saving my mum's life when she had an accident earlier this year. When I grow up...I want to find a cure for heart failure to fix my mum's heart and St John's is helping me achieve my dream by providing me with the knowledge to progress." - JAYDEN
“Last Christmas tens of thousands of children in London faced hunger, cold and loneliness due to poverty. Thanks to Quintessentially Foundation’s support, The Childhood Trust was able to stop poverty from ruining the lives of London’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged children, providing vital practical and emotional support through the projects we funded in every borough of London through the Christmas Campaign 2021. Thank you! ” - Laurence Guinness, Chief Executive, The Childhood Trust.
The Firefly Project – a new grassroots initiative for children and young people
London is a city of opportunity and possibility, but not for everyone. Over 700,000, or 40% of the capital’s children, are living in poverty, the highest rate of child poverty anywhere in England. UK-wide, the figure stands at 34%.
Yet there are grassroots organisations which offer proven solutions. Unfortunately they are often overlooked and underfunded – less than 5% of charities receive 85% of total charitable income. We want to change this and help the smaller charities that make a substantial difference.
The Firefly Project finds and funds innovative, impactful grassroots charities in London and helps scale them up to reach more young people. Through funding and tailored support, we aim to ‘turbo charge’ them and allow disadvantaged children to access their life-changing services.
Thanks to you and the money raised at The Fayre of St James’s 2021, we have been able to launch the initiative and support its first three partner charities:
Little Village redistributes much-needed clothes, toys and equipment for babies and children up to the age of five. The families supported, referred via a network of around 2,000 professionals, face challenging circumstances like homelessness, unemployment, low wages, and domestic violence. The Firefly Project will support plans to grow its reach from 4,500 referrals per year to over 14,000 referrals by 2024.
The Kids Network supports children as they transition from primary to secondary school, providing a volunteer mentor at a critical time. 94% of children who’ve benefitted reported feeling more confident and 82% were excited to go to school. The Firefly Project will support the expansion of the mentor programme to new schools and new boroughs across London.
2020 Change is a youth empowerment organisation. Through the 10-week ‘I Am Change’ programme, 2020 Change equipts young, out-of-work black people with the skills and mindset to make a successful transition from education to employment. The Firefly Project will support plans to grow its reach from 110 young people per annum now to more than 400 young people each year.
We look forward to doing, even more, to support children and young people at a grassroots level through The Firefly Project. This is only possible thanks to you and our community of donors and partners who share our ambition to give young people the chance to reach their potential.
Thank you!!!