Publications

Posted on

2023 Digital Annual Report: An Inspiring Idea (John Lyon’s Charity, 2023)

Everything starts with an idea. Most charities start out with minimal resources, staff or infrastructure. It takes one person, who can galvanise a team and fire the public with enthusiasm, to turn an idea into a success. This year’s Annual Report is dedicated to the man who had a brilliant idea and made it happen. Andrew Stebbings was the first CEO of John Lyon’s Charity who sadly passed away in June 2023. Andrew had a vision to continue John Lyon’s legacy to support the life chances of children and young people through education. The Charity’s success over the last three decades shows how a simple idea can be turned into a first rate charitable organisation. John Lyon’s Charity can now proudly say that it is a major player in the Third Sector and can look back on thirty years of good work. Click here to access our 2023 Annual Report.

2022 Digital Annual Report: Celebrating Thirty Years of Changing Children’s Lives (John Lyon’s Charity, 2022)

In thirty years, John Lyon’s Charity has become one of London’s largest and most trusted independent Funders within the Children and Young People’s sector. Since 1991, the Charity has supported children and young people by awarding grants to over 1,800 charities and organisations within North and West London. Our aim is to champion, support and provide the widest breadth of opportunity for all children and young people so that they can thrive in their education and learning. Over the past three decades, John Lyon’s Charity has awarded grants of nearly £200m for projects that support children and young people across the Beneficial Area.  Click here to access our 2022 Annual Report.

2021 Digital Annual Report: Protecting the sector in a time of crisis (John Lyon’s Charity, 2021)

It is fair to say that 2020 delivered a year that no one had anticipated or prepared for. The pandemic sent shockwaves across the world plunging us all into lockdown forcing many charities to close their doors. Charities of all sizes faced unprecedented challenges; operations were forced to move online, some found themselves offering subsistence services to support their beneficiaries and the future of the non-profit sector hung in the balance. The need for funding was never greater. The boroughs in our Beneficial Area were some of the hardest hit in the country and have been particularly vulnerable to the economic impact of Covid-19. It was incredibly inspiring to see our groups adapt and continue to operate during this unprecedented time, despite the uncertainty of what the future might bring. We are proud to support our grantees and walk beside them. This report is merely a snapshot of the incredible work achieved throughout 2020 and Spring 2021 to protect the Children and Young People sector. Click here to the Annual Report 2021.


A Strategic Response to Covid-19

We created Home–School-Community, as our long-term, strategic response to Covid-19 to not only help organisations survive but to also ensure that the CYP sector in the Beneficial Area was thriving and innovating to support local communities in the most efficient and appropriate ways possible. We have 30 years’ experience of grant giving to the CYP sector and we have the reputation and the tenacity to make a difference. To ensure the continued health and effectiveness of the vibrant voluntary sector across the Charity’s boroughs, we have created a strategic approach to protect the CYP sector in the long term, with the core focus on Home – School – Community; the three main points of reference in any child’s life. To find out more about our Home – School – Community strategy and the five concepts that sit within it, please click here.

2020 Digital Annual Report: Trusted Funder, Trusted Partner (John Lyon’s Charity, 2020)

John Lyon’s Charity believes that there is life-changing value in investing in children and young people, in the place where they live.  As a place-based funder, we have been in the privileged position to fund, support and champion our grantee organisations, as well as the young people accessing their services, since 1991.  This longevity of funding forms a stable foundation from which grantees can develop their services and thrive, enabling them to provide consistent support and aspirational opportunities to the children and young people they work with.

The Annual Report 2020 endeavours to provide insight into the work of ten of the Charity’s grantee organisations, through the stories and voices of young people who have benefitted from their services; gaining newfound confidence, experiences and support networks that have led to success – in whatever way they define it.

Click here to read the Annual Report 2020


Working Practices Guidance – Autumn 2020

After the population has followed the guidance to stay at home and follow safe distancing measures there will be a period of change for all.

At this point in time, new measures are being put in place following governmental and professional body guidance. It is important to consider the impact any lockdown measures may have on families and children and subsequently to explore potential changes to working practices to support the best outcomes for organisations and their subsequent work with children, families and the community.

It may be a good time to review working practices to ensure they are fit for purpose, appropriate to circumstances and make best use of time and resources. It is important that all organisations are open-minded about how to develop, adapt and create new opportunities for engagement in the Arts and the role that Arts and Culture may play in the future.

Click here to read ‘Working Practices Guidance Autumn 2020’ brought to you by John Lyon’s Charity.


Young People’s Foundations: Cross-sector collaboration to build better futures (John Lyon’s Charity, 2020)

A Young People’s Foundation (YPF) is a member-led charity comprised of organisations that work with children and young people in a local area including public, private and voluntary sector.

This leaflet was used at the launch of the YPF Trust by John Lyon’s Charity. The YPF Trust is a national body that coordinates the work of the individual YPFs and maintains the integrity of the YPF model. It outlines the values, components and delivery of Young People’s Foundations.

Click here to read the YPF Leaflet.


Stand up for SEND, (John Lyon’s Charity, 2019)

John Lyon’s Charity has been a long- term supporter of Arts activities for young people with special needs and disabilities (SEND).

