I can hardly believe that are already half way through the first term of the academic year. Yet, here we are, and over 35 partner schools are due to complete their First Give programmes before the winter break. I for one am extremely excited to hear yet more students speak about the issues that matter to them and what they have done for their chosen charities.
At First Give we work in partnership with schools to inspire and motivate young people to instigate real world change, both now and in the future. We survey students, teachers and charities to help us understand the impact that First Give has. We are currently working on an impact report for the last academic year, but in the meantime, I wanted to share a little of the data and insights from last year.
First Give’s reach
Last year First Give partnered with over 170 schools across England and Wales to deliver over 180 programmes. This is the largest number of programmes we have ever run, and we are incredibly proud that students who did the First Give programme last year were part of a cohort of over 33,000 young people who helped to affect change in their community through the programme.
Those 33,000 young people researched and connected with over 750 charities working in the community. In total students also reported raising almost £70,000 for their chosen charities, on top of the £182,000 in grants that First Give donated to winning charities. This year we were also delighted to smash through the £1million mark, as we have now donated £1,079,500 to charities since we launched in 2014!
Outcomes for students
Teachers tell us about a whole range of positive outcomes for students who participate in First Give. From skills development through to confidence, wellbeing and increased motivation to help improve the lives of others.
It was clear from the responses that we collected from students that where they felt they had agency (in the choice of the class charity) and where they had the opportunity to connect with their charity, they were much more likely to say that they had improved their skills, were more motivated to take action and had improved their awareness of issues affecting the community.
Some key outcomes from all responses:
Outcomes for schools
We hope that partnering with First Give will have benefits for the wider school as well. We were therefore delighted to find that 90% of teachers agreed that First Give helped their school to develop more meaningful ways of engaging with the local community.
We would love to hear more about the positive outcomes are for partner schools, so please do continue to share your insights and reflections with us via your Programme Manager.
Thank you for continuing to partner with us at First Give. We look forward to another year of social action, advocacy and support for local charities. I hope that you find the platform the First Give programme provides your students to be a powerful and meaningful one.
From our Deputy Director, Isaac Jones