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Homeless World Cup expansion gets kick start with Vodafone grant

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 20 Oct 2008

A £500,000 grant has brought a grassroots homelessness charity a step closer to its goal of a £5m annual fund.

The Vodafone Foundation today, October 7, made the announcement that it will provide the half-million pound “start-up” package over the next two years to the Homeless World Cup. The money will go towards the development and expansion of the Homeless World Cup, which involves homeless people in football as a means of improving their lives and motivation.

“To date we have been a very small organisation with high visibility and high impact,” said Mel Young, founder and president of the Homeless World Cup. The Vodafone grant will help the Foundation expand on its grassroots work sustainably.

The grant will also allow the Homeless World Cup Foundation to employ a chief executive for the first time. Already in the process of interviews, Young said that he had been “amazed by the number and standard of applications” by applicants from a broad range of backgrounds.

As it works towards its goal of a £5m annual fund, the Foundation will look to work with Vodafone foundations elsewhere in the world in addition to building partnerships with other corporates.

“I see our link with the Vodafone Foundation as a partnership,” said Young, adding that he intends for corporate partners to get as much out of their relationship with the charity as much as vice versa. “The corporate sector have a responsibility in the wider community,” he said.

Vodafone Foundation said, in a statement, that it “will continue to invest in exciting sport initiatives which have the ability to reach out to the most marginalised and disadvantaged groups in communities around the globe.”

This year’s Homeless World Cup will be held in Melbourne on December 1, with teams from 56 countries taking part. Currently reaching 30,000 people, the Homeless World Cup Foundation plans to expand to include one million players in 75 countries and develop grassroots football initiatives around the world. Research from the Homeless World Cup has found that 94 per cent of participants report a new enthusiasm for life after participating in the programme.

“The Homeless World Cup has demonstrated that football can change lives, it can change the world. We are extremely grateful to The Vodafone Foundation’s start-up funding which provides a giant leap towards building a £5m annual fund to achieve our ambitions,” said Mel Young, founder and president of the Homeless World Cup.

The Vodafone Foundation’s director Andrew Dunnett said: “We are delighted to support a project that has an enterprising attitude to make a difference on an international scale. The Vodafone Foundation is committed to funding projects that create a strong force for change and high level impact.”

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