We are delighted to have the support of local businesses who have been getting involved in Islington

George Hussein from Fish Central and Jack Morris, chair of the Islington Giving Appeal Committee

Giving in a whole number of ways from sponsoring events, to getting their staff volunteering with the groups that we work with.

A special mention must go to two local restaurants, Frederick’s in Camden Passage and Fish Central on Central Street.

In December, Frederick’s encouraged their diners to donate to the campaign and matched any donations. Thank to the generosity of Frederick’s and their customers, over £1000 was raised for Islington Giving.

Fish Central are currently running the ‘A Little Tip’ campaign, asking customers to put £1 on their bill for Islington Giving.

We are incredibly grateful to these local businesses for their support, if you are a local restaurant, find out how you can get involved help

Islington Giving is delighted to announce a new partnership with The Evening Standard Dispossessed Fund which has

Saturday Night Project at Sobell Leisure Centre

committed £50,000 to support its work with young people.

The Evening Standard began its Dispossessed campaign in Islington. Writer David Cohen highlighted the huge chasm that divided rich and poor when he said, “In Islington, one of the capital’s most deprived boroughs, an extraordinary 48 per cent of children live in poverty”.

Islington Giving is a campaign, by Islington people and for Islington people to change this. By giving money and time local residents and businesses are helping us to invest in young people, confront isolation and tackle hardship.

The support from the Evening Standard will allow us to continue and expand our work by opening up clubs and activities on Saturday nights, when young people tell us they do not have enough to do.

Our Saturday Night Project already attracts over 250 young people to the Sobell Sports Centre to play football, basketball and other sports such as cheerleading and ice skating.

Justin Hitchman, 21, a coach at charity Access to Sports, said: “This is like their Match of the Day. They can look forward to it at the weekend and it keeps them off the streets. When my friends were bored they got into strife – if I had something like this when I was growing up lots of my friends wouldn’t be in the situation they are now. I am probably one of the only ones who hasn’t spent time in prison.”

Liz Kelly, whose son Curtis was at the first event, said: “The devil makes work for idle hands, so put a basketball in them.” Curtis, 12, added: “It’s good because there are lots of people there who are my friends, otherwise I’d just be sitting at home watching TV or playing on the computer.”

Tom Jupp, the Chair of Islington Giving added that “Islington Giving exists to provide an opportunity for everyone to contribute money or time to the place where we all live. Islington is a great place if you have plenty of money and friends. It is easy to forget in the affluent parts of the borough that life is not so good for high numbers of children living here who are growing up in poverty. We shall be using this money to fund programmes that invest in young people and give them greater opportunity and for this we wish to thank the Evening Standard for their support. “

Media release ends

Contact for Islington Giving:

Jacqueline Broadhead
Islington Giving
76 Central Street,
London EC1V 8AG
0207 566 3130
07791 974768

Jacqueline.Broadhead@islingtongiving.org.uk
Twitter: @isgiv
www.islingtongiving.org.uk

Notes to editors:
1. Islington is a place of social extremes where London’s richest and poorest residents exist side-by-side, living entirely different lives. It has the 2nd highest rate of child poverty in England and the lowest male life expectancy in London.

2. Islington Giving is a campaign –for Islington by Islington people – that will tackle need in Islington and their root causes. We will raise £3m over the next three years to support our community. The campaign is led by a coalition of charitable partners, including The Breadsticks Foundation, City Bridge Trust, Cripplegate Foundation, The Morris Charitable Trust, Richard Cloudesley’s Charity, UnLtd and Voluntary Action Islington.

Islington Giving will support three themes
• Investing in Young People
• Tackling Poverty
• Confronting Isolation

A commitment to encouraging and promoting volunteering will underpin these three themes Islington Giving will:
• raise at least £3m over 3 years and recruit 500 new volunteers to support local people
• bring together the private, voluntary and public sectors
• promote long-term partnerships and financial investment in Islington
• encourage residents, businesses and their staff to give money and give time to tackle poverty and create opportunity in Islington

See End Child Poverty for the full report

Year 12 students at City and Islington College are working with businesses to get an understanding of how they work and develop their own enterprising skills. In partnership with Enabling Enterprise and through Islington Giving, every week the students take part in a session where they gain further understanding of enterprise skills, and have the opportunity to apply them in developing their own entrepreneurial ideas. Within the sessions the students are working in teams on projects they have designed themselves and for which they take responsibility throughout the year.

In the Autumn term students have been learning about different enterprising skills and their importance in ensuring success. The students have then begun to explore possible ideas which they could develop into their final project. They held a Christmas Fair at the end of the Autumn term as a test run of their product ideas, designing and producing their own line of muffins to sell as a Christmas treat, as well as personalised t-shirt designs.

Alongside their BTEC Business the students are entered into the Level 2 Certificate in Enterprise Skills, giving them the opportunity to use their projects to achieve a qualification equivalent to a B-grade GCSE,

At the end of the Autumn term the students were invited to the offices of the property developer Argent – the company responsible for the multi-billion dollar regeneration project in Kings Cross. The students had a fantastic  day  finding out more about the world of property development from employees who volunteered to support the day, and the different roles available. The students were then engaged in a teambuilding and problem solving activity to build a bridge according to certain criteria, with the best planned, strongest and most aesthetically pleasing one winning.

