The Young Foundation - a centre for social innovation

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Our Work

Our work covers health, ageing, education, communities and housing, justice, youth leadership, creative uses of the web and wellbeing.

We address issues by carrying out research, launching collaboratives, creating new ventures, and advising national and local governments and other public agencies. We work both in the UK and internationally.

We collaborate with a wide range of organisations – from charities and businesses to governments and local authorities – using a comprehensive set of tools and approaches.  More information on our cross-cutting work for central government can be found here.

Where we work

The Young Foundation's work spans the length of the UK and, increasingly, across the globe. To find out more click on a tab on the maps below or use the zoom tool to focus in on a specific area.

United Kingdom

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The Young foundation's work spans the length of the UK and, increasingly, across the globe to find out more click on the pins or use the zoom to focus in on a specific area.

World

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The Young foundation's work spans the length of the UK and, increasingly, across the globe to find out more click on the pins or use the zoom to focus in on a specific area.

Guide:

Practical
Research
Venture
Advisory

Guide:

Practical
Research
Venture
Advisory

Launchpad

Launchpad is a social innovation unit focusing on creating models and enterprises to meet social needs.

International

The Young Foundation's international work links us to like-minded organisations around the world, as we jointly try to grow the field of social innovation

Local Innovation

Our Local Innovation team works on practical projects to improve public wellbeing, empower neighbourhoods to improve their quality of life, and help local authorities to innovate.

Networks and Collaboratives

Bringing together partnerships of agencies across sectors to learn from each other has proved a potent way of galvanising fresh thinking

Advising on public service innovation

We have developed the most comprehensive overview of methods for innovation in the public sector as well as leading edge methods for measuring the potential public sector productivity impact of new models.

Venturing and Investment

We develop and support new ideas turning them into sustainable organisations. We manage three social venture funds: Health, Learning and Youth Leadership.

Communities and Housing

We seek to stress the importance of understanding lived experience, and on drawing on a dynamic understanding of what shapes and makes community

Justice

Innovation is needed in the criminal justice system - in order to counter both the waste of human potential and of resources as well as the excessive use of imprisonment and high reoffending rates

Education and Innovation

Our work on education includes research, projects and funds and our research has focused on what we call the SEED skills - social intelligence, emotional resilience, enterprise and discipline

Web

Our approach is rooted in belief that technology is a means to an end - a tool to help individuals, communities and agencies achieve their goals

Parenting

Our focus is on exploring the reality of lives for families, taking account of the enormous range of circumstances and life choices that determine family life

Social innovation

The Young Foundation has been involved in social innovation for half a century. We define social innovations as innovations that are social both in their ends and in their means

Ageing

Our work encompasses research and the design and launch of new ventures that can better meet the needs of older people

Wellbeing and resilience

The Young Foundation's work on wellbeing emphasises 'subjective wellbeing', what people feel about the quality of their life. A key element of this is 'resilience' - how people bounce back from adversity

Health

Our work on health focuses primarily on innovative ways of meeting the needs of people with long-term conditions