I really want to pass on a huge thank you to all of our volunteers, partner organisations and EY Foundation team for their amazing, superhuman efforts over the last two weeks.

As we continue to grow and adapt our online delivery in response to COVID-19, recent weeks have seen the launch of EY Foundation’s innovative virtual mentoring programme.

Together we completed the delivery of our busiest ever programme period…17 programmes, supporting 300 talented young people, aided by 22 buzzing corporate partners and 140 brilliant volunteers.

Virtual employability programmes can help employers access diverse talent and unlock potential, explains Rob Pope, EY Foundation Southern Hub Leader.

Mentoring can provide crucial support when making big decisions in anyone’s life. But what does mentoring mean to you?

Omar Choudhury has a lead role in the Government’s ‘Fire it Up’ apprenticeship campaign, and follows hot on the heels of fellow Foundation alumni, Chris Achiampong, who fronted up the 2016 campaign.

Last week, young people on the Kickstart scheme took part in a charity-focused Dragon’s Den challenge to build upon and showcase the employability skills they’ve developed during their placements.

The EY Foundation is delighted to announce a collaboration with the Metropolitan Police to deliver Met Futures, a pioneering employability programme.

Last week, we celebrated our supporters and achievements over the past twelve months with our annual Impact Awards. Thank you to everyone who joined us.

The EY Foundation’s 2021/2022 Impact Report, is now available to download, with all the numbers and stories from a year of challenge but also significant achievements. We also review our lessons learned and conclude by setting out our headline priorities for the next 12 months.

The EY Foundation finished January by welcoming the new Youth Advisory Board to their Induction at our London Bridge office. Fourteen board members travelled from across the UK (with two joining virtually) to meet face-to-face for the first time.

Acting CEO Lynne Peabody looks back at the challenges and opportunities of 2021 and discusses what's to come in 2022.

Yesterday, we held our annual Impact Awards to celebrate and thank the people and organisations who have supported the EY Foundation over the past twelve months.

We have launched our 2020/2021 Impact Report, which sets out all our achievements over the last year and our priorities for the next 12 months.

In the last year, we’ve supported over 2,500 young people from low-income backgrounds and successfully launched several new programmes. We’ve also exceeded our targets for social entrepreneur support, volunteers and employer engagement.

This is a critical moment for society that demands bold action from all of us. The scale of the challenge to tackle racial inequality is huge but we are passionate in our determination to secure change – both for our organisation and the young people we serve.

What does the current situation mean for charities like the EY Foundation, whose aim is to help young people from low-income backgrounds access meaningful work?

The EY Foundation has supported over 4000 young people and social entrepreneurs from July 2018 to June 2019 – an increase of over 150% on last year. We also spread our impact by moving into three new locations in Liverpool, Stoke and Wolverhampton.