On Friday 3 July, the Steve Morgan Foundation welcomed the Minister for Sport, Tourism, Civil Society and Youth, Stephanie Peacock to Merseyside for an afternoon of discussion, knowledge-share and insights.

Initiated by SMF trustee Sally Morgan, the visit highlighted the power of partnerships in transforming opportunities for young people and explored how the Foundation’s partnership approach is a powerful blueprint for the Impact Economy.

The visit was hosted by SMF strategic partner, OnSide at its Hive Youth Zone in Birkenhead. 

The Minister heard from young people directly about what the Hive means to them, before joining a roundtable chaired by the Foundation’s CEO Liam Eaglestone, plus representatives from our strategic partners, Right to Succeed, Liverpool FC Foundation and Everton in the Community, together with the Department for Culture Media and Sport, Kindred and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. They discussed their aligned approach to tackling the root issues of social disadvantage through collaborative action and how this model of community-led investment can be grown and replicated across the country.

Steve Morgan said:

“We’ve been funding work in our region for over 25 years, and we know we need more longer-term partnership funding to make a bigger difference. We were delighted to welcome the Minister to the Hive to talk together about the impact our funding has made to improve the life chances for children, young people and families. We stand ready to continue our work with local, regional and national government.”

Minister for Sport, Tourism, Civil Society and Youth Stephanie Peacock said:

“What I’ve seen in Merseyside is philanthropy at its very best: generous, rooted in collaboration with local partners to maximise investment, and a shared focus on giving young people the chances they deserve. It is clear that when government, local partners and philanthropists work together, the results are transformative. 

“This kind of partnership model demonstrates exactly what we want to champion and celebrate. We want to make these partnerships easier to form in different places across the country, and at all levels of government – so that every young person, wherever they grow up, has more access to the opportunities they need to thrive.”

SMF’s development director, Paul O’Neill will brief a wider group of MPs on the Foundation’s work in Westminster on Monday 13 July.

Photo credit: Lindy Rogers Photography

As part of our investment into type 1 diabetes research and wellbeing, we are delighted to announce a further £280,000 of funding to Breakthrough T1D and DigiBete to expand their Coping with Diabetes online tool,  significantly expanding personalised mental health support for children and young people living with type 1 diabetes across the UK. 

Coping with Diabetes is a digital psychology resource co‑created by Breakthrough T1D and DigiBete and housed within the existing NHS‑funded, award-winning DigiBete app, with all resources clinically approved at Leeds Children’s Hospital Diabetes Team, part of Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust.

Designed specifically for children and young people with type 1 diabetes, the tool offers age‑appropriate films, animations and interactive activities to help users understand and manage the emotional impact of the condition. It is available free through the NHS to everyone under‑25 living with type 1 diabetes across the UK.

Thanks to the investment from the Steve Morgan Foundation, Coping with Diabetes will be expanded to include:

• Personalised user journeys
• Integrated emotional wellbeing screening.
• Faster, easier access to support
• Data‑driven service improvement

Hilary Nathan, Director of Policy & Community Engagement at Breakthrough T1D said: ”Children and young people living with type 1 diabetes carry a substantial psychological burden. This investment will strengthen Coping with Diabetes, enabling young people and their families to recognise when they are struggling and access the right support sooner and make everyday life more manageable for young people living with T1D.”

Maddie Julian, co-founder of DigiBete said: “It’s with huge thanks to the Steve Morgan Foundation that we are able to support young people with the next phase of this vital work and give young people the support they deserve, exactly when they need it. Personalised journeys, faster access to help, and data that drives real improvement all working together to make living with diabetes a little easier.”

Liam Eaglestone, CEO of the Steve Morgan Foundation said: “Mental health and diabetes are more connected than people often realise. This investment is about making sure the tools that help young people with T1D are genuinely personal and genuinely useful, not just available. The Steve Morgan Foundation is proud to back Breakthrough T1D and DigiBete to make that happen.”

Read more about the Digibete App here.

For 25 years, the Steve Morgan Foundation has invested in communities across Merseyside, North Wales, Cheshire and North Shropshire. We have backed programmes that tackle the root causes of social disadvantage. We have funded organisations for the long term. We have seen what that commitment produces.

Today, the government published Our Place to Give: a roadmap to grow place-based philanthropy across England. Published on 13 April 2026, it sets out plans to connect philanthropic donors with local organisations outside London, ensuring investment reaches the communities that need it most.

Key elements of the “Our Place to Give” roadmap include:

• £1 million of funding over three years to help organisations share expertise, attract investment and build sustainable growth.
• A network of regional philanthropic ambassadors to broker stronger links between philanthropists, communities and government.
• Collaboration between government and the financial services sector to provide better philanthropic advice.

We support this direction. Place-based giving is not a new idea. Done properly, it works. Our Cradle to Career programme in North Birkenhead has brought together funders and statuary money to enable schools, services, and community organisations to support children and families over the long term. An independent evaluation by the University of Manchester, published in February 2026, found it is delivering life-changing results in North Birkenhead, one of England’s most deprived areas.  

That is what committed, long-term investment in a place looks like. A roadmap is a start. What matters now is whether it leads to real money reaching real communities, and staying there.

Steve Morgan CBE, Founder and Chairman, Steve Morgan Foundation said:

“We know place-based giving works because we’ve been doing it for 25 years. Our Cradle to Career programme shows what can happen when you invest properly, with the right partners, for the long term. Now the job is making sure this roadmap leads to real investment, not just good intentions.”

