The Steve Morgan Foundation 2024 highlights

2024 has been a landmark year for the Steve Morgan Foundation with a number of worthy charities and initiatives successfully supported, funded, and launched across Merseyside, North Wales, West Cheshire, and North Shropshire, as part of our ongoing commitment to changing lives for good.

We are delighted to have collaborated with organisations working to address a range of important issues this year, including poverty, educational inequalities, health and wellbeing, and many more.

In no particular order, we take a look back at just some of our highlights from 2024.

Launch of the Coronation Food Project

To kick off 2024, the Steve Morgan Foundation pledged £890,000 to the Coronation Food Project to help bridge the gap between food waste and food poverty across Merseyside and North Wales. The funding goes directly to the new Coronation Food Hub in Liverpool operated by FareShare and will fund 50 percent of the Hub’s running costs for three years.

The Hub was officially launched by His Majesty the King on 14 November. He joined the ribbon-cutting ceremony via video link from a second Coronation Food Hub opening in London, where he was joined by Sally and Steve Morgan CBE.

Collaboration tackling educational inequalities in Kirkby

LFC Foundation and Everton in the Community set aside their on-the-pitch rivalry to form a unique collaboration with the Steve Morgan Foundation, the University of Liverpool and education charity IntoUniversity, to fund a new learning centre in Kirkby providing academic support, mentoring and aspiration-raising activities.

The centre offers after-school academic support, mentoring with local university students and professionals, in-school aspiration-raising workshops, and enrichment and work experience opportunities.

Steve Morgan Foundation 2024 Conference & Awards

In April, we held our Conference & Awards celebration event, bringing together the Foundation’s family of charities for a day to inspire, resource, and celebrate.

With inspirational keynote speeches, a live interview with Steve Morgan and a series of collaborative workshops, the day culminated with the prestigious awards to celebrate the incredible work of the organisations and people supported by the Foundation, recognising the valuable contribution they make towards changing lives for good.

We were delighted to award over £100,000 to local charities, with the winning charity of each award receiving £10,000 and a further £2,000 awarded to the remaining two category finalists.

100^th minibus donation milestone reached

The Steve Morgan Foundation was thrilled to donate our 100^th minibus to Walton Youth and Community Project. The Project applied for our minibus grant to replace its ailing 15-year-old bus, which was proving too costly to keep on the road and was impacting the charity’s funds. Read more here.

Steve Morgan presenting 100th minibus donation

Strategic partnership awards recognition

The Steve Morgan Foundation and Everton in the Community (EitC)’s collaborative initiative, the ‘Steve Morgan Community Impact Model’ was recognised as the ‘Best Corporate Social Responsibility Scheme’ at the prestigious Football Business Awards 2024 as well as finalists for the ‘Community Initiative of the Season Award – Premier League’ at the North West Football Awards;

Liverpool FC Foundation received silver for ‘Best Sports Community Scheme – UK Football Clubs’ at the Sports Business Awards for our Community Hubs partnership.

We are delighted that our strategic partnerships with our region’s top football clubs have been recognised this year for making a real positive difference to our communities.

Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge announces vital research funding

A standout 2024 highlight was the Type 1 Diabetes Grand Challenge milestone, pledging more than £2.7 million in funding through the novel insulins challenge to transform type 1 diabetes treatment. This vital funding will accelerate the development of insulins that more closely mimic how a healthy pancreas works, which could improve the lives of people living with type 1 diabetes.

In 2022, the Steve Morgan Foundation brought together Diabetes UK and Breakthrough T1D to super-charge the research towards a cure for type 1 diabetes through the Grand Challenge initiative, a five-year programme to accelerate medical research into type 1 diabetes.

Steve Morgan honoured for North Wales philanthropy efforts

Over the summer, the Foundation’s Chairman, Steve Morgan, was honoured for his outstanding contributions to North Wales communities, receiving a Community Foundation Wales Philanthropy Award. The awards recognise and highlight the work of individuals going above and beyond for their local communities and aims to inspire and encourage others to start their philanthropic journey.

Maggie’s Centre in North Wales breaks ground

This year, we were delighted to announce that construction had begun on Maggie’s Cancer Support Centre in North Wales, which has been designed, commissioned and funded by the Steve Morgan Foundation.

The centre is being built in the grounds of Glan Clwyd Hospital in Bodelwyddan, Denbighshire. It will provide free practical, psychological and emotional support for people with cancer, as well as their family and friends.

The project broke ground in October and it is expected the centre will be open by the end of 2025. Read all about it here.

Supercharging philanthropy

Our CEO, Liam Eaglestone, took part in the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) Supercharging Philanthropy event at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool. Liam discussed the impactful work of the Steve Morgan Foundation and how working in partnership with charities, other funders and the statutory authorities is so important to achieving lasting change for our communities.

