The Share Foundation
The Share Foundation is an independent charity set up in 2005 to help children and young people whose family situation is either severely disadvantaged or non-existent to achieve their potential by providing support in the form of financial resources and education.
The Share Foundation seeks to:
- relieve poverty amongst children and young people in need in accordance with Christian principles and without reference to race, creed or nationality, with a view to improving the condition of life of those for whom funding is provided.
- advance the education of such children and young people in handling their financial situation in order to encourage self-sufficiency as they grow into adulthood, through improved ability to handle their own economic circumstances and to help them lift themselves and others in the communities in which they live out of poverty.
- reduce the generational cycle of deprivation affecting the poorest children and young people by encouraging highly targeted wealth distribution. Initially, and in the UK, it operates alongside HM Treasury's recently launched Child Trust Fund by making grants for the benefit of children most in need. This applies particularly to those who have no other prospect of financial resources as they grow, and have no-one in a position of parental responsibility, or who have been lost or abandoned with no foreseeable prospect of parental reunification.
- provide guidance as the child grows. It will publish and procure educational material to foster an increasing capacity for self-sufficiency, and will draw on resources developed for building financial capability, for example from pfeg. As children reach adolescence, the Foundation aims to work with other organisations (such as the Prince’s Trust) to further encourage their ability to take advantage from economic opportunities.
While the Child Trust Fund for such disadvantaged children is the initial focus of attention, The Share Foundation aims to broaden its scope in due course to assist similarly disadvantaged young people in the UK who are not within the CTF age parameters (born on or after 1st September 2002). It also intends to establish similar schemes overseas, particularly in countries with high levels of poverty and with large numbers of disadvantaged children and young people.
