LIGHTYEAR FOUNDATION
Northern Monk Brewery has donated £5,000 to Lightyear Foundation, a charity dedicated to breaking down the barriers to disabled children participating in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).
The funds, donated from Northern Monk’s Faith in Futures Foundation, which donates grants up to £5,000 to community-focused causes, will help Lightyear Foundation reach more disabled young people with accessible fun STEM experiences.
Rosie Mellors, Community Manager at Lightyear Foundation, said: “Disabled children face multiple disadvantages in education, careers and life skills and are all too often excluded from STEM. Lightyear Foundation was set up in 2012 to break down the barriers to educational and workplace opportunities in STEM for disabled children and young people across the UK.
“We want to be part of the solution so that ultimately our services are no longer needed. This is a big challenge for a small team, but the Faith in Futures donation will help us reach more disabled young people with accessible fun STEM experiences that will spark a love of these subjects for life.
“Through developing our programmes to be scalable and replicable, and through fortifying pathways with our SEN in STEM Network members and other educators and employers, we firmly position ourselves as a catalyst for creating systemic change. We are committed to tackling the root causes preventing the disabled community from accessing STEM.
“Our vision is of a future where inclusivity and accessibility are embedded within STEM education and workplaces, where disabled people are welcomed and celebrated in these pioneering fields, offering their unique contributions to tackling the world’s greatest challenges and advancing human knowledge.”
Lightyear Foundation support disabled children aged 5 to 18 years in special schools across the UK. In 2023, the foundation worked with 841 disabled young people through their programmes.
The Faith in Futures Foundation donates grants up to £5,000 to a range of community focused charities, causes and support groups. The Foundation raises funds for these grants through various channels including fundraising events, merchandise sales and sales of their Faith in Futures range of beers, which are available in supermarkets and the Northern Monk website, and Northern Monk’s venues in Leeds and Manchester.
Russell Bisset, Co-founder and Managing Director of Northern Monk, says: “Ensuring that all children, regardless of their background or personal story, have access to STEM subjects and activities is vital to young people’s development and is to the benefit of society as a whole. We’re delighted to be able to support Lightyear Foundation and are looking forward to seeing how the organisation continues to support children in 2024.”
Ciaran Shier, Positive Impact Director at Northern Monk, said: “We heard about the fantastic work that Lightyear Foundation does from one of their Trustees. We are really impressed by the degree of positive impact they have within their community of breaking down barriers to STEM for young people, with such a small amount of resource. Their passion for improving diversity and inclusion to overcome some of the biggest global challenges we now face is inspiring and we are delighted to support them and see how their impact grows.”
Northern Monk started life in a cellar in Bradford with a £5,000 gift from a grandparent. Inspired by these origins and an ambition to give back wherever we can, we launched the For The North Foundation in September 2019. The For The North Foundation allowed us to support the people who share our values, and our passion for the North, via £5,000 grants offered to businesses, charities and projects that aimed to provide a genuine benefit to the communities they serve, or the wider environment.
March 2021 saw the ‘For The North Foundation’ evolve into Faith in Futures Foundation. Faith in Futures has no geographical border applied to our giving.
In 2024, we were very proud to celebrate the milestone to have donated £80,000 to 21 different causes across the UK since the creation of the Foundation, and to have supported so many businesses, especially during the extremely tough period that was the pandemic.
If you work for a community charity or cause and want to be considered for a Faith in Futures grant of up to £5,000 please email your request to drink@northernmonk.com. We will respond with an application form to fill in and return to us.