Celebrating Cradle to Career success

Cradle to Career North Birkenhead, a programme initiated by Steve Morgan, marked its fourth anniversary this year. Cradle to Career brings together the local authority and third-sector organisations to deliver systematic and long-term change to improve outcomes for children and young people in the most deprived areas in the Liverpool City Region.

We celebrated its impact in North Birkenhead, which has seen Liverpool City Region Combined Authority invest £5.25 million to extend the programme into five more of the region’s most deprived wards.

Find out the impact of the programme’s place-based change approach here.

Big Give’s Christmas Challenge

From 3 to 10 December, the Steve Morgan Foundation was pleased to join Big Give’s Christmas Challenge, the UK’s largest-ever match funding campaign. Coinciding with Giving Tuesday, the campaign aims to raise tens of millions of pounds for over 1,250 charities, by doubling public donations through match funding from Big Give’s Champion partners, including the Steve Morgan Foundation.

This year, the Challenge raised a record £44.7 million in just one week, representing a remarkable 35 percent increase from last year’s total of £33 million.

Looking ahead

The Steve Morgan Foundation is excited to continue working strategically to make a positive difference to those in need. By developing long-term partnerships, we strive to improve quality of life for those less fortunate. We look forward to continuing to create lasting, meaningful change in 2025, supporting our existing partners and projects, as well as working with new beneficiaries across our region.

A festive day at the theatre with the Steve Morgan Foundation

On Saturday, 14th December, the Steve Morgan Foundation brought festive cheer to the region by organising a magical visit to the Storyhouse Garret Theatre in Chester. The SMF team was joined by 250 children, their families and charity leaders from selected partner organisations for a special viewing of the Christmas play, Dear Santa.

After the performance, the children experienced more festive cheer with the opportunity to meet Santa in his grotto and receive a Christmas gift.

Storyhouse is an independent arts centre, creative hub, and charity, providing the perfect setting for this year’s Christmas event. Dear Santa, created by the author of the beloved children’s book Dear Zoo, tells the heartwarming story of Santa’s quest to deliver the perfect Christmas present to Sarah, with a little help from his mischievous Elf.

The festive theatre trip reflected the Foundation’s commitment to supporting families and creating memorable experiences for children in the community.

Liam Eaglestone, CEO of the Steve Morgan Foundation, said:

“Christmas is a time for bringing people together, and it means so much to the team at the Steve Morgan Foundation to be able to hold these events. We were thrilled to do something a bit different this year by bringing the children to the Storyhouse”.

One charity who attended the event shared their thoughts:

“This was such a magical day for our children. They loved the play, meeting Santa, and the wonderful gift they received. We are so grateful to the Steve Morgan Foundation for organising this experience.”

Cradle to Career: an SMF initiative that is transforming North Birkenhead and beyond

In 2019, our Founder and Chairman Steve Morgan initiated the hugely impactful Cradle to Career programme, which brought together the local authority and third-sector organisations to deliver systematic and long-term change to improve outcomes for children and young people in North Birkenhead, one of the most deprived areas in the Liverpool City Region.

Now, as Cradle to Career completes its fourth year since the programme launched, we celebrate its impact and subsequent expansion across Liverpool.

North Birkenhead Cradle to Career’s three areas of focus

Working in collaboration with our funding partners SHINE & UBS, our lead delivery partner Right to Succeed and Wirral Council, we embarked on an ambitious 12-month discovery period to establish the priorities, needs, challenges and aspirations for residents, professionals and partners.

Through this process the local community identified three priority focus areas:

Significantly improve literacy standards among children
Give families easy access to the support they need
Create new opportunities for local children and young people.

Implementing change

Affecting change in the three focus areas has been the combined effort of a number of dedicated organisations – a total of 43 partners are now engaged locally. While improving child literacy involved programme development between local schools, and the youth offer depended largely on the third sector, it was the Wirral Council who held sway over the second priority – giving families in need access to the support they needed.

Through the creation of a multidisciplinary team (MDT) of community-based specialists, referrals and support now happen much quicker with the right person at the right time getting to these families to make these changes.

Caseloads have dropped significantly and social workers can spend more time working on the most urgent cases or focusing on preventative work that was squeezed out before.

The MDT also has a worker linked with each of the area’s eight schools. As a result of this collaboration and light intervention, attendance has climbed an average of 16%, bucking the national trend of falling attendance.

The charity partners attend weekly meetings alongside the MDT and this collaborative working, the guiding principle behind the Cradle to Career programme, has brought together third-sector organisations who would otherwise be in stiff competition for limited funding and sometimes duplicating efforts.

