Member Spotlight

The Mayor’s Fund for London

Comments from Jade Harris, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Delivery

Mayor’s Fund for London is a charity that champions opportunities for young Londoners facing the biggest barriers.  

1. How are you helping to tackle child poverty in London?

The Mayor’s Fund for London tackles child poverty through a joined-up approach: providing food as a foundation, skills as a springboard, and power through our platform. We support young Londoners facing inequality by providing front-line support and long-term opportunity. Kitchen Social is our flagship food and community programme and the largest citywide provider of holiday food and activities. Through it, we ensure families have access to nutritious meals and opportunities to thrive during the school holidays. Alongside this, our employability programme Access Aspiration connects young people to employers and professional leaders. Giving underrepresented young Londoners careers insight they otherwise wouldn’t have access to, helping to remove the hidden barriers to employment and open pathways to good jobs.

2. Tell us something you are excited about?

We’re excited about our ever-growing youth engagement work, creating more space for young Londoners to influence the decisions that affect their lives. By connecting young people and power in London, we help shift that power to young Londoners, so they have a bigger say in the city’s future. Through youth-led initiatives like our recent Young Londoners Summit and upcoming Westminster roundtable, we’re ensuring young people can both access opportunities and shape the systems around them. This work is expanding alongside our programmes, which continue to evolve to deliver impact for young people day to day and influence policy and strategy. Kitchen Social is delivering support during every school holiday, providing meals and access to positive opportunities from sports sessions and cooking classes to driving lessons and mental health workshops. Meanwhile, Access Aspiration is deepening its partnerships with employers across key growth sectors, giving more young people from underrepresented backgrounds direct access to real-world careers insight, work experience, and building key skills.

3. Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service?

In 2024, we supported over 89,000 young Londoners across all 32 boroughs. Through our Food and Communities programmes, we delivered more than 400,000 meals and 23,000 opportunities. At the same time, our Employability and Skills work provided over 16,000 skills development activities. Our model supports the whole journey: from healthy meals to hands-on career development, we help young people feel supported, skilled, and seen.

And we’re proud that the young people we work with report this back to us. Samiya, a member of our Youth Board, reflected on our work, saying: “Through the Mayor’s Fund for London’s initiatives, we begin to shape a world where diversity is celebrated, and individuals feel valued and safe in their communities. MFL fosters dialogue, promotes education, and empowers marginalised voices. These efforts work to address systemic inequalities and create a more compassionate society for future generations.”

4. What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?

We’d love to share learning on how to design integrated models that meet urgent needs and unlock long-term systems change. With Kitchen Social and Access Aspiration, we’ve created programmes that deliver practical support, whilst influencing local systems, employer practice, and policy conversations. We also bring strong experience in cross-sector convening and youth-led co-design. We are always keen to collaborate with others exploring these approaches.

5. What would most help you achieve your goals?

We’re focused on sustainable growth, ensuring we can meet growing need while continuing to influence the bigger picture. What would help most is multi-year investment and joined-up policy that enables us to deepen our impact, led by young Londoners. This kind of support will underpin our vision and mission for long-term, positive change. We want every young Londoner to be prepared for the future, not just with food and education, but with the confidence, networks, and skills to thrive in good careers.

6. Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?

We joined 4in10 to be part of a collective, working to challenge the root causes of poverty in London. The network provides vital opportunities to share learning, amplify advocacy, and stand together for long-term change. It also enables us to work together with partners on big events such as the upcoming Child Poverty Summit with 4in10 and The Childhood Trust. Last year, we linked up with the Food Foundation on an episode of our youth-led podcast The Intersect, discussing food poverty and the power of youth voice in influencing policymakers.

Daughters of Charity Services

Comments from Mark Corea, Research and Policy Officer at Daughters of Charity Services

Daughter of Charity Services is a charity that works with people and the media to inspire content and communication that changes hearts and minds.

