About the Foundation
Our mission is to transform young lives. We do this by raising money to support many fantastic projects that help disadvantaged young people achieve, beat, live, and experience It.
Thanks to your support, we can reach directly into communities and offer help where needed, partnering with smaller charities and organizations to help young people. We run several campaigns and a busy calendar of events to help us achieve our mission.
We specialize in supporting young people with disabilities, employability and training programs, enhancing the experiences of life-limited children in hospice care, and supporting sick children in hospitals. Our projects provide training, equipment, experiences, and support so young people can reach their full potential. We focus on partnering with local organizations which often need help to attract support.
The Foundation began life in 2000 as the Hilton in the Community Foundation. Since 2000 the Foundation has delivered a wide range of programs, and through key partnerships and funding, we invest in brighter futures for young people. In 2015 we changed our name to the DM Thomas Foundation for Young People in honor of the dedication of our founding Trustee, Dame Maureen Thomas.
Thanks to unwavering help from an army of volunteers and our generous donors, the Foundation helps thousands of young people to transform their lives.
What We Do
We are dedicated to helping disadvantaged and vulnerable young people and children transform their lives. Under our ABLE banner, our priority is to make a difference through targeted grant support, helping local and regional community groups and charities across the UK and Europe to deliver projects that improve access to opportunities and well-being. Across our grant-making processes, we prefer to fund projects that provide and facilitate education access; provide tools and opportunities through equipment, facilities, and training; relieve suffering; and improve treatment, care, and wellbeing.
In line with our commitment to supporting children and their guardians, we offer a power of attorney for a child form. This type of POA is applied across different states.
The Washington power of attorney for a child enables parents in Washington to designate an adult to manage their child’s everyday and medical needs temporarily. This is especially useful during periods when the parents are not available due to reasons like travel or medical treatment.
The Kentucky power of attorney for a child allows parents to legally authorize another person to make important decisions regarding their child’s welfare, including education and health care, providing peace of mind during the parents' absence.
A power of attorney for a minor child in California gives a designated guardian the legal authority to care for the child, including making decisions about the child’s schooling and medical care ensuring the child’s needs are met when the parents cannot be present.
Parents can use the power of attorney for minor child in Texas to appoint someone to oversee their child's daily activities and medical care. This is particularly helpful during extended absences or specific times when direct parental supervision is not possible.
A power of attorney for care of minor child in Florida explicitly allows parents to designate an adult to care for their child, including making decisions about medical treatments and other aspects of daily care.
The New York power of attorney for a child provides a legal framework for parents to assign a trusted family member or friend the responsibility to care for their child, including making educational and health decisions.
The temporary power of attorney for a minor in PA offers a short-term solution for child care and decision-making. It is commonly used when parents cannot care for their child due to travel, illness, or other commitments.
The power of attorney for care of a minor child in Illinois includes provisions for daily care and medical emergencies, ensuring that the child’s health and welfare are managed according to parental wishes.
The Ohio power of attorney for minor child allows the appointed agent to handle a broad range of responsibilities, from enrolling the child in school to making important healthcare decisions.
The Georgia power of attorney for a child is a vital document that allows parents to legally appoint someone to look after their child’s healthcare and welfare, ensuring continuous care.
The North Carolina power of attorney for a child is crucial for parents needing to ensure their child’s affairs are managed during their absence. It covers everything from medical care to educational decisions.
The Michigan power of attorney for minor child grants comprehensive powers to a designated guardian to manage the child’s needs, tailored to suit the specific circumstances and duration required by the parents.
Education
Education is a vital tool that unlocks knowledge and learning, enabling young people to fulfill their potential by opening up choices and opportunities. The Foundation wants to support disadvantaged children and young people to help ensure they have access to education and opportunities for growth and development, which many of us take for granted. Funding is geared towards fulfilling equipment needs, providing training, and supporting refurbishment projects which will make a lasting difference for as many children as possible. When funding educational courses, we have a preference for those which lead to accredited and recognized qualifications.
Health
Under its core remit of health, the Foundation strives to improve the care, treatment experiences, and outcomes for children who are sick or suffering from chronic or long-term conditions. Due to our focus on education, we are particularly interested in supporting projects that provide or enhance educational opportunities for sick or life-limited children. To do this, we partner with expert charities that deliver care and treatment for young people. The Foundation wants to ensure that young people who are sick or suffering from chronic and sometimes life-limiting conditions receive the best support possible. Through its targeted grant-giving, the Foundation identifies projects that enhance treatment experiences, provide support, care, and condition management for sick young people and make a lasting difference as they undergo treatment or therapy. Funds raised in each country are targeted to support local causes. Within our criteria of education and health, the Foundation has several different grant-making mechanisms.
Local funds
Supporters nominate local funds for those charities and good causes to receive funds they have raised, subject to assessment and approval by the Foundation. Our local giving model enables our European supporters to raise funds, directly help disadvantaged young people, and address local needs in their communities. Our goal is to achieve a positive local impact while coordinating a common framework for charitable fundraising and engagement activities.