The Enabling Enterprise programme is just one of the ways that Islington Giving is working to invest in young people through enterprise. Find out more about our other programmes here

Students from City of London Academy Islington have been benefiting from the expertise of international advertising firm OMD, learning about Enterprise and setting up their own business, thanks to an Islington Giving supported project with Enabling Enterprise.

The GCSE Media studies class of 18 students is taking part in a year-long programme bringing their Media lessons to life allowing them to gain experience of the professional media world.

Over the first term the students have explored how enterprising skills are linked to the world of media, particularly being able to work in teams to understand and meet the needs of a target audience. The sessions are run within the students’ media lessons, supporting the curriculum they are studying while giving them the opportunity to plan, design and develop their own magazines. The students have engaged in weekly sessions which both enhance their enterprise skills and ensure that the magazine they are planning will be successful; some key sessions have been on carrying out and analysing market research and using advertising successfully.

A key aspect of raising aspirations for this group was attending the event at the international media communications company OMD. Students were given a tour of their new offices, a stylish warehouse conversion that houses the international faction of OMD, Volunteers then took the time out to explain how media really works – sharing inside knowledge about how to develop a marketing and strategy campaign.
The question of the hour was what comes first – the medium or the egg? Students got thinking about the problem that constantly arises in the world of branding and advertising – do you come up with a concept for your advert first, or think about what format the advertising will take?

Students then went on to develop their own strategy for a Levi’s jeans campaign – a campaign that the company are currently involved in. COLA-I students were challenged to consider how they could draw in the ‘conventional’ and the ‘progressive’ audiences, developing mood boards to explore the different groups’ interests.

Over the second session students built on their ideas to develop imaginative and complex strategies, meeting the brief set by OMD. Supported by the OMD volunteers, who encouraged the students to be as creative as possible (the budget was limitless after all….!), the students’ ideas became incredibly sophisticated. Encourgaging people to buy the jeans and tweet photos of themselves in them, to win tickets to gigs by famous singers.  Volunteers commented in their feedback that ‘some of whose ideas were comparable to (and even better than) I’ve seen from some of our staff!’

The winning team encouraged online shoppers to either buy online or to try on in the store where they would be guided through a treasure hunt that led them to meet Lady Gaga. And they presented their idea through a role play! The volunteers were suitably impressed with the students’ zeal and imaginative thought – enough to present the student who showed the most progress with a Playstation Play!

This practical experience is allowing students to gain much more from their learning, get an insight into industry and develop their skills. Students commented that:

‘I learnt to keep giving ideas and then you will end up with a very good master piece’

‘I have learnt to think across platforms, and that I would like to work for OMD’

‘It helped me because I spoke out loud which I never do’

‘I have gained better communication skills and concentration’
Well done COLA-I and thank you to OMD – the next event is already being keenly anticipated by all

Islington Giving is delighted that Union Chapel is supporting the campaign through Waking from Sleep, an evening of movement, poetry and visual art.

Movement in Sleep - Sarah Strang

Artist Sarah Strang is working with poets and musicians to complement her ‘Movement in Sleep’ exhibition which previews tomorrow at the Chapel.

Happening at  Union Chapel (Compton Terrace, London N1 2XD) on Friday 16^th December at 7.00pm, with bar to follow.

Tickets are £10, with all proceeds going to Islington Giving.

This will be a unique event and a great way to get involved with Islington Giving over the festive period. We can’t wait to see you there.

Buy tickets

Find out more about artist in residence Sarah Strang’s Movement in Sleep

We’ve had a great response to our open call for innovative ideas to Confront Isolation. We’ll be giving you lots more information in the coming weeks on the excellent projects that we are proud to be supporting.

In the meantime the lovely people over at Simpl, the Social Innovation Marketplace which was just one of the places where we advertised the campaign, asked us to write a blog explaining the process and what we were looking for. You can read that here and see the slides from the info drop-in we held at Voluntary Action Islington a little while back.

There will be another round of funding in Spring 2012 and we can’t wait to see the great ideas we get to support the most isolated and vulnerable people in Islington

Tuesday 18th October saw Islington Giving at Macquarie Group’s offices for our ‘Delivering on Local Philanthropy’ breakfast roundtable for businesses.

Getting businesses involved 'in their backyard' to support local projects which make a real difference

Gathering together leaders from businesses alongside the Minister for Civil Society Nick Hurd MP and Islington Giving, the event was a chance to explore how businesses can get better involved in their local community through meaningful local philanthropy, giving money and time to tackle poverty and create real opportunity for Islington.

A long-time supporter of Islington Giving, Macquarie Group kindly hosted the event. David Fass CEO of Macquarie for EMEA opened up the discussion, speaking about the Group’s commitment to philanthropy and to Islington.

Jack Morris, Chair of Business Design Group and of the Islington Giving Appeal Committee spoke about his journey to understanding the reality of Islington, a place of great prosperity but which also has the second highest level of child poverty in England, and where 40% of children grow up in workless households and how this had shaped his businesses’ commitment to the local community and the people it serves.