1. How are you helping to tackle child poverty in London?
One of the projects in our family, St Vincent’s Family Centre, provides a range of services to families in need, particularly in the Westminster area. The services include a drop in and creche service, classes and therapy for families, as well as a food bank service. We also have projects serving people in need in Manchester and Glasgow.

At a head office level, tackling child and family poverty is one of the five priorities in our 2024–2027 strategy. We work in partnership with other charities, including members of the Catholic Social Action Network (CSAN), to raise awareness and influence policy through co-signing letters, policy papers, and working on campaigns together.

Later this year, we will also be launching a research project focusing on the lived experiences of families affected by poverty in London, based on the experiences of our projects and other data that we’ll gather.

2. Tell us something you are excited about?
We have many things to be excited about at the Daughters of Charity Services. We recently launched our ‘Emerging Poverties Briefing’ through which we collate stories and updates on poverty in London and across the country and goes out to about 150 subscribers.

We are also excited to launch our paper on poverty among Asylum Seekers and Refugees, which discusses policy papers and other literature on this topic, to understand the causes and solutions to this poverty. Later in the year, we’ll be launching a large research project on child and family poverty in the UK, as well as a smaller project on social care in Scotland.

3. Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service?
Our member projects are diverse and span across the UK. Our Westminster-based social care service, Vincentian Care Plus, provides domiciliary care for Westminster City Council. For two years running, 2024 and 2025, they have won a High Commendation at the Homecare Awards for their work supporting people affected by homelessness at Edward Alsop Court in the London Borough of Westminster. The model of enablement they run is inspiring and we are extremely proud of their achievement and recognition for supporting vulnerable Londoners.

4. What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?
Other networks can learn about the Vincentian approach to serving the people most in need and the history of the Daughters of Charity in Britain. They are a truly unique group of women who have dedicated their whole lives to serving people in poverty, and we exist to continue their legacy. Our Vincentian Values ensure that all of our staff live this legacy out.

We run a variety of services throughout the UK, ranging from supporting vulnerable families and older people in Westminster to supporting Roma families in Glasgow and families of prisoners in Manchester.

Other Vincentian charities include Depaul UK, the Passage, and the St Vincent de Paul Society. These charities share the same ethos as us, and they all carry out great work in London and throughout the UK.

5. What would most help you achieve your goals?
As a small charity more collaboration with other charities would help us achieve our goals. We are proud to be part of some great networks, including 4in10, NCVO and the No Child Left Behind campaign, and Caritas Social Action Network. By joining up messaging and working together on campaigns with other charities of all sizes, it strengthens our voice as a small charity and we believe a united voice strengthens the message of our advocacy and campaigning.

6. Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?
We joined 4 in 10 as it is a large network of like-minded charities who are all keen to serve the most vulnerable in our society, which is our fundamental purpose. The events and the newsletter service are particularly helpful, as it makes it easy to network with charities across the city that serve people in need.

Heard

Comments from Becka Kellaway, anti-poverty campaigner and Aishah Siddiqa, senior programme manager at Heard

Heard is a charity that works with people and the media to inspire content and communication that changes hearts and minds. On a fundamental level, good communication means being heard and feeling heard. Using insights from research and our 15 years experience of supporting communicators, we help storytellers build their confidence, land their message and engage audiences. Our work has reached millions of people in their living rooms and on their newsfeeds.

1.   How are you helping to tackle child poverty in London?

Heard has been supporting organisations and campaigners working on a range of social issues including child poverty. We do this through our consultancy and training offers for sector partners andcampaigners with first hand experience, and through our bespoke workshops for the TV and entertainment industry. Our mission is to create conversations about social issues that change minds and develop the conditions for lasting social change. The long-term effects are two-fold: a public that is more receptive to and approving of policy change, and a new generation of individuals who feel inspired to act on our most urgent issues.

Becka – I hope I help by campaigning and raising awareness. I am more than happy to speak out about things that I see are unjust and I don’t mind sharing my personal experiences. I think others can feel silenced by stigma and shame so I believe it’s important to shine a light and make a difference where you can.