The impact of Cradle to Career

We are delighted to see the impact that Cradle to Career and our placed-based change approach is having on the community in North Birkenhead:

Gone from being the highest-need community in Wirral since records started to the fourth-highest
Almost twice the rate of child protection step-downs compared to Wirral as a whole
Reported a 20% reduction in re-referrals to social care and is no longer the highest referring ward
In literacy, a 15-month reading gap was closed in the first three years across four year groups
After four years, all children aged 8-16 are now on average at national reading age expectation
For pupils with SEND who have been on the programme since year 1, there has, on average, been an increase in reading ability that aligns with over half a GCSE grade

Following its impact in North Birkenhead, the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority is now investing £5.25 million to extend the programme into five more of the region’s most deprived wards. Mayor Steve Rotherham called the programme a “radical, bespoke approach that works with the communities to identify local issues and empowers them to come up with solutions.”

Steve Morgan, CBE said:

“I firmly believe that collaborative working is the most effective strategy for delivering change, which was the driver behind setting up the Cradle to Career programme. The impact the initiative has had clearly demonstrates what can be achieved when services join together and focus on real local priorities informed by the people they were established to serve.

“The Steve Morgan Foundation has committed £4.9million of funding to date to the Cradle to Career programme and we remain a primary catalyst, investor and champion.”

Read more about the Cradle to Career programme here

The Steve Morgan Foundation joins Big Give’s record-breaking Christmas Challenge

Big Give’s Christmas Challenge, the UK’s largest-ever match funding campaign runs from 3rd to 10th December 2024, and coinciding with Giving Tuesday, the campaign aims to raise tens of millions of pounds for over 1,250 charities, by doubling public donations through match funding from Big Give’s Champion partners.

This year’s Challenge is set to break records, with over £20 million in match funds secured, thanks to the generosity of Champions, including the Steve Morgan Foundation. The Christmas Challenge runs until 12 noon on 10th December 2024.

To double your donation and make double the difference this Christmas, click here.

Supporting charities across Merseyside, North Wales, West Cheshire, and North Shropshire, the Steve Morgan Foundation is committed to empowering local communities and driving positive change. From 3rd to 10th December, donations made to their chosen charities will be doubled, enabling these organisations to make an even bigger impact.

Spotlight on impact: Shrewsbury House

One of the charities benefiting from the Steve Morgan Foundation’s support this year is Shrewsbury House, a Youth Club serving one of the most deprived wards in the UK.

Shrewsbury House is looking to raise funds to ensure that the ratios of staff to children and young adults are safe and appropriate for the delivery of a full programme of activities within the Club and on residential visits and projects.

“Community centres such as the Shewsy are one of the most important hubs across Liverpool that give people an opportunity to socialise and access key services. They offer fantastic opportunities for children to experience activities. At NLA, we are extremely proud to work alongside the Shewsy”

– Alex Kennedy, Assistant Principal, North Liverpool Academy

Big Give: Transforming lives through match funding

Since its inception in 2007, Big Give has raised over £300 million for thousands of charities, with nearly half of the funds supporting small charities with annual incomes under £1 million. At a time when economic challenges and surging demand stretch resources, the funds raised through the Christmas Challenge are a vital lifeline. By doubling public donations through match funding from Big Give Champions, the campaign maximises impact for both donors and charities alike.

In 2023, the Christmas Challenge raised an impressive £33 million for 1,077 charities through over 94,000 public donations, with 74% of participants meeting or exceeding their fundraising goals. This year marks a milestone with a record-breaking amount of match funding secured.

Liam Eaglestone, CEO of the Steve Morgan Foundation, said:

“We are delighted to lend our support to the Big Give Christmas Challenge. By being a Champion of this fantastic initiative, we hope that we can encourage further support for the vital charities across our region, and to showcase the power of partnerships in helping deliver impactful change. Through our work with hundreds of grassroots charities, we know just how stretched resources can be and we are looking forward to working alongside the Big Give team to help drive record levels of donations through the Christmas Challenge.”

James Reed, Chair of the Trustees of Big Give, said:

“With a record level of match funds provided by our Champion partners, we’re calling on the amazingly generous British public to help make this our most impactful campaign yet. When people give to us they are not giving to Big Give, they are giving through Big Give to charitable causes they really care about, and this year there are 1,250 charities that stand to benefit. Every donation will be doubled so you can double the difference you make. We are especially grateful to the Steve Morgan Foundation for joining us as a Champion this year. Their support will empower charities across Merseyside, North Wales, West Cheshire, and North Shropshire to deliver meaningful, positive change in their local communities.”

The Christmas Challenge runs until 12 noon on 10th December 2024. To double your donation and make double the difference this Christmas, click here.

You can also watch the Christmas Challenge video here.