Our #iwill Fund Evaluation
Between 2019 and 2023, we supported 48 UK projects focused on youth social action, utilising young people’s lived experiences through peer support and youth-led advocacy. This funding, which has now closed, was part of a £5m partnership with The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport through the #iwill Fund.
Youth social action (YSA) refers to work young people do to make a positive difference to others or the environment, ranging from volunteering and fundraising to campaigning or supporting peers. This has the triple impact of benefiting themselves, their peers and the community
We commissioned an evaluation to understand the impact of 46 projects which received grants between £14,686 and £115,000. Over 64,000 young people in the UK benefited from our projects by directly participating in their activities or indirectly as a result of them. Projects focused on three strands of activity:
- Bereavement Support – providing safe spaces and support for bereaved young people.
- Community Spaces – helping young people to improve the design and use of community spaces .
- School Transitions – supporting young people’s wellbeing in the transition from primary school to secondary school.
Our evaluation involved annual progress tracking, collecting data through monitoring forms and interviews with grant managers and young people.
Read our evaluation reports
Key findings
- The projects employed diversified recruitment strategies which enabled them to reach a wider demographic of young people. Recruitment strategies ranged from relying on schools to partnering with community leaders and youth groups and using social media like TikTok and Instagram.
- Over two-thirds of our funded partners focused on underserved communities, including LGBTQIA+ young people, global majority communities, and those with special educational needs (SEND), collaborating with local schools and using online tools to reach these groups.
- Projects offered tailored support to meet diverse personal needs, creating safe spaces for discussion, using accessible language, and providing extra support for those who needed it.
- Projects adapted to challenges like engaging schools on sensitive topics and dealing with high staff turnover. The Covid-19 pandemic and cost-of-living crisis necessitated a shift to online or modified in-person activities, showcasing resilience and creativity in maintaining youth engagement.
- Positive youth development outcomes included enhanced communication, teamwork skills, confidence, and goal-setting abilities, helping with personal growth and a sense of belonging.
- Though measuring community impact is challenging, there is evidence of positive community change. For example, schools became more open to discussing stigmatised topics, an arts funder considered expanding their focus to support comics as an art form, and local communities developed more positive perceptions of youth who volunteered and served as peer mentors.
Recommendations for organisations supporting Youth Social Action
- Plan sufficient time for recruiting and preparing young people for YSA, especially as some young people might require additional emotional and practical support to be ready. Employ varied recruitment strategies including social media to attract more diverse participants.
- Involve young people in designing YSA, including recruitment, content, structure, frequency and location of the activities. Be flexible and adapt plans based on evolving needs.
- Ensure delivery teams are trained sufficiently, including in safeguarding and have continuity plans in the event of staff turnover to minimise disruptions.
Recommendations for funders supporting Youth Social Action
- Provide long-term unrestricted funding to avoid staff turnover, enable teams to build trusting relationships with young people, and allow flexibility so that organisations can allocate resources effectively where the need is more pressing.
- Offer funding that allows sufficient time for youth recruitment, co-design activities with young people and building partnerships.
- Implement proportionate monitoring processes to avoid burdening funded partners.
- Facilitate knowledge sharing among funded partners, for example, through peer learning events or newsletters.
- Co-design YSA outcomes and how you measure these with your funded partners. Provide funding for evaluation from the outset.
If you have any questions about our evaluation, you can email deanne.dixon@coop.co.uk
#iwill Fund’s legacy
The #iwill Fund projects have served as a launch pad for young people to continue volunteering, take on leadership roles, and apply for Youth Parliament. Some participants established youth-led groups to sustain social action, and many showed increased confidence in advocating for their needs and influencing support services.
Some of our funded partners have secured additional funding to replicate and expand projects, while also building sustainable programmes. The #iwill Fund projects have helped organisations develop their skills in working with diverse young people and have encouraged them to integrate youth voice more actively, for example, by forming youth boards.
The programme also led to the creation of toolkits and frameworks for knowledge sharing, available to inform the practice of other organisations that aspire to support young people’s social action.
Co-op Foundation’s partnership with the #iwill Fund has significantly impacted our work and influenced the shaping of our 2022 strategy, “Building Communities of the Future Together“, which prioritises youth activism.
In 2023 we launched a new funding collaboration with the #iwill Fund. The Young Gamechangers Fund, co-funded by the Co-op Foundation, Co-op and the #iwill Fund, supports young people and youth-led organisations helping their local communities.
If you would like to find out more about the Young Gamechangers Fund, you can email foundation@coop.co.uk