2.   Tell us something you are excited about?

Becka – I’m excited that there are more conversations happening around child poverty and ways to tackle it and I’m really very hopeful for the future. 

Heard has also recently started a new piece of work exploring how a narrative change approach, informed by lived experience, can shift cultural perceptions of our economy. Often messages about economic change delivered by academics and people with economic privilege are limited in effectiveness. The majority of the country will relate more to people who share in their lived experiences of financial hardship and other forms of economic injustice. These are the people who should lead a new story about what our economy could be, and the systemic changes that need to happen to bring that change about. We’re looking for lived experience consultants to help us explore this and create a set of framing recommendations about the economy to share with other campaigners, partners and organisations in the ecosystem. If you’re interested in finding out more, please email aishah on aishah@heard.org.uk 

3.   Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service?

Becka – the best thing about this organisation is that it empowers people to tell their story bravely and it supports them throughout the process and helps to frame the narrative so we all feel safe in our work.

Together with other lived experience consultants, we co-designed the digital version of Heard’s poverty focussed ‘Communication That Works’ course. The course itself is a blend of self-directed learning on an online platform with live workshops running over several weeks covering ways to effectively frame communications on poverty and tools to keep safe when sharing stories in interviews and beyond. We ran a successful pilot at the end of last year with Becka brilliantly facilitating our live workshops. We’ll be making final tweaks before going live this summer.

 “This Heard Training course has been profoundly informative and impactful, not only in reshaping my approach as a communications professional but also in influencing how I think about and discuss social issues in all areas of my life. The trainers were knowledgeable, confident and excellent facilitators. The video content was clear, easily digestible and engaging. Overall, the program was truly transformative.” – Fern Bain Smith, Marylebone Project

4.   What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?

Becka- They can learn from Heard’s example how to be a champion for people with lived experience 

Becka is an amazing, energetic and thoughtful facilitator – reach out if you require someone sensitive and engaging!  

5.   What would most help you achieve your goals?

Becka – Funding, opportunities, awareness, more people fighting the good fight and they can start by attending the training and being mindful and empowered advocates. 

6.   Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?

Narrative change requires joined-up approaches – and we love being able to work with 4in10 and its members. The Challenge Poverty Weeks were great examples of this in action! If anyone would like to connect and chat about how we can collaborate, please do =D 

Give. Help. Share

Give. Help. Share. work to tackle food poverty in London.

1. How are you helping to tackle child poverty in London?

At Give. Help. Share., we tackle child poverty in London by addressing two key issues: food insecurity and a lack of nutritional education. We provide free nourishing food bags to children and families in disadvantaged communities via a school distribution network across Greater London and Herts. In parallel, we also run hands-on healthy eating workshops in primary schools, empowering children to make better food choices and become ‘food change champions’ in their homes. Our lessons are designed to be accessible and impactful, helping to improve long-term dietary behaviours and break the cycle of poor nutrition linked to poverty.

2. Tell us something you are excited about?

We’re really excited about the growing interest from corporate partners who want to support our mission. More businesses are now recognising the importance of tackling child poverty, and we’re running more corporate volunteering days where teams help pack and deliver nutritious food bags for disadvantaged families. These sessions don’t just provide vital hands-on support – they also open people’s eyes to the realities of food insecurity in their own communities. It’s been powerful to see whole teams get involved, learn more about the issue and leave feeling inspired to do more.

3. Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service.

One of the things we’re most proud of at Give. Help. Share. is that we’re a grassroots charity founded and run by qualified teachers who also hold Master’s degrees in Public Health and Health Promotion. This unique combination means we not only understand how to engage children in schools, but we’re also fully equipped to design and deliver evidence-based interventions that genuinely improve health outcomes.Thanks to this expertise, we’ve developed a six-week food education programme that’s already been delivered in over 100 primary schools. These engaging, hands-on sessions are helping children learn how to make healthier food choices and take that knowledge back to their families. It’s a sustainable, empowering approach that we hope will make a real difference in the fight against child poverty.

