Sounds like the kind of thing we’d be looking for in would-be event managers and, yes, inspiration and ambition are key ingredients for a successful event professional. Today, though, we are talking about our charity partner Ambition who are now offering their third round of Ambition Giving grants, as part of a highly successful scheme started in 2015 to mark Ambition’s 90th birthday.
We feel passionately about Ambition’s mission to support youth clubs and their members across the country to change lives for the better and it strikes close to our own work on vocational education and training. We were thrilled to catch up with them to find out a bit more about projects that have been awarded an Ambition Giving grant in the last round of applications.
The number of applicants has grown from round 1 (which closed in March) to round 2 (closed in April) which is brilliant news and shows that more and more youth groups are aware of this fantastic opportunity.
The innovation and inspiration evident in the latest round of applications is really exciting. One grant has been awarded to Winchester Street Reach to support their Friday Football drop in. This provides a safe, affordable activity for vulnerable and disadvantaged young men in the local area as well as providing a point of contact and advice with youth workers.
The Big Mix Music Festival will also receive an Ambition Giving grant. This youth music festival held in Lyme Regis gives a chance for young performers to be heard in front of a large audience, along with learning stagecraft, gaining in confidence and working with professional support of sound engineers, stage management and music leaders.
See a video from last year’s festival here:
As our postgraduate students start planning their live event projects, they and we are thrilled to know that their hard work to create fundraising events results in a tangible benefit in the form of donating all funds raised to Ambition to support these kinds of projects. Our students work in groups to plan a live event from start to finish in about 3 weeks. They must create and realise the concept, promote the event, sell tickets, create fundraising opportunities and make sure all runs smoothly on the night. It is an excellent learning experience and they always surprise us with the results. We’re thrilled to be able to put our enthusiasm to good use for the benefit of Ambition and the young people they support.
If you’re interested to find out more about the work Ambition does with young people and how you can get involved with celebrating their 90th birthday, check their dedicated microsite and have a look at their #buyabat auction (following their #signthebat campaign) where you can bit for a celebrity signed tennis bat, all in the name of a good cause.
If you’d like to find out a bit more about us and the kinds of organisations we work and partner with or the training that we offer please check our website.
