Over £1m raised for Standard’s Destination Unknown campaign

The Standard’s latest campaign, Destination Unknown, has raised over £1 million to help get young people into employment. The campaign has been run in partnership with The King’s Trust and with support from The London Community Foundation.

The latest round of our Youth Futures Fund, including a £100,000 gift from our long term partners Deutsche Bank, was donated to the campaign. The Evening Standard Dispossessed Fund, which is managed by The London Community Foundation, has also given £250,000 to the campaign, ensuring £500,000 in total has been given in grants to six grassroots community organisations across London. The remaining funds raised will be used to support employability programmes in London run by The King’s Trust.

Throughout the campaign, four of these community organisations have been featured on The Standard’s website and in the weekly print edition of the paper. Each organisation was able to showcase a specific example of the work they do to support young people finding opportunities in work or business. One young person’s story but representing many hundreds more having hope for the future and the chance to achieve their full potential.

Steel Warriors builds gyms in London parks, made from knives seized from violent crime incidents. Since 2017 they have built four gyms - Finsbury Park in Haringey, Langdon Park in Tower Hamlets, Carpenter’s Estate in Newham, and Ruskin Park in Lambeth – while also creating connections with the young people who use them. Their grant will fund ten “Made of Steel” employability programmes over three years, supporting 450 at-risk young people seeking jobs in the health and fitness sector.

Toucan Employment are based in Southwark, Lambeth and Lewisham and deliver employability support to people with learning difficulties and autism. Their grant from Destination Unknown will fund a project worker to support 90 young people with learning difficulties into work over three years. 40% of the 300 people Toucan Employment support each year are under 30 and they work together to assess their health difficulties, skills, employment interests and support needs. This support ensures an increased chance of securing paid work – from just 5% to around 60%.

MyBigCareer will support 1,000 children - aged 16-18 across 15 different London schools - who receive free school meals to make a successful transition into employment. Their programme includes 24 employer insight and skills days with five corporate partners, giving an inspiring yet practical glimpse into what might be possible. Alanis, who shared her story during The Standard’s campaign, had this exact experience when visiting a law firm for one of these insight days. MyBigCareer have supported over 17,000 young people in this way since 2020.

20/20 Levels support young people from Black and racially underrepresented backgrounds through their “I am Change” employment programmes across locations in Liverpool Street, Farringdon, and Paddington. The programme of workshops and mentoring has a 90% success rate with the typical time taken to find work reducing from two years to just six months. 20/20 Levels maintain connection with the successful graduates to ensure they can track the difference the support has made for their careers.

Thanks to the support of our generous donors, the Youth Futures Fund was able to contribute over £150,000 to Destination Unknown. This enabled the campaign to fund two more community organisations in the city. Art Against Knives will support 200 young people in Barnet to find employment or training, while Urban MBA will use their grant to help 700 disadvantaged young Londoners in Hackney gain work in emerging industries, with a focus on entrepreneurial and digital skills.

Our Youth Futures Fund is one of our “All Together” funds where donors from across London join forces to create opportunities and support for the capital’s young people. We will launch a new theme for the next round of Youth Futures Fund in 2026 so please consider if this is a way you can support London’s disadvantaged and underrepresented communities. It can also be a great way to begin your philanthropic journey by leverage the collaboration with other likeminded Londoners so do get in touch if you would like to discuss your options.

(Photos and case studies courtesy of The Standard)