4. What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?

Other members can learn from our experience in developing and delivering engaging, low-cost nutrition education, with a particular focus on how to reach children in disadvantaged areas in a meaningful, age-appropriate way. We’re also happy to share insights on mobilising volunteers, running corporate engagement days and building sustainable food support models that empower, not just provide. We’re always happy to collaborate, share resources and work with other organisations to amplify our overall impact on child health and poverty.

5. What would most help you achieve your goals?

One of the biggest barriers we see is the rising cost of healthy food – it’s simply not accessible for all families, especially those already facing hardship. To truly tackle child poverty, we need systemic change, so to achieve our goals, we’d benefit most from:

• Sustainable funding to continue delivering food and education to the communities that need it most
• Government support and lobbying contacts to campaign for long-term solutions
• Policy change including making food education statutory in all primary schools, so every child learns essential skills for lifelong health, regardless of background

6. Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?

We joined 4in10 because we wanted to be part of a collective voice challenging child poverty in London. As a small but growing charity, it’s important for us to connect with others who share our mission and values.We’re new to the network but it feels like a brilliant space to exchange ideas, raise awareness of the work we’re doing, and stay informed about policy developments that affect the families we support. Thank you!

Cash Perks

Cash Perks way to get cash immediately to beneficiaries for hardship grants and other welfare payments. 

1. How are you helping to tackle child poverty in London?

Cash Perks is transforming the way hardship funds reach vulnerable families by providing instant, cash-first support. Our innovative payment solution allows councils, housing associations, charities and community organisations to instantly send emergency funds directly via SMS, which can be withdrawn 24/7 for free at thousands of ATMs nationwide without the need for a bank account or card. This ensures families in crisis can access essential financial support quickly and with dignity, reducing the stress and stigma often associated with traditional aid like food parcels or shopping vouchers.

2. Tell us something you are excited about?

We’re excited about the growing adoption of Cash Perks by almost 50 organisations of all shapes and sizes across the capital. In London that includes leading councils such as; Barking and Dagenham, Camden, Haringey, RBKC and Lambeth through to diverse frontline charities such; Z2K, Wimbledon Guild, CAB Kensington and Chelsea, North Paddington Food Bank and Solace Women’s Aid.

Hearing the real -life benefit of our service—families getting the immediate support they need without unnecessary delays—is incredibly rewarding. When clients collect their money, we often embed surveys that help measure the impact and gain valuable insights and feedback such as this from someone receiving their funds – “Brilliant experience eternally grateful for the help escaping domestic violence & accessing help to move to a safe home. Really appreciated!”

3. Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service?

Within the next few weeks, we will reach a huge milestone of disbursing over £10 million of hardship funds directly to struggling families. It’s been an amazing journey from recognising there must be a better way of getting emergency financial support to people – especially those that are unbanked or in vulnerable circumstances to reaching this important landmark.  We were also hugely honoured last year to win two awards, recognised by The Big Issue as one of their Changemakers 2024 and as the best Financial Inclusion Innovation at the nation Pay360 Awards.

4. What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?

Like an increasing number of civil society organisations, we advocate for a cash-first approach to poverty relief, which research shows is the most effective way to support people in crisis. We’re happy to share our experiences with organisations looking to transition to cash-based support, helping them navigate concerns around security, fraud, and administration, while also reducing time and delivery costs and most importantly maximising the impact of their funds through engagement in longer-term holistic support.

5. What would most help you achieve your goals?

Greater collaboration! The more organisations that embrace cash-first support, the bigger the impact we can have on tackling poverty. We’d love to connect with more charities, councils, and funders who are interested in partnership. Advocacy for direct cash assistance at policy levels would also help ensure more families receive the support they need in the most effective way possible.

6. Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?

