We were delighted to spend a warm evening together at our Summer Crowdbacker event with our friends at Year Here raising funds and generating support for four new social ventures developed by their 2019 Fellows.

This is the 8th event we have done in partnership with Year Here, a brilliant post graduate programme in social innovation which grew out of the ground breaking work of the Young Foundation.

First we were inspired by the incredible story of Cephas Williams, founder of 56 Black Men. His mission is to reduce the negative portrayal of black men in mainstream media. From humble beginnings in south London the organisation’s work has grown to be featured on national media. You can see them featured on the BBC here.

We then heard reports on the latest achievements of  previously funded Crowdbacker projects - CrackedIt, Supply Change and Appt. Many will remember when Cracked It presented at TFN most recently in 2017 and its dynamic founder, Josh Babarinde is one of our valued trustees. 

And finally, we heard passionate pitches from the 2019 Fellows; 
• Laura Boyle, Katherine Burnard and Keir McCluskey from Square Circle, who raised over £4,300 to grow their venture helping employers learn from and hire underestimated young people, watch the pitch here. 
• Rosy Banham at Untold, who raised over £5,400 to boost her new creative programme for residents in temporary accommodation, designed to build confidence and self-worth and in the longterm to establish a creative agency providing job opportunities for these people. Watch the pitch here. 
• Sarah Holliday, Ruth Martin & Hebe Foster at Telescope, who raised £4,400 for their training programme linking the policy & social sectors to build better policy for the future. You can watch their pitch here. 
• And last but not least, Yasmin Ibison at Critics Club, who raised £4,300 to support her venture enabling young people to engage with theatre and the arts and not to feel excluded or intimated by the cultural institutions on their doorsteps. See her pitch here. 

We were delighted to raise over £18,500 together for these innovative new social ventures. A big thank you to our partner Year Here, NatWest for hosting us, BNY Mellon for their generous support, and all who gave on the night and offered pro-bono expertise. 

We can’t wait for the next one!