Thank You Day Community Connectors Summary
An evaluation report which assesses the pilot of /Together’s Thank You Day programme and its success in community cohesion.
Thank You Day
This project is now complete
Supporting a new national day with the aim of increasing and improving participation, connection and belonging in communities.
The project in numbers
£50,000
Project spend
April 2021 – September 2021
Project duration
The Together Coalition
Grantee organisation
Spirit of 2012 awarded a grant of £50,000 to support a new national day where people around the UK were encouraged to form meaningful social connections with one another. The grant supported the building of Thank You Day – a new initiative from the /Together coalition – with the aim of increasing and improving participation, connection and belonging in communities, while breaking down the perceptions of difference and associated hostility.
The funding also supported pilot projects in a series of communities, with a view to learning how major events such as Thank You Day can help build a sustainable grassroots network of social connectors.
It followed the release of the ‘Talk Together’ Report in March 2021 which revealed that while people were feeling more isolated due to COVID-19, 41% of people felt that the pandemic had made their local community more united. It also estimates that 12.4 million adults volunteering during the pandemic, of which 4.6 million were first time volunteers, with 3.8 million of this group interested in volunteering again.
Thank You Day took place on Sunday 4 July 2021 – the day before the 73rd birthday of the National Health Service – with a focus on coming together to extend gratitude to those who helped others during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Project aims
- Create a new national day to encourage people to form new social connections.
- Use the power of events to build on surge of community spirit and volunteering during Covid-19 pandemic.
