Let’s Grow Happy Futures

Aim

To give autistic young adults inclusive, real-world work experience & online business skills for a financially independent & happier future

Who are we, and what is our project about?

We’re Happybara – an award-winning independent gift shop based in Wilton, Wiltshire. But we’re more than just a shop. We’re a social enterprise with a mission to support autistic young adults by offering real-life work experience, confidence-building, and meaningful skills development.

Happybara was founded by Kirsty Ashley with the goal of creating a friendly and inclusive environment that supports young people who often face barriers entering the workforce. With 90% of autistic adults unemployed - we want to challenge and change that statistic! We believe having purposeful lives with financial independence creates happier futures with better wellbeing .

Our latest project, Let’s Grow Happy Futures, extends what we currently do and takes our mission online. We’re developing a digital training and work experience programme where autistic young people can learn e-commerce, website management, and SEO — giving them skills that are valued, flexible, and in-demand.

This project supports long term happiness and financial wellbeing, helping participants gain skills that increase their chances of meaningful employment , future income and reducing social isolation. We’re all about building brighter futures — and this project brings that vision to life.

Why are we crowdfunding?

We’ve seen first hand how difficult it can be for autistic young people to find inclusive work experience, let alone paid opportunities that suit their skills and needs. Our in- store work experience offer is making such a difference, but we’re restricted by  the number of people we can support at once and not everyone is ready for customer interaction straight away.

Let’s Grow Happy Futures will expand our reach and impact. With your support, we’ll provide online training modules, mentorship, and real-life digital work tasks to those who can’t access in-person opportunities. This includes building confidence, learning transferable digital skills, and supporting  individual’s  journey to a happier future. 

We’ve already had many amazing young people benefit from what we do in-store — now it’s time to grow our reach and help even more.

How we’ll spend the money raised

We’re aiming to raise £4,000 to kickstart the first year of our new online programme. Here’s how your donation will help:

• Training course creation & delivery with our expert partner Bee (aka The SEO Bitch) 
• Mentor fees and support time 
• Participant welcome packs and materials 
• Admin, coordination & evaluation costs

Every penny helps us make this project happen. If we exceed our target, we’ll expand to support more learners and offer advanced modules and look to expand Happybara’s work space to include a digital hub .

How you can help

There are 2 simple ways to support Let’s Grow Happy Futures:

1. Make a donation

Every pledge brings us closer to creating opportunities for young autistic adults. No amount is too small — we appreciate every bit of support.

2. Spread the word

Tell your friends, family, workplace, or social media followers about our project. Word-of-mouth is powerful — and free!

3 Undertake a fundraising event  of your choice!

Let’s grow happy futures together 🧡

This project successfully funded on 3rd September 2025