{"alias":"contentPage","byline":null,"standfirst":null,"content":{"layouts":[{"type":"singleColumn","areas":[{"items":[{"type":"Promo","cta":"Get in touch with us today","body":"\u003Cp\u003EWe\u2019ve had lots of help designing, piloting, and scaling our new early years section, \u003Cstrong\u003ESquirrels\u003C/strong\u003E. You can find out who\u2019s been part of the team below.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe have big ambitions to bring non-formal, early years education to the communities and families who could benefit the most. By 2023 we want to:\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003Ehave reached 12,000 families\u003C/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003Ewith at least 30% coming from communities in the bottom third of the country in terms of income\u003C/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003Eand at least 10% coming families from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background\u003C/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003Ewith momentum to reach 130,000 families by 2033.\u003C/li\u003E\n\u003C/ul\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ETo do that, we need another \u00A3600k and partners who can help us reach potential volunteers in our target communities.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIf you\u2019re a funder, policymaker or youth organisation and can help us bring non-formal education to the communities that will benefit the most, please get in touch.\u003C/p\u003E","link":{"name":"Liam Burns email","id":null,"url":"mailto:liam.burns@scouts.org.uk","newWindow":false,"target":"_blank"},"colour":"#f1f1f1","title":"Interest in supporting Squirrels?","image":null,"imageFocus":"","imageId":0,"imageKey":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000","imageCrop":"","gridType":"card","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""}]}],"config":null},{"type":"threeColumn","areas":[{"items":[{"type":"Promo","cta":"","body":"\u003Cp\u003EBetween 2019 and 2022, The Mercers\u2019 Company is providing funding for 20 early years pilots to open across London in the 30% most deprived areas. They provided funding for two members of the team and a start-up grant for each section, and their funding also enabled us to produce a range of resources and age specific learning to support the volunteers running the pilots.\u003C/p\u003E","link":null,"colour":"#ca1a10","title":"The Mercers\u2019 Company","image":"/media/14071/210510_squirrels_1344.jpg?width=800\u0026height=450\u0026v=1dadf67f2ffd910","imageFocus":"","imageId":27100,"imageKey":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000","imageCrop":"","gridType":"card","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""},{"type":"Promo","cta":"","body":"\u003Cdiv\u003EHaving been a Scout himself, Lord Cruddas knows the value Scouting has for young people. Between 2021 and 2022, The Peter Cruddas Foundation has very generously donated \u00A3200k to our early years work. This was matched by the #iwill Fund, meaning \u00A3400k is going towards reaching 12,000 families.\u003C/div\u003E","link":null,"colour":null,"title":"The Peter Cruddas Foundation","image":null,"imageFocus":"","imageId":0,"imageKey":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000","imageCrop":"","gridType":"card","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""},{"type":"Promo","cta":"Check out Bear Grylls\u0027 website","body":"\u003Cp\u003EOur very own former Chief Scout offered \u00A310k of his own money to help us deliver early years activities. This was matched by the #iwill Fund, meaning \u00A320k in total.\u003C/p\u003E","link":{"name":"Check out the Bear Grylls website","id":null,"url":"https://www.beargrylls.com/","newWindow":false,"target":"_blank"},"colour":"#ca1a10","title":"Bear Grylls Ventures","image":null,"imageFocus":"","imageId":0,"imageKey":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000","imageCrop":"","gridType":"card","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""},{"type":"Promo","cta":"","body":"\u003Cp\u003EBecause of the match funding provided by the #iWill Fund, any donation has a huge impact. A kind donor who wished to remain anonymous has given \u00A32,500 which will be matched by the #iwill Fund, resulting in \u00A35k. The donor also asked that we work hard to support early years provision in Wales in particular, which we are more than happy to do.