Pears Foundation’s Christmas Gifts are our way of marking the festive season in a spirit of generosity and appreciation for the incredible work of local charities.
Each year the Foundation’s trustees identify a number of small, community-based organisations to receive a surprise seasonal boost of unrestricted funding.
This year we have gone back to the original inspiration for our Christmas Gifts programme and are donating a total of £150,000 to 20 organisations across the UK that provide presents or Christmas activities for disadvantaged children and families.
Recipients include The Toy Project whose founder, a North London primary school teacher, started collecting unwanted toys to address the inequality she saw in her school. The operation quickly grew too big for her living room and is now an established charity that has set up toy libraries in primary schools across Islington, provides toys and activities for children spending time in hospital, and presents for dads in prison to give their children on their festive visiting day.
Volunteer run charity Night Before Christmas take referrals from teachers, social workers, health visitors and others working with families experiencing poverty, and in 2023 distributed more than 6,800 Red Bags of Joy across South West Scotland.
An estimated 700,000 children and young people across the UK help care for a parent or sibling who is ill, disabled or living with a mental health condition or addiction. Caring for a loved one can be a positive experience but it can also take a significant toll. Responsibilities at home can make it difficult to complete homework, attend school or to concentrate in class, and many young carers miss out on after school activities or spending time with friends. In addition to their regular programmes of activities and support, MyTime for Young Carers provides Christmas goody bags for young carers across Dorset.
As well as supporting families with the essentials they need for their children throughout the year, award winning baby bank Love, Amelia work with their referral partners to identify families in need of additional support at Christmas. For the last four years their Christmas project has delivered toys, games and other gifts to families across Tyne & Wear and Co. Durham who would otherwise go without.
The full list of Christmas Gift recipients is below.
As with all the Foundation’s grants, they are chosen proactively by the Foundation. The annual theme is decided by the trustees and is separate from the Foundation’s strategic funding areas. Previous years’ donations have funded inclusive leisure activities for children with disabilities, support for refugees and asylum seekers and work to improve life chances for children and young people who are or have been in care.
London and South
- Ealing Achor Foundation
- Exeter Community Initiatives
- Kids Inspire
- MammaKind
- MyTime for Young Carers
- Reading Family Aid
- Surviving Christmas
- The Toy Project
North and Midlands
- Family Help Darlington
- Love, Amelia
- Rainbow Parents Carers Forum
- Smiling Families
- Spirit of Christmas
- The Toy Appeal
Wales
- Faith in Families
- Home-Start Ceredigion
Scotland
- Night before Christmas
- Glasgow the Caring City
Northern Ireland
- Home-Start Lisburn Colin
- NI Children to Lapland