Leading positive change.
Ambition: Positively impact children, their education, and their environment.
The Findel Foundation was launched in 2022 and is our long-term initiative to provide ongoing support to a range of educational, wellbeing and environmental causes throughout the UK. We are dedicated to leading positive change for children, their schooling, and the environment in which they grow up in, because we care and are passionate about future generations.
Inspire passion and educate
We are uniquely placed to lead positive change by actively supporting our customers, schools, and nurseries to become more sustainable. Through thought leadership, encouragement, and incentives we will support schools and nurseries to operate more sustainably.
Core commitments
The green tick badge indicates where a commitment has already been independently certified to ISAE 3000/3410 assurance standards.
Giving children the right start. 
Our commitment
Breakfast clubs not only deliver a benefit through providing a meal at the start of the day, but evidence suggests there is also a direct correlation to improving attainment as a result. Club attendance can also help enable parents to secure employment.
Through our partnership with the Greggs Foundation it is our ambition to support 500+ children per year focusing on areas of high deprivation across the UK.
We are committed to supporting seven breakfast clubs for the next two years with an ambition to expand this even further in future years, supporting the areas that need it the most to support the wider levelling-up agenda.
Our progress
We are proud to support over 580 pupils every day through our seven breakfast clubs. In FY24 this will equate to approximately 90,000 breakfasts supplied.
By the end of FY25…
We will support over 600 pupils per day across the UK at our breakfast club schools.
By the end of FY25 
We will have delivered careers support and workplace encounters to over 600 children and young people.
Supporting careers education. 
Our commitment
We will support schools in achieving the Gatsby benchmarks by providing experiences of workplaces and encounters with a local employer. This will give young people an insight into future career opportunities, as well as raising aspirations throughout areas that require additional social support.
Opportunities include:
• Workplace safaris
• Careers talks
• Work experience
• Attendance at careers fairs and webinars
• Participating in mock interviews
• Mentoring
• Bring your child to work days
Our progress
In the past 12 months we have provided experiences of workplace encounters to over 500 children and young people across Greater Manchester. We have completed an ‘Employer Standards’ self assessment through the CEC (Careers & Enterprise Company) and are achieving all 3 standards expected for employers.
“The work that Findel is doing is amazing and can have a huge impact on prospects of young people. A young person who has four or more meaningful encounters with an employer is 86% less likely to be unemployed or not in education or training and can earn up to 22% more during there career. Thank you, Findel, for your amazing work, inspiring young people in Greater Manchester.”
Sarah Power, Partnership & Quality Lead
Charitable Support
At Findel, we are in a privileged position to have the capacity and resources to really make a difference to little lives. Being part of the education sector, it’s important to realise our responsibility not just to future generations, but to our local communities and organisations. We are incredibly proud to have supported some amazing charities through the Findel Foundation.
Our commitment
We will continue to support causes which benefit children and their education in the UK.
Our progress
To date we have supported many wonderful charities including: Derian House Childrens Hospice, Cherished, Children in Need and Macmillan.
We have provided sponsorship to youth sports teams and donated products and vouchers to schools close to our main locations in Greater Manchester and Nottingham.
We are delighted to announce our charity partner for FY25 as the children’s mental health charity, Place2Be. Place2Be provides vital mental health support in schools, helping children and young people to improve their emotional wellbeing through counseling and mental health services. This is a charity that resonates with our colleagues and customers alike and we’re proud to become a vital partner raising funds for such a wonderful charity.
> To find out more about the amazing work Place2Be does visit: www.place2be.org.uk
By the end of FY25…
Our aim is to donate over £25k for charities to benefit children across the UK.
By the end of FY25…
We are aiming for 29% of colleagues to have participated in meaningful volunteering activities.
Supporting local communities.
Our commitment
So many causes need support within our communities, none more so now than education.
By 2028 we will ensure over 30% of colleagues in permanent locations are engaged in volunteering activities to positively contribute to the lives of children and their education in the UK by supporting volunteering projects in these fields:
- Supporting areas of deprivation to support the wider levelling-up
programme - School Governor roles
- Community and charity events that directly impact children and their
education - Assisting with children’s groups and clubs
- Careers guidance
- Reading in schools
- Green & eco volunteering opportunities
Our progress
We launched our volunteering policy in January 2022 allowing colleagues a minimum of 15 hours volunteering allowance per year. This was taken up with great pace and in FY23 24% of colleagues undertook meaningful volunteering against a target of 9%. In FY24 this rose to 28% of colleagues vs a target of 16% meaning we have accelerated the FY25 target to now 29% of colleagues volunteering during FY25. Volunteering is one of our key ESG metrics with over 3100 young people positively impacted through our volunteering activities.
“We can’t thank Findel enough for coming into our school and helping to
transform our outdoor spaces. We’re really fortunate that they’ve come in and spent time painting planters, and planting trees with the children to improve their learning environment. It’s been enormous fun.”
Beverley Kidd, Teacher
Rio Ferdinand Foundation Partnership
In 2023 we announced a new partnership with the Rio Ferdinand Foundation to deliver a bespoke ‘Communities Programme’ across Manchester, Tameside, Oldham, and Salford.
This programme offers young people from Greater Manchester an exciting and progressive three-year programme, bursting with skills development opportunities in Sport, Music, Digital, Media and Technology. Through this we are targeting the priorities and needs of our diverse communities and leading positive change for young people throughout the Northwest.
As well as helping to unite communities, the programme also provides accredited creative training for young people to boost their CVs and raise their aspirations to achieve success in the future. It provides progression opportunities and pathways for marginalised and underrepresented young people into a range of industries, with a keen focus on females in STEM, as well as sports.
This partnership showcases the synergy between the Findel Foundation and the Rio Ferdinand Foundation. Both organisations have shared roots in Manchester and focus on leading positive social change to empower potential in young people through opportunity creation. The ‘Communities Programme’ is the first step in the Findel Foundation’s ambition to provide work experiences to over 2000 children and young people by April 2026.
During FY25 we aim to…
“Deliver more programmes aimed at children of primary school age and encourage Findel colleagues to volunteer at RFF events.”
Following our first year of the partnership we are delighted to have achieved all of the targets set that have engaged over 400 young people across the Northwest.
