First Give is a charity, which launched in 2014, and is already working with 200 schools across England and Wales to make a huge difference to the lives of young people. I was lucky enough to interview Louisa Searle, the director, and ask her a few questions.
What is First Give, and what do you do?
‘First Give seeks to ignite a spark of social action in young people, and to help them to make a positive difference to the lives of others, in aid of the causes that matter to them. We go into secondary schools across England and Wales, and we work with those schools to run a programme with an entire year group. We get the students to think about problems in their community, then they have to then research local charities that are working to address those problems. They then have to meet with their chosen charity, and learn about how they could help. We give them guidance and encouragement to do social action for that charity; that could be raising awareness, or raising money. The programme in each school finishes with a big celebration of everything that the year group has done, and one group of kids per class have to do a presentation to a panel of judges about their project. The class who have delivered the best in their project wins £1000, from us, for their charity. So it's obviously a great moment for the young people, and it’s a great moment for the charities. But the big message really, is that by the time they’ve got to that moment, where one class wins the cheque, actually every single student in the whole year group will have done something amazing for their communities.’
For students: Why should they take part?
'For young people, I think that they develop that idea that what they do matters, and what they care about matters, and that it is within them today, as young people, to be agents of change within their communities. They don't have to wait till their older, we care about what they think, and what they can do now. I think that that gives them agency and it gives them a voice. Along the way they develop really important skills for life, such as communication, teamwork, empathy, project planning and research. And so I hope all those things together, inspire confidence in them, and that they can carry it forward into their lives. It's important to be caring, and to be giving, and to want to be an active citizen, as they progress through school and on into their careers.’
For charities – what are the benefits?
‘We wanted there to be something that would be appealing to charities, the fact that in working with the schools they would have a chance of getting that big pot of money. The money is also unrestricted funding, which means you can spend it on anything you want to serve your purpose, which is quite unusual within the charity sector. Although I think charities actually really value the connection with young people much more, like the fact that they are able to kind of communicate with them through the programme. We also ask them to stay in touch with the students who won the money because we think it's really important that the journey continues you know. This is not just a one off moment, this should be the start of a relationship.’
On average, how much money are schools able to raise for their charity?
‘It really varies because some schools have quite strict rules about fundraising, and so that's why we call it social action. We say, if you want to raise money that's great, but your time is also really valuable as well, so we place equal importance on them both. But in terms of figures, I’ve seen students of some schools raise over £2000, so they already raised more than the funding that we’re offering, so it can be really diverse. I think on average we expect the schools would raise between £250 and £500 per school. That's even more money going in directly from young people to local organisations that they care about; as well as their time, and their energy, and their passion; and to me that's really exciting.’
For schools: Why should they apply?
‘I would say to schools, you know, we want to help you educate the whole child, the whole young person, to help schools to create well rounded, active, compassionate young people who have the skills and confidence to help others, and to care about their communities. And we do it in a way that's really manageable and easy for schools to do. We’re all about helping teachers and to make their lives easier because we know how hard they work. And it fits really well with those things that schools need to do to prove they’re effective, to Ofsted, to parents, it ticks lots of boxes, so we’re pleased about that. And in terms of getting in touch, you just needs to go to our website, fill out a form and my team will be in touch!’
I thoroughly enjoyed interviewing Louisa about her charity, I love how First Give supports other charities, as well as giving students a great opportunity to do good in their communities. I really think this is a worthwhile thing for schools to get involved in, and I will definitely be asking my teachers about signing up!
