Our portfolio charities and social enterprises are continually innovating and working hard to help even more people living in poverty. Below are some of their latest news stories.
St Giles Trust ranked 20th in Sunday Times '100 Best
Small Companies 2010'
Impetus alumnus St Giles Trust has been ranked amongst the
top small organisations in the country to work for. It was
ranked third overall in the area of how much the
organisation gives back to society.
Street League announced as a Football Association
charity partner
Many congratulations to Street League, which has recently been
announced as one of the FA charity partners for 2010.
Street League (pictured above) went through a rigorous selection process to become an official FA partner, and will receive donations from The FA's Community Shield Fund, as well as a host of other FA Group benefits.
WINNER: Chief Executive of Keyfund wins Entrepreneur
Award
Hannah Eyres, Chief Executive of Keyfund Federation, beat strong
competition to win the 'Best Social Enterprise' award at the North
East Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2009. This award
recognises women who "combine strong entrepreneurial skills with a
positive social mission".
Blue Sky shortlisted for Parliament's Charity of the
Year Award
Blue Sky Development & Regeneration was nominated by Iain
Duncan Smith MP for Parliament's 'Charity of the Year' Award. This
award honours charities that the Parliamentarians consider to have
been the most effective over the past year.
IntoUniversity expands further with fifth learning
centre
IntoUniversity has opened a fifth learning centre in the London Borough of Haringey. David Lammy MP presided at the official opening in January and Angellisa Robinson, a Year 8 student, spoke at the event about why she liked coming to the centre: "I decided to join because I thought it would help me have an even better education. Coming here has helped me to achieve a lot." IntoUniversity continues to expand, with preparation for the opening of a sixth centre.
FRC Group creates new training opportunities for
the long-term unemployed
New Impetus portfolio organisation FRC Group has created an
additional 12 training positions for long-term unemployed people.
The trainees will work with FRC Group for six months, gaining
valuable work experience, skills and qualifications, which will
help them find future employment.
Leap Confronting Conflict extends reach into
Scotland
Impetus alumnus organisation Leap has recently begun working in
Scotland, as part of the Glasgow 'Community Initiative to Reduce
Violence'. Leap has now trained over 60 practitioners in
youth conflict resolution and the Initiative has reported
impressive results - a 49% decrease in violence within the group of
young people committed to the scheme.
ICAP Charity Day raises over £180,000 for beat
ICAP's annual Charity Day sees all revenues and
commissions given away to a select group of charities.
beat was chosen as a beneficiary for the December
Charity Day and it received over £180,000 from this event.
(If your company is interested in donating to Impetus in a similar way, we would be delighted to hear from you. Please contact Alexandra McGill to discuss this in more detail.)
KitKat is Fairtrade-certified
In January, the UK's favourite chocolate biscuit bar, Kit
Kat, went Fairtrade. The Fairtrade Foundation believes that this
move will transform the opportunities for cocoa producers in Côte
d'Ivoire, which is one of the poorest countries in the world.
As well as receiving the Fairtrade price (or market price if
higher) for the cocoa, farmers' organisations receive additional
Fairtrade premium payments to invest in long-term community and
business development projects, such as education and
healthcare.
Fairtrade set as standard for London Olympics
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and
Paralympic Games (LOCOG) has declared that Fairtrade bananas, tea,
coffee, sugar and chocolate will be served during the London
Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Games will take place
across 40 locations and it is estimated over 14 million meals will
be served.
WINNER: Teens & Toddlers graduates win
award
Teens and Toddlers Magazine, run by graduates of the Teens and
Toddlers programme, has won the 'Inspiring Voices' Award from the
Media Trust, as a positive example of a community group using
digital media.
WINNER Speaking Up beneficiaries win disability
award
Six Speaking Up beneficiaries, all of whom have learning
disabilities, won the RADAR Disability Network's 'Doing Access
Differently Award' for their 'Promote the Vote' campaign. This
involved the team holding over 100 workshops and creating a website
to encourage other people with learning disabilities to vote.
NPL sees membership of youth group grow
threefold
In 2008, NPL launched a youth group for South Asian and Middle
Eastern gay and bisexual men, to support these young people to
communicate with their families about being gay in a way that is
linguistically and culturally meaningful. Group membership
and attendance has grown threefold over the last year, and there
has been a noticeable increase in the confidence and self-esteem of
the group members.
The engagement with Impetus is very rewarding on a number of levels. It has helped to broaden our awareness and understanding of critical social issues and the impact that organisations such as Impetus can make.
Wol Kolade
ISIS Equity Partners, Impetus corporate donor
