Every child deserves the opportunity to play

Aim

Bloomsbury Football is raising funds to ensure that every child has the opportunity to play football irrespective of their ability to pay.

Who We Are 

Bloomsbury Football Foundation works with children aged 3 - 15 years old, irrespective of their footballing or financial ability. Based in Central London, Bloomsbury’s operations span over the London Boroughs of Camden, Islington and Westminster, although we also support children from outside of these boroughs. To date, we have supported c.3,000 children.

What We Do 

We provide (often heavily subsidised) football sessions to children of all abilities. Our sessions include; weekly free open sessions within Central London's most vulnerable locations, weekly foundation sessions, school sessions, girls only sessions, academy sessions, and holiday camps. Overall, we provide over 100,000 hours worth of football per year, to c.3000 children. 

Cost is one of the biggest barriers to sport. At Bloomsbury, we encourage children from poor socio-economic backgrounds to engage in sport, and be physically active by removing the barrier of cost, as best we can. 60% of the children we work with receive some form of financial assistance, ranging from a 25%-100% discount on fees.

The Effect of COVID

COVID has decimated our business. Our revenue streams have dried up, and we have a £55,000 deficit. While we were able to save some business through putting on some sessions digitally, the absence of face-to-face sessions has dented our finances, and our impact. 

COVID has also had a huge impact on our community with the demand for bursaries greater than ever. This has put more pressure on us to come up with funds to satisfy this demand, once lockdown is lifted.

Our Project

We are raising money so that we can maintain and expand our existing programme, and help to continue to keep children in our communities physically and mentally healthy.

In 2020/21 our primary aim is to have the financial capacity to impact the same number of children as we did last year. By the end of 2020/2021 season, we want to expand our bursary pool so 75% of the children we impact receive financial assistance. Given the financial implications of COVID, providing more bursary funding will be essential in maintaining activity amongst our children. 

At Bloomsbury we are extremely ambitious and want to impact as many children as possible, and so, if we exceed our goal, we will look to expand our 'free to access' girls programme, and increase the number of sessions we put on so more children can benefit from sport. 

We recognise that our ambitions are being challenged by the environment we must now live with - but this is exactly why we must act. This period is one of the most challenging that our families have faced, and we want to be able to support more families through the provision of football activities. This is vital in ensuring children's mental and physical health. 

How We Will Spend the Money Raised

The money raised will contribute to Bloomsbury being able to maintain its existing services when lockdown is lifted again. For example, by helping us pay venue costs, staff costs, and equipment costs. Having money to pay these costs will mean more money will be able to go into the bursary pool, which will ultimately mean more children from financially vulnerable families will be able to benefit from our high quality, professional sessions. We also hope to use any donations above our goal to try and open new sessions, in order to have a positive impact on more children - and help them improve their physical and mental health. 

If we do not achieve our minimum target, we will have to close sessions, and offer fewer bursary places, which will have detrimental impacts on the physical and mental wellbeing of our children.

The Plea

Every child deserves the chance to play. This is your opportunity to help us support them.

This project successfully funded on 8th January 2021