We joined 4in10 because we share its commitment to addressing child poverty in London. We hope that being part of the network allows us to collaborate with like-minded organisations, learn from others’ experiences, and advocate for systemic change. We love the sense of collective action and the opportunity to share insights on how cash-first solutions can play a key role in reducing financial hardship for families.

Be Enriched

Be Enriched provides meals to families especially during school holidays.

1. 1. How are you helping to tackle child poverty in London?

   Be Enriched addresses child poverty by ensuring that children and their families have access to nutritious, affordable food, especially during the school holidays when free school meal programs are unavailable. Through initiatives like the Food Bus, which serves groceries at reduced costs, and Kids Clubs providing meals and activities, we bring stability and joy to low-income families. Already this year, the Food Bus has served: 1,300 customers! That means we’ll serve over 7000 people over the next 3 years.

   2. Tell us something you are excited about?

   We are thrilled to share our “Gifts That Give Back Christmas Appeal” campaign. This initiative will bring food, companionship, and holiday cheer to over 300 people during the festive season. Through community meals, The Food Bus Project, and special kids’ activities, we will ensure no one feels forgotten this Christmas. We are particularly excited about hosting three weekly community meals throughout December and January, spreading warmth and joy in the midst of challenging times.

   3. Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service?

   This year alone, we’ve already served 2,265 guests and provided 6,795 nutritious meals at our community canteens, as well as saving 2,159 kg of food from landfill. Last year, Be Enriched made a remarkable impact, serving nearly 10,000 meals and preventing over 6 tonnes of food waste. This year, 800 volunteers contributed over 4,800 hours to our community projects, showcasing the power of collaboration and shared purpose.

   4. What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?

   Network members can learn about innovative ways to reduce food waste while addressing food insecurity and social isolation. Our Food Bus Project, which brings affordable groceries and community space to areas in need, and our Community Canteens, where volunteers create meals from surplus food, are models of sustainability and fostering community resilience. We are always eager to share insights into creating inclusive, sustainable initiatives that foster long-term connections and tangible change.

   5. What would most help you achieve your goals?

   This Christmas, 1 in 5 Families will choose between heating and eating, and 1 in 10 Pensioners are set to spend the holiday in isolation. So, we’re calling on supporters to join our Gifts That Give Back Christmas Appeal.

   The Gifts That Give Back Christmas appeal will help combat the rising levels of hunger and loneliness affecting vulnerable people in South London this holiday season.

   Be Enriched will be hosting three community meals per week from December, right through January, providing 300+ people with a safe space, food, companionship and gifts this Christmas.

   This vital crowdfunding campaign will ensure that no one spends the holiday season hungry, alone, or forgotten.

   6. Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?

   We joined 4in10 because of its unwavering commitment to addressing child poverty in London. Being part of this network provides invaluable opportunities to connect, collaborate, and learn from like-minded organisations. It’s inspiring to be among peers working toward a common goal, and we appreciate the platform to amplify our voice and share our impact.

   Some more information about their Christmas campaign can be found here and the link to their crowdfunder is here.

Family Fund

Family Fund deliver grants for families raising a disabled or seriously ill child or young people on a low income across the UK.

1. How are you helping to tackle child poverty in London?

Family Fund helps families across the UK who are raising disabled and seriously ill children and young people on low incomes, with grants, tailored information and support about financial issues, and benefits checks. We have grants for families with a child or young person aged up to 17, and for families with a young person living at home aged 18 to 24. Find out about our grants and services on our website. 

1. Tell us something you are excited about?

Right now we’re really excited about the growth of our information and support services. We’ve just launched our new Discover more support tool on our website. The tool is a searchable online database full of over 145 organisations who can support families raising disabled and seriously ill children on a low income. We are also running more free managing finances workshops online, and we’re exploring partnerships to deliver more free online support such as our iPad accessibility workshops with Guide Dogs. To keep up to date, find us on Facebook @familyfund

1. Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service?

We get lovely feedback about our online workshops.