\u003C/p\u003E","link":null,"colour":null,"title":"Anonymous","image":null,"imageFocus":"","imageId":0,"imageKey":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000","imageCrop":"","gridType":"card","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""},{"type":"Promo","cta":"","body":"\u003Cp\u003EWith thanks to our Anonymous donation of \u00A350,000 which will be matched by the #Iwill Fund, bringing a total of \u00A3100,000 towards Early Years.\u003C/p\u003E","link":null,"colour":"#ca1a10","title":"Anonymous","image":null,"imageFocus":"","imageId":0,"imageKey":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000","imageCrop":"","gridType":"card","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""}]},{"items":[{"type":"Promo","cta":"","body":"\u003Cp\u003EBetween 2018 and 2020, the Department for Education, through its Early Years Disadvantaged Voluntary Community Sector (VCS) Grant programme, provided \u00A3787K to pilot early years Scouts in disadvantaged areas. Their help meant 30 pilots in disadvantaged areas reached 400 families; it also allowed us to test and learn from different models and programme ideas.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u00A0\u003C/p\u003E","link":null,"colour":null,"title":"The Department for Education","image":null,"imageFocus":"","imageId":0,"imageKey":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000","imageCrop":"","gridType":"card","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""},{"type":"Promo","cta":"Learn more about the foundation","body":"\u003Cp\u003EIn 2021, Garfield Weston supported our work with a \u00A3100k grant. This allowed us to start Squirrels in areas with lower income. The grant was matched by the #iwill Fund, meaning \u00A3200k in total went towards reaching families with early years Scouts.\u003C/p\u003E","link":{"name":"Garfield Weston website","id":null,"url":"https://garfieldweston.org/","newWindow":false,"target":"_blank"},"colour":"#ca1a10","title":"Garfield Weston Foundation","image":null,"imageFocus":"","imageId":0,"imageKey":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000","imageCrop":"","gridType":"card","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""},{"type":"Promo","cta":"","body":"\u003Cp\u003EIn 2021 The Schroder Foundation generously donated \u00A350k to support the development of the programme. This was matched by the #iwill fund, providing \u00A3100k in total.\u003C/p\u003E","link":null,"colour":null,"title":"The Schroder Foundation","image":null,"imageFocus":"","imageId":0,"imageKey":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000","imageCrop":"","gridType":"card","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""},{"type":"Promo","cta":"Check out Scouts Northern Ireland","body":"\u003Cp\u003EPerhaps the biggest heroes of our story, the Northern Ireland Squirrel Association have been trailblazing non-formal, early years education for over 25 years. Their insight and expertise has shaped our work and we\u2019ll welcome them as part of our Scouts family later in the year.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u00A0\u003C/p\u003E","link":{"name":"Scouts North Ireland","id":null,"url":"https://www.scoutsni.org/squirrels","newWindow":false,"target":"_blank"},"colour":"#ca1a10","title":"Northern Ireland Squirrel Association","image":null,"imageFocus":"","imageId":0,"imageKey":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000","imageCrop":"","gridType":"card","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""},{"type":"Promo","cta":"","body":"\u003Cp\u003EDuring our pilots and supporting our work with the Mercers\u2019 Company in London, the Centre of Research into Early Childhood evaluated our work and helped us to test, learn, and iterate as we go.\u003C/p\u003E","link":{"name":"CREC website","id":null,"url":"http://www.crec.co.uk/","newWindow":false,"target":"_blank"},"colour":null,"title":"Centre for Research into Early Childhood","image":null,"imageFocus":"","imageId":0,"imageKey":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000","imageCrop":"","gridType":"card","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""}]},{"items":[{"type":"Promo","cta":"","body":"\u003Cp\u003EBetween 2021 and 2023, the #iwill Fund is offering \u00A31.2m to bring Community Impact to over 12,000 young people, if we can find match funders for the same amount. This investment has transformed our ambitions, and we\u2019ve raised \u00A3600k, but we still need to raise another \u00A3600k.