The Jim Jackson Foundation has had a busy year in 2024 and has continued in its charitable purpose to assist young people who have encountered difficulty in accessing qualifications or experience, in their ambition to enter the world of business. It was a year of turmoil in the UK and on the global stage as well and the applications to the Foundation reflected how hard it has become for young people to access financial support in order to study, especially those people who have been unable to gain qualifications to enable them to move into tertiary education. It is heartbreaking to be unable to help all those who applied and some of the applications have demonstrated real hardship.
Between January and July, the Foundation processed 193 direct applications from individuals, and 23 applications from other charities asking for help in funding their beneficiaries. The direct applications peaked in June and July.
Strange to tell, the Foundation has found that reaching out to individuals has been more difficult to do effectively; helping people who are associated through other organisations has been more rewarding.
Therefore the Foundation strengthened its contacts with other organisations who act as sponsors for people needing support.
In September 2024, the Foundation was delighted to sign an agreement to support young people from diverse backgrounds who are attending Northumbria University Business School. This agreement enables 10 students from disadvantaged circumstances to study at the prestigious powerhouse for business start ups in the Northumbria area. In 2025, the scale of support is to increase to capture more students in need of support.
The Foundation also continues to support students attending Plumpton Agricultural College with hardship funding.
And it continues its strong relationship with HARC to assist individuals through apprenticeships and other training and lifeskill opportunities.
At the time of writing, three additional organisations (another University and two charitable organisations) are in communication with the Foundation and we hope to be able to sign agreements before the end of the year.
In terms of fund raising, the Foundation had matched its 2023 total by September. The fund is split into four expenditure categories – Educational, Enabling, Hardship and Administrative/compliance costs. 60% was spent on educational expenditure, 25% on enabling funding, 13% on hardship and just 2% on compliance and administration. Reserves have been made for the longer term grants and support.
A major fundraising campaign was run during “Jimtember”, the birthday month of Jim Jackson, in whose name the Foundation was established. Intrepid members of Aspects Beauty Company, the firm jointly founded by Jim, abseiled down Peacehaven cliff face, overcoming their fears and their terror to raise funds for the Foundation. They matched the funds raised at inaugural walk in 2022. Other funding events ran throughout the year and, amongst others, donations were made by the Jackson Hill family and by Aspects Beauty.
I am enormously grateful to the Trustees for their voluntary support and contribution to the Foundation’s work. I am also eternally thankful to the many employees at Aspects Beauty who have worked to raise funds, to voluntarily provide support to the management of the Foundation and provide outreach opportunities. This support means that more funds can be channeled to our clients rather than funding overheads. Quite simply, the Foundation could not manage without their support.
In closing I wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous, peaceful and rewarding 2025.