Reflecting on this reality, he asked those around the table to commit their money and time to support real change for Islington.

Chair of the Islington Giving Appeal Committee Jack Morris OBE and Minister for Civil Society Nick Hurd MP

Minister for Civil Society Nick Hurd underlined the inequality of areas of inner London like Islington, where ‘Mind the Gap’ is more than an announcement on the underground but a very real concern, saying that “nowhere is that gap more evident than where we are now.”

Speaking of his support for Islington Giving, he added, “I saw something in the Islington Giving model that could work and be powerful,” before urging the businesses represented around the table, “to go on an [Inside Islington] tour, to be confronted with the brutal and grinding poverty on the doorstep.”

However, he underlined that giving was not just an altruistic concern for businesses, but at the heart of making their local areas and staff better, “Giving is not just about the person receiving, for everything I give I get twice in return…Your employees have fantastic skills which have the capacity to transform local charities and your staff will come back better employees.”

The event provided an opportunity to reflect upon what business does already, but also on how more can be done and how Islington Giving can support businesses by using its knowledge of the area to work better locally and to real offer solutions for Islington. Whilst businesses are already engaged in their local community, a change of gear is now needed to take this onto the next level.

Opening up for discussion, representatives from businesses around the table were able to share their experience around effective local giving. Helen Simpson, Director of Volunteering at BT spoke about the strength of partnerships between the private, public and voluntary sector and how organisations like Islington Giving can provide the wisdom and expertise to allow businesses to target their community work most effectively.

David Partridge, Chief Executive of the developers Argent, underlined how by working together businees can achieve

'Delivering on Local Philanthropy' Event at Macquarie Group

more than the sum of its parts, “By bringing together businesses they can get more traction in the local community, allowing staff to feel a real connection. You start knitting together some real relationships beyond giving and receiving, you become better located in the local community and it becomes part of a way of life, which is how you close the gap.

The event marked the opportunity for Islington Giving to highlight how Islington community groups can benefit from the involvement of businesses based in their backyard, to demonstrate Islington Giving’s commitment to working with businesses to tackle poverty and create opportunity and to provide concrete ways for businesses to get involved.

If you would like more information please get in touch with Jacqueline.Broadhead@isligntongiving.org.uk

You can also find out about Macquarie Group’s COmmunity REsourcing skills volunteering programme which works to place skilled volunteers with Islington community groups here

Islington Giving is proud to support a new project, allowing City and Islington students to benefit from the skills and expertise of BT staff and raise money for Islington projects at the same time.

Students from City and Islington College meet their BT mentor

40 students will benefit from the project, established by Islington Giving, with each group of students mentored bya member of BT staff, who will promote academic achievement, money management and personal and career development.

In addition to mentoring, the groups will each be given £500 seed funding which they will aim to increase by as much as possible. At the end of the project, they will donate the funds to a local charity of their choice.

The project was officially launched by Jack Morris OBE, the Chair of the Board of Governors at the College and Chair of the Islington Giving Appeal Committee.

Jack said, “It is fantastic that BT has jumped on this opportunity so quickly. The experience that BT staff have to share in mentoring on enterprise and creativity is wonderful. This is a chance of a lifetime for students to get some hands-on experience with experienced mentors.”

Talking to the students about Islington Giving, he continued, “I can’t tell you how much it means to be at the beginning of something so big in Islington. This is a start of a legacy of giving, so think about what Islington Giving and this project can do for you, but also think about becoming ambassadors for us and taking the message out into your communities.”

The students were also treated to a lively and informative talk by Duncan Goose, founder of Global Ethics the company behind the One brand, who explained how he had made the move from working in advertising to setting up a company which creates products such as bottled water where profits are distributed to relevant development programmes such as the provision of clean drinking water.

Helen Simpson, the Director of Volunteering at BT, added, “This programme is part of a wider volunteer programme here at BT in which we use employees’ skills to contribute to different communities. The schemes allow our people to stretch their business skills and pass on their knowledge.”

The teams are already competitive and determined to raise more money than their fellow students. Team Branson, comprising Aneesha Balu, Shanoor Barik, Omar Amoako and Zephaniah Flynn and mentored by Graham Puddephatt, Head of IP Address and Naming, is determined to succeed and win the challenge and had already come up with several ideas through the day but decided to keep them confidential for the moment.

We will keep you up to date with the challenge and how the students get on in this excellent example of both students and young people giving back to the local community

The Saturday Night Project returns this Saturday, 24th September at Sobell Leisure Centre from 7-11pm with sports events, competitions, coaching, taster sessions and lots more all under one roof!

Over 400 young people have already taken part in these Saturday Night and weekly events, getting access to new activities, which will this time also include a Games Zone featuring Trickster Bikes and Nintendo Wii competitions.

Interested in finding out more? Check out the Facebook page or follow them on Twitter @SatNightProject for all the latest news, as well as to find out about the weekly sports activities running at the same time as the Saturday Night project.

You can also read much more about the project here including the feature on this innovative project in the London Evening Standard back in August.