Young Medway

Young Medway is a Young People's Foundation Trust. It aims to work across the youth sector in Medway to encourage collaboration and the co-ordination of services for young people. It is interested in developing work that support and benefits young people.

What is the Purpose of Young People’s Foundations?

Young People’s Foundations work to safeguard existing CYP provision and work to grow the sector in their local area. One of the fundamental aims for the YPF model is to act as a conduit for grant giving foundations, local business and the local council to come together and work together in providing funding solutions for local CYP charities. We see the YPF at the heart of each local community, acting as an ‘umbrella’ to help smaller charities and groups effectively campaign, advise and fundraise.

The Foundations aim to do the following:

1. Raise & Distribute Funds:
2. Build a consortium to fundraise collectively to: Secure funding from new sources (e.g. Big Lottery or GLA) into the local area & Successfully secure commissions from the Local Authority
3. Attract corporate and individual funding streams. The YPFs should be a practical and simple way for the corporate sector to engage with CYP organisations
4. Raise funds from other Trusts and Foundations to benefit their membership

5. Distribute a small grants pot locally on behalf of the Charity

6. Facilitate:

7. Organise sector (and location) specific capacity building, including training events, advice sessions and a forum for organisations to share ideas and best practice
8. Coordinate sector networking opportunities and support services
9. Work with statutory partners to develop initiatives that can be supported by the voluntary sector

10. Provide a single point of access for local young people and parents to understand what is available locally.

11. Create Space:

12. Share venue/delivery spaces
13. Develop a ‘venue bank’.

Young Medway shares the Young People's Foundation Trust's aims and values:

• Inclusivity - membership is open to any group working with children and young people, with no limit on numbers. An equal voice will be given to all organisations, no matter their size

• Diversity - YPFs value the multitude of organisations that deliver youth and children’s work. There is a need for variety in order to meet the needs of as many young people as possible

• Collaboration - YPFs are non-competitive and encourage collaboration between members. The YPFs will work to fundraise, coordinate and network to benefit their whole membership. They will not compete against their members nor will they build up a large central workforce

• Cross-sector - the needs of children and young people must be addressed by the public, voluntary and private sectors as a group rather than individually

• Grassroots - the YPFs work for, and with, small local organisations and retain their local focus

• Non-delivery - YPFS do not directly deliver services, but contract services via its membership

• Long-term - YPFs are designed for the long term. They are a constant; there for local young people past the traditional three or four-year terms of funding programmes or Local Authority term in office.