One year ago, in June 2024, we launched Centrepoint’s largest ever corporate partnership with Nationwide as part of their Fairer Futures social impact strategy.
Through our partnership, 3,500 young people experiencing homelessness will be supported to take steps towards independence and a home of their own:
- More Than a Roof is about refurbishing homes and creating safe spaces for homeless young people so they can be themselves and rebuild their lives.
- Making Renting Work funds deposits and rent for homeless young people who are ready to leave supported homes and move into the private rental sector.
- Stepping Stone Homes is a ground-breaking independent living programme to fund truly affordable new homes for young people who have faced homelessness. Nationwide funding is supporting three developments across the UK.
Our aim is to enable them to have a home where they feel safe, where they belong and where they can rebuild their lives.
Highlights From Our First Year
Just one year in and already Nationwide's partnership is having an amazing impact for homeless young people.
With over £3.4million donated and raised for Centrepoint, this incredible amount of money is helping to support young people across the UK take steps towards independence and a home of their own. During our first year of partnership, 1,627 young people have been given access to a safe space to rebuild their lives.
As headline sponsor of Sleep Out, Nationwide are helping to make our long-running fundraising event bigger and better than ever! They also hosted their own Sleep Outs across the country in March, raising more than £48,000 towards Centrepoint’s life-changing work.
Nationwide were also the headline sponsor for the 2024 Centrepoint Awards and the Ultimate Quiz, supporting these key events to be a huge success.
We have received generous gift-in-kind support, with de-branded uniforms donated to provide young people with access to smart clothing for job interviews or work.
Nationwide have shown strong support for our Make Work Pay campaign, signing a letter to the treasury, and helping us to raise awareness of the benefits trap young people face in supported housing.
It’s been a truly fantastic first year in partnership together!
The Impact We’ve Had
One young person told her Support Worker that going shopping with her and choosing what to buy was “the best day of my life.”’
“I just thought ‘moving on is going to be so hard. I'm on my own, I have to do everything by myself’. So to know that they've helped me out a bit, so when I do move on to getting my permanent [home], I'm not just stuck with nothing, I've got a few things to start with, it makes me more motivated to want to do more….Now I know that I've got stuff with me that is mine, it's making me happier. I feel like it makes me happier in general”.
“[When they told me about] the deposit I was like, Oh my God. I was so shocked by it because I've never known anyone to do that. And it has really helped….I was so grateful because otherwise we wouldn't have been able to have a place right now. I just wouldn’t have been able to afford it all.”
Looking Ahead
We have lots of exciting things planned for our second year in partnership, including:
- Expanding our partnership to include support for our Moneywise programme, which supports young people to learn money management skills and build financial resilience.
- Collaborating with Nationwide’s customer vulnerability team to explore easier access to banking for homeless young people, and address barriers they face in opening accounts
- Working with Nationwide’s early careers team to help young people access opportunities including employability skills workshops and work experience
- Centrepoint are now featuring on the Nationwide app, so Nationwide’s customers can learn more about our work, understand what we do and donate to us directly if they would like to
We’re hugely proud of the impact we’ve had together in our first year – a huge thank you to Nationwide and their colleagues all across the UK for helping us to end youth homelessness.
Coventry and Co-op donation