\u003C/p\u003E","link":null,"colour":"#ca1a10","title":"The #iwill Fund powered by the National Lottery Community Fund and Department for Digital, Culture, Media \u0026 Sport","image":null,"imageFocus":"","imageId":0,"imageKey":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000","imageCrop":"","gridType":"card","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""},{"type":"Promo","cta":"","body":"\u003Cp\u003EA long-time supporter of Scouts and young people, the Jack Petchey Foundation have provided \u00A350k towards supporting 14-17 year olds to take a leading role in delivering our early years work as Young Leaders. This was matched by the #iwill Fund, meaning \u00A3100k in total.\u003C/p\u003E","link":null,"colour":null,"title":"The Jack Petchey Foundation","image":null,"imageFocus":"","imageId":0,"imageKey":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000","imageCrop":"","gridType":"card","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""},{"type":"Promo","cta":"","body":"\u003Cp\u003EMike generously offered \u00A350k, allowing us to develop even better resources for community volunteers starting up Squirrels. This was matched by the #iwill Fund, meaning \u00A3100k towards our project.\u003C/p\u003E","link":null,"colour":"#ca1a10","title":"Mike","image":null,"imageFocus":"","imageId":0,"imageKey":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000","imageCrop":"","gridType":"card","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""},{"type":"Promo","cta":"Learn more about Action for children","body":"\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s not just funding that will help us reach over 12,000 families. Action for Children helped design our programme and test it in their early years centres.\u003C/p\u003E","link":{"name":null,"id":null,"url":"https://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/","newWindow":false,"target":null},"colour":null,"title":"Action for Children","image":null,"imageFocus":"","imageId":0,"imageKey":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000","imageCrop":"","gridType":"card","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""},{"type":"Promo","cta":"","body":"\u003Cp\u003EPeter Brown has championed youth and the vulnerable throughout his lifetime. Now, as a supporter of Scouts, his generous donation of \u00A325k to Early Years will mean a total of \u00A350k when matched by the #iwill Fund.\u003Cspan\u003E\u00A0\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/p\u003E","link":null,"colour":"#ca1a10","title":"Peter Brown","image":null,"imageFocus":"","imageId":0,"imageKey":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000","imageCrop":"","gridType":"card","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""},{"type":"Promo","cta":"","body":"\u003Cp\u003EPlusNet, donated \u00A313k towards our early years work. This will be matched by the #iwill Fund, so represents an investment of \u00A326k.\u003C/p\u003E","link":null,"colour":null,"title":"PlusNet","image":null,"imageFocus":"","imageId":0,"imageKey":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000","imageCrop":"","gridType":"card","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""}]}],"config":null}]},"searchDescription":"If you\u2019re a funder, policy maker or youth organisation and can help us bring non-formal education to the communities then get in touch today","pageType":null,"location":null,"browserTitle":"","versionDate":"16 July 2023","reviewDate":"29/06/2021","redirectUrl":"","id":50428,"nodeName":"Squirrels supporters","title":"Squirrels supporters","type":"contentPage","image":{"url":"/media/19170/squirrel-collecting-sticks.jpg?cc=0.0000000000000001263187085796,0,0,0.1563102635526033\u0026width=800\u0026height=450\u0026v=1dadf67f52e51d0","caption":"Squirrel collecting sticks in forest","type":"jpg","size":1121943,"width":7000,"height":4667,"altText":"Two Squirrels stand outside holding large handfuls of sticks, while one of them crouches down slightly."},"assets":null,"headerOptions":{"headerTitle":"Squirrels supporters","headerSubTitle":"Introducing our Squirrels supporters.","headerCta":"","headerCtaText":"","headerCtaLink":"","headerBackgroundColour":"ca1a10","showSEOImage":false,"headerBackgroundImage":null,"quickLinks":[{"caption":"","title":"Read our Squirrels news","url":"https://www.scouts.org.uk/news/?term=early%20years\u0026page=1","newWindow":false},{"caption":"","title":"Donate","url":"https://fundraise.scouts.org.uk/","newWindow":true}]},"subHeader":"If you\u2019re a funder, policy maker or youth organisation and can help us bring non-formal education to the communities then get in touch today","silktide":"eyJjbXMiOiJVbWJyYWNvIiwiZWRpdG9yVXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9wcm9kLWNtcy5zY291dHMub3JnLnVrLy91bWJyYWNvIy9jb250ZW50L2NvbnRlbnQvZWRpdC81MDQyOCJ9","canonicalUrl":"https://www.scouts.org.uk/supporters/squirrels-supporters/"}