History
A whistle stop tour of the last 19 years...
Keyfund began its life in 1992. It was the brainchild of the members of Youthworks North East, a youth work practitioners' forum initiated by the Social Welfare Research Unit at the University of Northumbria.
Its origins lie in two earlier pieces of work: the City Programme in Adelaide, Australia in the 1970s and the Enterprise Skills Development Project in Sunderland in the 1980s. This work centred on the development of 12 specified key skills, the same 12 Keyfund Skills that we know and love today.
You could say the history of Keyfund falls into three periods.
1. Firstly, Keyfund was an initiative based in 14 youth projects across the North East. Most were detached youth work projects, looking for a new and innovative way to engage hard to reach young people and support them to develop the life skills needed to better reach their potential in life.
2. In 1997, Keyfund became a Company in its own right (and later a Charity), employing its first members of staff. In 2002, Keyfund received an unprecedented grant of £1 million from the Northern Rock Foundation to scale up activity and make Keyfund available across the whole of North East and Cumbria. Although demand was at an all time high, the business model wasn’t sustainable and a new way of running Keyfund was needed to secure the future.
3. In 2005, Keyfund recruited a new Chief Executive, Hannah Eyres. She took the idea of Social Licensing and turned it into a new business model that would enable Keyfund to meet the growing demand from young people, focus on quality and build financial resilience. Venture Philanthropist funder, Impetus Trust, saw the potential of Keyfund and committed to a five year investment package of core income, management support and pro-bono expertise. Keyfund has gone from strength to strength. It now has eight licensees (expanding reach into North Yorkshire and London), pioneering ways of measuring impact and a diverse range of income streams.
We have now graduated from the Impetus partnership and Keyfund is set to embark a new and exciting chapter.
Perhaps you’d like to join us on the next part of our journey?
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