“Education isn’t a one-size-fits-all, and we’ve found it hard to find activities that work with Joshua’s dyslexia. It feels like everything is either too academic or centred around sports. The workshop allowed Joshua to learn a new skill, use his creativity and have fun. It was perfectly catered to his interests, and as his parents, it was a huge relief for us to find something that he’d enjoy, that didn’t cost a penny.” Helen, mum of Joshua who attended our creative workshops over the summer holidays. 

“I learnt a lot of new things, and the information provided was straightforward. I was taught how to use an online benefits calculator, where you input your details, and it tells you which benefits you’re entitled to. As a result, I discovered I was missing out on the Child Tax Credit element of my benefits. It’s through the Family Fund workshop that I realised that I’m entitled to more money.” Hilda, mum of Kalani, who attended our Checking your benefits online workshop. 

1. What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?

We always want to talk to organisations that support families on low incomes who are raising disabled or seriously ill children or young people. As a UK-wide pan-disability organisation working in all the nations of the UK we’re really well connected, involved in partnerships and coalitions working for change and representing families’ issues at a high level. So we can be a great networking resource for smaller, or regional and local-focussed organisations. We’ve been going 50 years, and we’re very careful in our partnership work, so families really trust the information we share with them.

1. What would most help you achieve your goals?

Apart from more funding to be able to provide more grants, or better still an end to poverty and inequality, what would help us most would be being in touch with regional and local organisations so we can reach the families you work with.

1. Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?

It’s great to be part of a network of organisations working in really practical ways to tackle the injustice of poverty that families in London face. It’s great to be part of the movement to make a difference.

If you would like to find out more about Family Fund please visit their website.

Acts 435

Acts 435 is an online national charity that connects those that want to help with those that have a need, by resourcing local churches and charities throughout the UK to meet the specific needs of their community.

How are you helping to tackle child poverty in London?

Acts 435 has 116 partners within Greater London, and whilst all of them are undertaking different work, many of these churches and organisations will be utilising Acts 435 to meet the needs of children and their families. One of those partners is Lewisham Foodbank who continually support individuals, families and their children. One recent request was for Annette* who now has legal guardianship of her two grandchildren, and needed to purchase clothing for them. On receiving the money towards the clothing, Annette said, “Can you please extend my gratitude to the people who have helped me to be able to purchase school clothing, and clothing in general, for my two grandchildren. I am overwhelmed with their generosity, which has come at a time when I am most in need of assistance. Again, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.”

Annette also told the local Acts 435 Advocate that, whilst friends and family have passed on some useful second-hand items, it meant so much to two teenage girls to be able to help choose some new clothes, and help to give them dignity in their time of need.

Tell us something you are excited about?

As a charity we’re continually excited about the fact that 100% of the requests that get posted onto our website by our partners are all met quickly, in comparison to a lot of other application processes. As we rely on individual donors going onto our website to give towards the needs, the amount of time for a request to be crowdfunded fluctuates, but generally all requests are met within a maximum of two weeks.  Also, because of this funding model, we can also offer our resource to churches/charities for FREE!

Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service?

Acts 435 was founded 14 years ago, and since then we have been able to resource over 700 churches and organisations to meet the specific needs of individuals. During that time we have helped over 52,000 individuals with over £6,000,000, which all goes directly to meet their need. We can also guarantee that 100% of every donation is given to the recipient, as all our charity’s costs are covered by GIft Aid reclaimed on applicable donations.

What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?

Our vision is to meet the needs of as many people as possible, all over the UK. However, we’re very aware that many cities, like London, have a huge amount of deprivation. We would love to resource more churches and charities in London with Acts 435 to be able to directly help their communities and those that they may already be supporting through our work. It would be fantastic if we could let as many churches/charities know about us as possible. If you’re not already partnered with us, you may like to attend one of our online coffee mornings to find out more: https://guestlist.co/u/acts435

What would most help you achieve your goals?

