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.
100th minibus donation milestone reached
The Steve Morgan Foundation was thrilled to donate our 100th 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.
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.