Join our Crowdfunder today and you can end isolation for even more autistic people and people with learning disabilities.
About us
We are Love4Life, a friendship and dating network for people with learning disabilities and autism, with more than 300 members! Our members tell us that without Love4Life they are lonely and isolated. They don’t have friends or places to go.
When they do make friends they can often be targeted and exploited.
Together with our members we have developed a safe and inspiring place for them to grow their skills and confidence and build relationships through workshops, events and chaperoned dates.
This is where you come in. We need your help.
We worry about the people on our waiting lists – they are growing fast and we can’t reach everyone who needs us.
We want to be more useful to our members as they develop and grow, we want to run more workshops and reach more people
Our members have a lot to offer, and we want to enable them to achieve the things they could only ever dream of.
Grace played Dorothy in our Wizard of Oz performance, singing somewhere over the rainbow so beautifully. When we met her, she was too shy to speak in front of people she didn’t know. Since then she has been the co-chair of our management committee and is an amazing ambassador for Love4Life.
Sometime dreams really do come true, and you can help us make that happen!
Raising £5,000* will allow us to open the doors to more members and fund 24 more workshops and events needed to support the growing demand.
If we can raise £5000, we can run more workshops to enable our members to better build healthy relationships, improve their personal safety, and learn skills to help them get jobs. We could also support more Love4Life club nights and socialising that our members love so much.
Every donation counts, every penny makes a difference as it goes directly towards helping our members live the lives they have previously watched from the sidelines. Every donation, no matter how small, makes a big difference. Let's work together, we can create a more inclusive world today!
Rewarding your generosity
Love4Life members came up with a list of ways to thank everyone who donated to our Crowdfunder:
From limited edition pin badges to VIP tickets to Love4Life’s show ‘A night with the stars’ and meeting the cast, or being invited to a workshop that you funded, they want to thank everyone who can give.
Other ways to support
If you want to find out more about becoming a member, a volunteer or working with us in other ways, please do get in touch. Go to our website or email [email protected]
Want to know more?
The problem we’re tackling:
Imagine not feeling safe with your friends or being too scared to go out? People with learning disabilities and autistic people face so many day to day barriers that affect every aspect of their lives, from discrimination and exploitation, hate crime and financial abuse to social isolation. Many of our members despair of ever finding paid work. 42% of our existing members don’t receive any support from their local authority. For many of our members we are a vital lifeline and the only support they receive. With funding challenges across local authorities and social care, the support Love4Life offers is needed now, more than ever.
Building friendships and relationships is crucial for everyone’s happiness, but for people with learning disabilities and autistic people, it can be so much harder. One in three people with a learning disability rarely or never get the chance to go out and socialise*. Being isolated impacts more than just emotional well-being it can lead to poorer health and shorter lives.
Without the right support to develop the skills that provide the basis for healthy relationships, many struggle to socialise, leading to feelings of increased isolation and loneliness.
Our solution:
Love4Life brings people together to make friends, learn new skills, grow their confidence and find love. Through our social events and workshops, our members get the chance to try new things, build relationships, and feel like they belong.
Here’s just some of what we’ve done so far this year:
- We’ve hosted over 780 social events and fitness classes, including our first-ever pop-up club night in Coventry, exclusively for adults with learning disabilities and autism. These events provide a chance for members to make friends, improve their physical and mental health and become more independent.
- We’ve run 80 workshops on everything from independent living skills to dating, mental health, and CV writing.
- We’ve provided over 1,000 one-to-one support sessions, helping members deal with anxiety, relationships, money worries, and more.
- Our members even get involved in environmental projects like planting trees as part of our ‘Green Team.’
These activities have transformed lives. Members who were once shy or anxious are now stepping out of their comfort zones, forming friendships, and taking control of their futures.
Here's what our members tell us;
Love4Life reduces loneliness:
- 88% feel less lonely since joining Love4life
- 100% feel part of the community since joining Love4life
- 94% of members report increased self-belief since joining the network
Love4Life promotes skills development:
- 71% feel that they have gained new skills because of Love4Life training or workshops.
- 93% think that the skills they have learnt will help them be more independent.
- 55% say that what they have learnt helps them feel healthier.
Matthew’s story
Matthew joined Love4Life in November 2021, hoping to make new friends and maybe find love. With Love4Life’s support, he’s grown in confidence, embraced new opportunities, and even moved out of supported housing to live independently. At first, Matthew relied on staff and taxis to attend events, feeling shy and struggling to connect with others. But with encouragement from friends, volunteers, and the Love4Life team, he gradually opened up and gained a sense of belonging.
Over time, Matthew’s confidence grew, and he began sharing his passions—like leading a recycling workshop. Meeting his partner through Love4Life gave him an even stronger sense of purpose. Now engaged, Matthew is excited to build a future with his fiancé.
Inspired by others, Matthew decided to live on his own after seven years in supported housing. Skills from Love4Life workshops, like managing money and healthy living, gave him the confidence to make that leap. He’s now settled into his own flat and travels independently to events.
As he looks ahead, Matthew is also working toward finding a job, using his experience from volunteer work and preparing through a CV-writing workshop.
In short, we’re changing lives—but we can’t do it without you.
Please donate today and help us continue this vital work.
Thank you
* https://www.mencap.org.uk/press-release/almost-1-3-young-people-learning-disability-spend-less-hour-day-outside-homes-survey
** If we don't meet our campaign target, we’ll still be able to deliver scaled-down support. If we exceed our target, we'll direct additional funding towards our ongoing activities, workshop programmes and one-to-one support.