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Our governance

The Youth Endowment Fund was established in March 2019 by children’s charity Impetus, with a £200m endowment and ten year mandate from the Home Office.

Registered charity number: 1185413

Impetus

The Youth Endowment Fund is as an independent charitable trust, accountable to the Impetus Board.

Impetus

Impetus transforms the lives of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds by ensuring they get the right support to succeed in school, in work and in life. They find, fund and build the most promising charities working with these young people, providing core funding and working shoulder-to-shoulder with their leaders to help them become stronger organisations. In partnership with other funders they help their charities expand and influence policy and decision makers so that all young people get the support they need.

You can read more about our governance relationship with Impetus in their annual report, which includes a dedicated section on our work.


YEF Committee

The YEF Committee sets the strategy and oversees the work of the fund, reporting to the Impetus Board.

Ajada
Youth Advisory Board / YEF Committee Member
Andre
Youth Advisory Board / YEF Committee Member
Eleanor Harrison
Chief Executive / Impetus
Professor Jonathan Shepherd Emeritus Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery / Cardiff University
Professor Jonathan Shepherd
Emeritus Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery / Cardiff University
Junior Smart OBE
Founder of the SOS Project / St Giles Trust
Keith Fraser
Keith Fraser
Chair / Youth Justice Board
Lisa Stone
Chair / YEF Committee
Louis Elson
Louis Elson
Managing Partner / Palamon Capital Partners
Naomi Hulston
CEO / Catch22
Steve Walker
Steve Walker
Director of Strengthening Families, Protecting Children Improvement Programme / Leeds City Council

Grants and Evaluation Committee

Applications for funding to the Youth Endowment Fund will be considered by our Grants and Evaluation Committee, informed by our Expert Panel.

Jo Hobbs Chief Executive / British Youth Council
Jo Hobbs
Chief Executive / British Youth Council
Professor Jonathan Shepherd Emeritus Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery / Cardiff University
Professor Jonathan Shepherd
Emeritus Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery / Cardiff University
Katie Harber
Detective Superintendent / Metropolitan Police
Kevin Osbourne
Kevin Osborne
Founder & Chief Executive / MeWe360 | CreateEquity
Natasha Porter
Natasha Porter
CEO & Founder / Unlocked Graduates
Dr Shay Soremekun (PhD)
Assistant Professor, Epidemiology in the Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Professor Simon Coulton
Professor of Health Research/ University of Kent
Professor Stephen Morris
Professor of Evaluation and Research / Manchester Metropolitan University

Expert Advisors

Our expert advisors ensure the work of the fund is informed by world-class insight.

Alex Sutherland
Dr Alex Sutherland
Chief Scientist and Director of Research and Evaluation / The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT)
Alima Sonne
Youth, Play and Participation Manager / Manchester City Council
Ben Lindsay
Ben Lindsay OBE
Founder and CEO / Power The Fight
Ben Styles
Dr Ben Styles
Head of Education Trials Unit / National Foundation for Educational Research
Caroline Turley
Caroline Turley
Director of Crime, Justice and Attitudes / NatCen
Darrick Jolliffe
Professor Darrick Jolliffe
Head of School of Law & Criminology / University of Greenwich
Dez Brown
Dez Brown
Founder and CEO / Spark2Life
Essi Viding
Professor Essi Viding
Professor of Developmental Psychopathology / UCL
Iain Brennan
Professor Iain Brennan
Professor of Criminology / University of Hull
Ian McCaul
Ian McCaul
CEO / Chiltern Way Academy Trust
Jenni Steele
Jenni Steele
Founder / YANA Project
Dr Jyoti Belur
Dr Jyoti Belur
Associate Professor, Department of Security and Crime Science / UCL
Kahiye Alim
Kahiye Alim
Director / Council of Somali Organisations
Dr Mateo Sandi
Dr Matteo Sandi
Research Economist – Education and Skills, Community / LSE
Professor Peter Fonagy
Professor Peter Fonagy
Head of the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences / UCL
Dr Sajid Humayun
Dr Sajid Humayun
Senior Lecturer, Psychology / University of Greenwich
Sajidah Patel
Sajidah Patel
Director / Naz Legacy Foundation
Sandra James
Sandra James
Executive Director / Claudia Jones Organisation
Dr Vashti Berry
Dr Vashti Berry
Senior Research Fellow / University of Exeter

Evaluation Technical Advisory Group

This group provides advice to ensure that the YEF’s evaluation work is informed by world-class evaluation expertise. 

Ben Styles
Dr Ben Styles
Head of Education Trials Unit / National Foundation for Educational Research
Darrick Jolliffe
Professor Darrick Jolliffe
Head of School of Law & Criminology / University of Greenwich
Dr Fatima Hussain 
NatCen
Iain Brennan
Professor Iain Brennan
Professor of Criminology / University of Hull
Joht Singh Chandan
Dr Joht Singh Chandan
NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in Public Health / University of Birmingham
Professor Nina Maxwell
Senior Research Fellow / CASCADE
Peter Langdon
Professor Peter Langdon
Centre for Educational Development, Appraisal and Research / University of Warwick
Umar Toseeb
Umar Toseeb
University of York

Funding from

Home Office

In 2019, the Home Office made £200m available over ten years to create the Youth Endowment Fund, as part of its long-term plan to tackle serious violence. Impetus won a competitive tender to run the fund.