As we’re a small charity, with only four paid staff members, we don’t have a fundraising budget and can’t attend all the large events and conferences that many other charities can. Therefore, people spreading the word, and talking about our work, is the most effective way for new churches and charities to hear about us. We would love to equip more people with the knowledge about our work, so that they can then let other churches/charities know about the fantastic resource through Acts 435.

Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?

We are quite new to the 4in10 network, and have really appreciated the support from the team. We have also enjoyed sharing our work at  a recent online meeting. We joined because we know that there must be many more churches and charities who are seeking to alleviate child poverty within London, and we want to resource them to meet the needs that they are seeing in their areas of Greater London.

If you would like to find out more about Acts 435 and how your church or organisation could get involved, please visit: acts435.org.uk/partner

Lee Dema from St Matthews Project

1. 1. How are you helping to tackle child poverty in London?

   The majority of our participants live in the Brixton Rush Common and Coldharbour wards of Lambeth which are within the top 10% Deprivation Deciles nationally for crime and living environment.68% of our participants are entitled to free school meals.  At the heart of what we do is a desire to make sure that no child in our community is left behind. To help us realise that aim, we do a number of things. All of our activities are free, which is very important as the vast majority of the young people we work with cannot otherwise afford to make use of the limited sporting facilities available within the local area. To help those who cannot afford proper football boots, we have a scheme where people can donate second-hand boots in good condition to us. We run holiday programmes, which combine access to free high quality sporting activities with a nutritional meal, as well as free after-school snacks twice a week at our estate-based cage football sessions. Some children often take these snacks home for parents. We also hand out take and make boxes, to ensure that our participants are not going hungry, and provide feminine hygiene products to those who need them. We have recently secured some digital inclusion funding enabling us to buy equipment, so that we can support young people with their school work. During the lockdowns, we were able to provide free laptops and dongles to some of our families to ensure that they could fully participate in homeschooling.

   2. Tell us something you are excited about?

   We have seen a marked upturn in the number of young people accessing our services in recent years, particularly in the wake of the pandemic and the ongoing cost of living crisis.  We now regularly work with over 350 young people each week and have been expanding the range of programmes we offer. For example, we are now delivering innovative programmes  focused on improving young people’s mental health and wellbeing in school and community settings. Word of these programmes has spread beyond the project and we are now receiving increasing recognition from local councilors and other organisations for the quality of work we are doing in this area.

   3. Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service?

   Football is a powerful hook for young people in our area and experience has shown us that it is the best means to deliver support and guidance. Due to the relationships we have built up with young people and their families over a long period of time, we have earned a legitimacy to advise and help them in a way that other organisations cannot.  Young people turn to St Matthew’s because our consistent approach to working with the community provides them with a sense of stability in increasingly uncertain times. As a result, we can maintain relationships with young people who are on the fringes of our community when they have cut themselves off from most or all of the other positive influences in their lives. Equally, it means that their families feel able to come to us for support when they are often reluctant to engage with statutory services. Our coaches are recruited from within the local community and include people who have been St. Matthew’s members who can then act as inspiring and positive role models to the participants. We find that using former participants, including ex-gang members, as coaches not only has a knock-on effect for that particular individual, but also on the young people they are working with, who begin to see what they could do in the future. Through our partnerships with local education providers, residents’ associations and community groups, we know that we are unique in the area in the type of sport and training programmes we deliver. Staff, parents, the police and young people all say that they think our activities offer something positive and can help deter young people from getting involved in more negative activities.

   4. What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?

   We are a good example of the importance of being firmly rooted in your local community. Being ‘hyper’ local can actually be an advantage, as it affords you the opportunity to really build up trust and credibility.  It isn’t always about trying to expand your geographical reach.

   5. What would most help you achieve your goals?

   Just like any other voluntary organisation, long-term funding is crucial to helping us achieve our goals. We currently have a very small staff team, comparative to the amount of services we are delivering to such a large number of young people. We need to look to increase our size in line with the demand for our programmes. In addition, help with reporting and data analysis would be goo

   6. Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?