Sport, Tourism, Civil Society and Youth Minister Stephanie Peacock said:

“Today’s announcement will help philanthropists across the country support local causes they are passionate about. By better connecting generous individuals with local organisations at the heart of their communities, we can unlock a new wave of giving that reaches every corner of the country.”

Our Place to Give: a roadmap to grow place-based philanthropy is available at gov.uk.

Rough sleeping has hit a record high, official figures show.

4,793 people were sleeping rough on a single night last autumn, the highest number ever recorded. This is an increase of 96 per cent since 2021, and 171 per cent since 2010.

Building on the research in 2025 funded by the Steve Morgan Foundation, analysis of the figures by cross-party think tank the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) found monthly totals to be even higher than the nightly counts, with over 9,000 people seen sleeping rough in October and in November. The number of people sleeping rough long-term has also risen, with long-term rough sleepers now the largest group sleeping rough, a sign of Britain’s entrenched homelessness crisis.

In December, the government published its homelessness strategy, A National Plan to End Homelessness, which sets a new target to halve long-term rough sleeping. But the CSJ argues that this pledge is underpowered and urges ministers to change course and roll out the successful Housing First model across England, which is proven to break the cycle of rough sleeping for the vast majority of participants.

Download the Rough Sleeping Tracker on the Centre for Social Justice website here.

Read more about Housing First.

Josh Nicholson, Head of Housing and Communities at the Centre for Social Justice, said:

“Rough sleeping has been out of control for too long and more of the same won’t cut it. Ministers still have time to act, by prioritising proven interventions like Housing First, and to scale them up before it’s too late.”

Bob Blackman MP, Co-Chair of the APPG for Ending Homelessness and author of the 2017 Homelessness Reduction Act, said:

“The levels of rough sleeping revealed today are a national disgrace and undermine any ambition this government might have to end rough sleeping for good. The CSJ’s analysis shows a system trapped in crisis and a state unable to keep pace with the pressures it faces.”

A new University of Manchester evaluation shows Cradle to Career is driving life‑changing impact in North Birkenhead, proving the power of a place‑based approach in one of the region’s most deprived areas. Initiated by Steve Morgan Foundation and delivered by Right to Succeed, the programme launched in 2021 in partnership Wirral Council, National Lottery Community Fund, SHINE Trust and the UBS Optimus Foundation.
 
Impact and key findings

·         Professionals report a major shift in thinking, with barriers between organisations removed.
·         Schools, community organisations and services have formed strong new partnerships.
·         A 15‑month reading age gap for 8–16 year olds has been closed.
·         Care‑entry decisions have fallen dramatically—from 7–8 per week to 7–8 per year.
·         Uptake of the 30‑hour childcare offer has surged.
·         North Birkenhead has moved from the borough’s highest‑need area to the fourth‑highest.
·         School attendance across participating settings is up by an average of 16%, bucking national post‑pandemic trends.
·         SEND pupils’ reading ability has risen by the equivalent of half a GCSE grade.

Graeme Duncan, CEO of Right to Succeed, said:
“The University of Manchester’s evaluation reflects what we have seen on the ground – that place-based, community-led action can produce life-changing outcomes for children and families. In this next year, we will start the process of handing over the project to the community; we look forward to working with the locally-owned organisation that takes that on to build on C2C’s success to date.”
 
SMF’s Liam Eaglestone added:
“At the Steve Morgan Foundation, we are committed to investing in initiatives that drive meaningful system change. We are delighted with the impact that C2C has achieved to date and the learning that will strengthen long term sustainability across the Liverpool City Region.”
 
Professor Kirstin Kerr, University of Manchester, continued:
“The C2C model has shifted how the organisations and services in a community work together and created powerful insights into achieving place-based change in the UK.”

More than 70 Together Type 1 Young Leaders from across the UK met in Birmingham to take part in a Dragon’s Den competition and pitch ideas for Together Type 1 events in 2026.

The popular event saw Together Type 1 Young Leaders from across the UK come together for a Dragon’s Den style competition, where they pitched ideas for meaningful events that the Together Type 1 programme could put on in 2026. The assembled Young Leaders also took inspiration from Ru Paul’s Drag Race star SALLY (TM), who created a special diabetes-themed outfit for the event. SALLY talked about their own experience of living with diabetes, some regrets and some successes, and challenged the Young Leaders to follow their dreams.

The panel of Dragons included SALLY, Liam Eaglestone, CEO of the Steve Morgan Foundation, and staff from Diabetes UK. The Dragons heard a range of innovative event ideas, from a type 1 retreat weekend, to the diabetes-lympics!

Events for young people living with type 1 diabetes

“We will be taking many of these exciting ideas forward into our planning for next year,” said Iain French-Wilkie, Type 1 Services Programme Manager and Dragon.

“We wanted to create a mix of events that are meaningful for young people living with type 1 and realised that our Young Leader community is perfectly placed to help us develop and deliver them.”

Together Type 1 is a peer support and empowerment programme developed and delivered by Diabetes UK and funded by the Steve Morgan Foundation. The community is for anyone aged 11-25 living with type 1 diabetes and encourages members to make new friends, learn new skills and build their confidence. 

Watch the video below to hear from attendees and gain an insight into the event