DMTFYP Central Grants
We are a vehicle for giving and play a facilitating role for our supporters, ensuring their donations have maximum impact. When deciding who to support, it is essential for us to:
- To be satisfied that every £1 or €1 we give will make a real difference to those in need
- To assess the sustainability of a charity, the suitability of proposed projects
- To measure impact.
The Foundation strives to make a difference in its key areas while managing expectations and demand from hundreds of charities seeking our help each year.
Within the remits of education and health, DMTFYP continues its UK and Republic of Ireland central grant giving in our four levels of focus: children and young people with disabilities, employability and training programmes for disadvantaged young people, children and young people in hospitals and children and young people with life-limiting conditions.
These key areas were selected following feedback from our supporters, our Grants Committee, and Trustees, reflecting the interest of our fundraisers and the source of funds for Central Grants in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Despite this focus, the number of applications received during 2015 at the Foundation office continued to far outstrip available funding, with ‘young people with disabilities' being the most oversubscribed category. The total number of central grant requests received in 2015 was 352, more than £4.2 million. The Foundation awarded £556,046 (13% of funds requested) and made 115 central grants (33% of requests). Through its rigorous grant assessment process, culminating in the quarterly Grants Committee and Trustee meetings, the Foundation remains confident that it is responding optimally to requests for help within the constraints of its available resources.
Galvin’s Chance
Galvin’s Chance is a Foundation program established in 2009 to support unemployed young people aged 18-24 to secure work in the hospitality sector. Unlike many into-work programs in the industry, which focus on the kitchen, this program is aimed at the Front of House, training young people for service roles working in high-end hotels and restaurants such as Galvin at Windows, The Royal Automobile Club, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, The Lansdowne Club and The Cinnamon Club, to name but a few.
Galvin’s Chance is a partnership between the Foundation, which oversees and funds the placements; The Springboard Charity, which delivers the program; London CRC, one of our referring agencies and various employers who provide the placements and mentor the young people daily. Once selected to the Galvin’s Chance program, chosen candidates complete training and two weeks of work experience to fulfill a vacancy.
The program, which was created to help young Londoners deemed ‘at risk’ of youth gun and knife crime or gang violence, is spearheaded by Chef Patron Chris Galvin and General Manager of Galvin at Windows, Fred Sirieix. Many young people come to the program through the prison probation service or are referred by charities working with young homeless or “hard-to-reach” communities.
Get involved
When you give your time or money to the Foundation, you support many projects that help disadvantaged children and young people. Here are a few ways to get involved, but if you have any new ideas for events or projects, please contact us; we would love to discuss them with you!
Volunteer
Fundraise
Challenge yourself
Partner with us
Our Grants and Local Funds
Avisford-park
We fund organizations that work to improve the lives of children and young people across Europe. Our grants focus on providing equipment, training, and support to young people and are administered through several different models:
Central grants local funds registered charities in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland may apply for grants from DMTFYP’s Central grants fund. Deadlines for applications run quarterly. Find out more. DMTFYP operates donor-advised funds. There is no application process for these local funds. Business partners work with the Foundation to make these grants to local charities and schools they have identified and nominated, using funds raised for the Foundation and held by the charity. Nominated causes must fall within our giving remits, and relationships must be maintained locally. Throughout the year, we hold regional giveaways in association with our supporters around the UK. This gives smaller charities a chance to apply for a grant and for us to reach a new audience. Find out more.
What our charity partners say
The Foundation has worked alongside hundreds of charities, helping young people to transform their lives. Here is just a small selection of their feedback.
“On behalf of the team and young people at The Clock Tower Sanctuary, say a huge thank you for your check. The funds you have donated to us make a big difference to our organization. Your support enables us to get our Developing Life Skills for Independent Living project. We are excited about the tangible difference this will make young people in Brighton and Hove.”
”I am so grateful to the Foundation for continuing your fantastic support of our work in bringing pictures to life for blind and partially sighted people. I was so delighted to receive your grant of £7,500 on 19th September for the Young Explorers Series Dinosaurs ROAR! Project, to create the first of these titles and its accompanying online additional content delivered by our Discovery Hub.”
“The Foundation has a long-standing relationship with Dogs for the Disabled and has been awarded 14 grants since 2007. “Your valued support enables us to continue training exceptional assistance dogs that change the lives of people they are matched with.”
“Thank you so much for your generous donation to Climbing Out. The money will go directly towards funding catering, equipment hire, minibus hire, and fuel for the Climbing Out program… for young people in recovery from cancer. These programs have a huge impact on the lives of young people, and none of it would be possible without the support of organizations such as yourself.”
“Thank you very much for the £5,000 grant to the farm for therapeutic farming for children with learning disabilities and emotional and behavioral difficulties. We value your support towards this challenging area of work, and I assure you we will use the donation to excellent use.”
“We are delighted to receive a cheque for £317.17 recently from the DM Thomas Foundation for Young People…Once again, we can’t thank you enough for your generosity and kind consideration. We will be using this money to support our children with hearing impairment and speech delay. All of us here at Christopher Place, the staff, our children, and their families, send another big “thank you” to you and your team.”