On our 10th birthday, Spirit of 2012 is proud to share “Our Impact: 10 Years of Investing In Happiness” – a report which tells the story of our impact over the past decade.
Spirit of 2012 was established in 2013 with a £47 million National Lottery Community Fund endowment to continue the pride and positivity that people felt across the UK following the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. In the 10 years since then, we have funded projects which have fuelled community pride, positivity and wellbeing, getting thousands/millions of people more active, creative and connected in their communities.
Since 2013, we have distributed £48m of grant funding through 234 grant awards. 3.2million people have taken part in our events and activities. We’ve helped to engage and recruit more than 60,000 volunteers, social action participants and community helpers, and over 86,000 people have taken part in longer-term, regular physical activity and art and culture.
We are committed to making people happier, and measuring whether we have been successful. Our targeted engagement means the average wellbeing of people reached by our projects is significantly lower than the UK average when they start, and as a cohort, people leave our projects feeling happier and more satisfied with their life at the end.
Our work goes beyond simply funding – we also delve into research, evaluate our impact, and share insight.
Over the past ten years, we have become experts in harnessing the power of events. Specifically, we have learned about turning that power into practical and meaningful changes that cultivate thriving, interconnected communities that echo the resilience and unity sparked by those events.
Our goal now is to share that expertise as widely as possible as we look back at how we’ve helped to craft a more joyful, connected, and healthier UK over the past ten years.
Ruth Hollis, Chief Executive, Spirit of 2012 said:
I am tremendously proud to share this report on our 10th birthday, which tells the story of Spirit’s impact over the past decade. I would like to thank all of our grantees and partners, who have done the hard yards working with beneficiaries, and to whom we are hugely grateful for working with us in such a spirit of collaboration and curiosity. I would also like to thank the National Lottery Community Fund for entrusting us and endowing us to deliver this over the last 10 years. I hope that our insights and learning can make a real difference in understanding how to maximise the impact of events for people and communities from the mega events like London 2012 to the community events that happen across the length of breadth of the UK every year.
You can read the report here.