   We joined the network to ensure that we are as well informed about child poverty issues as possible. It’s useful for us to be part of a group of organisations who understand the issue and challenges we face.

In Kind Direct

1. How are you helping to tackle child poverty in London?

At In Kind Direct, we believe that everyone deserves access to life’s essentials and no usable product should go to waste. In 2023, we supported a network of over 6,600 charitable organisations across the UK, including 1,160 in London, by distributing products from well-known manufacturers and retailers for charitable organisations to use to run their services and share with people they support.

We distribute a range of essential products, including hygiene and household cleaning products, clothing, and toys books and games. Across our network, 37% of charitable organisations say they use products from In Kind Direct to support school-aged children – that equates to nearly 135,000 children helped each week. In 2023 alone, we distributed over 226,230 toys books and games, that’s enough to support the equivalent of 7,540 classrooms of children. One organisation supported through our ‘Summer of Play’ campaign, which aimed to support children and families throughout the summer holidays, shared:

“We support many single parent families who are struggling to get by on Universal Credit. Little extras we provide like toys and clothing, accessed from In Kind Direct, are such a lifeline”.

2. Tell us something you are excited about?

In Kind Direct was originally founded to help reduce environmental impact. We take usable products from retailers and manufacturers that may otherwise go to waste and make it available to charitable organisations for use in their communities. To-date we’ve diverted more than 36,840 tonnes of product from landfill.

Ensuring that everyone can access life’s essentials will always be our focus, but we want to make sure that we are doing this as sustainably as possible. This year, we are calculating our carbon emissions across our organisation and value chain and are excited to be releasing a sustainability strategy next year, to ensure increasing our impact doesn’t cost the earth. We are also looking forward to expanding our refurbished tech offering to our network of charitable organisations, promoting the circular economy, and aiding digital poverty. We’re excited to work more with increasing access to second hand items to ensure people have access to the products they need to keep clean, warm, and well.

3. Share with our members something positive about your organisation’s achievement or service?

In Kind Direct was set up over 26 years ago, and we are so proud of the impact we have had since our founding. To-date we have worked with more than 1,300 companies to distribute products to over 15,000 charitable organisations across the UK, unlocking an incredible £314m in savings for the charitable sector. Through our charitable network, our products support over 365,000 people each week.

The savings we unlock help our charitable network stretch their funds further, enabling them to support more people and deliver more services. As one charitable organisation in our network put it:

“We would not be able to support our community to the extent we do without In Kind Direct”.  

4. What can other network members learn from you or find out more about through you?

In addition to accessing products through our catalogue, we have partnered with a number of companies to unlock additional savings and benefits for our network of charitable organisations. This includes discounted access to workplace supplies, refurbished laptops, printers/ photocopiers, and DSC membership.

We also conduct research and advocacy on issues surrounding poverty and access to essential products. We represent the views of our network in broader sector campaigns and we conduct new research on the causes and impacts of going without, to help make the case for funding and action. An example of this is our Human Right to Hygiene report, which maps the systems underlying hygiene poverty and sets out a roadmap for change.

5. What would most help you achieve your goals?

We are always looking for charitable organisations to join our network to help more people access much-needed products and help more organisations save money on essential supplies. Registering with us is free and can be done via our website.  We welcome a wide range of charitable organisations, including registered charities, CICs, CIOs, community groups, food banks, most schools and nurseries and public sector run outreach projects.

6. Why did you join 4in10? What do you enjoy about being part of the 4in10 network?

In Kind Direct joined 4in10 to connect with other charitable organisations across London that are committed to ending poverty and to learn more about the activities the network is driving to support change. We are always eager to share knowledge and use our combined voices to fight the challenges that many are facing and make a difference. We would love to reach and engage with more 4in10 members and support their charitable mission by inviting them to register with us and access our services and benefits.