Over the years, the Charity has seen huge variances in both the quantity and quality
of activities on offer for young people with SEND and how vital the support of both parents and schools can be.

Using its networks across the Arts, SEND schools, Music Hubs and funding sectors, John Lyon’s Charity has challenged these groups to think about how they work together to benefit young people with SEND.

Click here to read the Stand up for SEND leaflet.


 Annual Report 2019: Funding Charities, Realising Dreams
(John Lyon’s Charity, 2019)

John Lyon’s Charity believes that there is life-changing value in investing in children and young people, in the place where they live.  As a place-based funder, we have been in the privileged position to fund, support and champion our grantee organisations, as well as the young people accessing their services, since 1991.  This longevity of funding forms a stable foundation from which grantees can develop their services and thrive, enabling them to provide consistent support and aspirational opportunities to the children and young people they work with.

The Annual Report 2019 endeavours to provide insight into the work of ten of the Charity’s grantee organisations, through the stories and voices of young people who have benefitted from their services; gaining newfound confidence, experiences and support networks that have led to success – in whatever way they define it.

Click here to read the Annual Report.


 Support, Provide, Champion: Impact Report 2009-2018 (IVAR, 2019)

In early 2019, John Lyon’s Charity commissioned the Institute for Voluntary Action Research (IVAR) to look at the Charity’s grant-making over the past 25 years.  Using the last ten years as a focused study, we asked IVAR to use this information to consider what impact the Charity has had in the Beneficial Area over that period.  Using five of the Charity’s key Programme Areas:

  • Children & Families
  • Youth Clubs & Youth Activities
  • Emotional Wellbeing
  • Special Needs & Disability
  • Education & Learning

The report sets out the impact of the Charity’s funding throughout the Beneficial Area.  It looks at the context within which the Charity and its beneficiaries have been operating, and using interviews with 45 grantee organisations, our staff members and case studies, examines the impact of the Charity in each area.  In doing so, IVAR has compiled recommendations from the voices of our grantees to help inform the Charity’s strategy over the next 5-10 years.

Click here to read the full Impact Report.


Change of Perspectives: Arts partnerships for young people with SEND (John Lyon’s Charity, 2019)

Perspectives (2016) aimed to provide guidance to support the sector to be brave, ambitious and help them share expertise to create new and stronger Arts partnerships for the children and young people of North and West London with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Three years on, the Charity once again engaged its Arts Adviser, Jean Carter, who has a wealth of experience in the sector, to research systematic and attitudinal change within the Charity’s Beneficial Area since the original Perspectives report. The resultant report, Change of Perspectives, offers experiences of change, best practice and issues still impeding the progress of the sector from the perspectives of those who understand it best: Arts organisations, special schools, music hubs/services and funders.

Click here to read the full report.


 Annual Report 2018: Celebrating £100 million of grant spend since 1991 (John Lyon’s Charity, 2018)

Since 1991, John Lyon’s Charity has distributed over £100 million in grants to support children and young people through our nine principle Programme Areas. In addition to looking at 2017/18, this Annual Report provides insight into each Programme Area, featuring some of the key grassroots organisations that are so essential to their communities and the young people within them.

Cathryn Pender, Grants Director, also provides an overview of the last twenty five years of the Charity’s grant making in her article The Road to Now (pages 4-5). Click here to read the full report.


 More, better, together: A strategic review of giving in London (Centre for London, 2018)

‘John Lyon’s Charity in particular has seeded local membership organisations known as Young People’s Foundations across seven of the boroughs in which it works. These aim to bid collectively for funding, and distribute money and capacity-buildling support on the basis of open dialogue with members.’ Page 60

Centre for London’s strategic review of philanthropy in the Capital also features John Lyon’s Charity in relation to the Grenfell Tower response: CYP Funder Coalition and featuring the Young People’s Foundations as a successful model of collaborative practice to support youth services (pages 57-60) and better co-ordinate support for the sector from smaller businesses (page 96).

Click here to read the full report.

 


Civil Society Statement (DCMS, 2018)

‘The Government recognises that despite the pressures on public sector finances, new thinking has
emerged supporting innovation, new partnerships and collaboration, spanning public, private and civil
society partners. One model is local Young People’s Foundations, where imaginative local trusts, such
as John Lyon’s Charity, local government, business and the independent youth sector, have come
together to develop new partnerships and services for young people.’

– Civil Society Strategy: building a future that works for everyone. DCMS 2018

In August 2018, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport published its Civil Society Strategy, setting out its proposals for how it should interact with the wider charitable sector. John Lyon’s Charity’s work features twice: Firstly on pages 35 and 36, the Charity’s Grenfell response was profiled in a case study; secondly, on pages 41 and 42, in which the Young People’s Foundations are identified as a solution to local youth service delivery.

Click here to read the full report.


The possible, not the perfect: Learning from funder responses to emergencies (IVAR, 2018)

Conducted by the Institute of Voluntary Action Research (IVAR), this report considers funder responses to, and learning from, three major emergencies that hit the UK in 2017: the Manchester Arena bombing, the London Bridge terror attack and the Grenfell Tower Disaster.

The Charity features throughout as part of the Grenfell Tower Response: CYP Funder Coalition. Click here to read the full report.