PEF raises £1m for disadvantaged young people

Kimberly Romaine
23 April 2012

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Last weekтs Private Equity Foundation (PEF) Full Potential Awards dinner was attended by 400 people and raised ТЃ1,046,070. The sum is earmarked to help some of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable young people in the UK.

It is estimated that 958,000 young people are currently not in education, employment or training (NEET) in England alone. So far, 60,000 young people have been helped by the Foundation.

Johannes Huth, chairman of PEF, said in a statement: "In our worst urban areas a shocking one in four 16-24 year-olds is currently not in education or is out of work. The Private Equity Foundation was established to give these young people, who would otherwise have very limited life chances, the support and skills they need to realise their potential.

"We do that by finding the very best youth and education charities and back them to scale up. We've raised a powerful combination of £25m and 32,000 hours of pro bono business help to support 19 charities."

Following PEF's recent launch of the first social impact bond (a new form of social investment) in support of NEETs, which was commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions, secretary of state for work and pensions Iain Duncan Smith sent a message of support. He said that he "recognised the great work of the Private Equity Foundation and its partners" and added: "I believe social investment is our best hope for tying not just the wealth, but also the skills of those at the top of society back into our most disadvantaged communities. The work the Private Equity Foundation is doing here is real evidence of what can be achieved."

The Private Equity Foundation (PEF) is a charitable foundation that finds the very best interventions to tackle the NEET (young people not in education, employment or training) issue and backs them with funding and pro bono business expertise from the private equity community to become more effective and, over time, to scale up impact.

Since its creation in 2006, PEF has secured the backing of more than 70 private equity firms and their advisers, including banks, law firms, accountancy firms, consultants and search firms, and has organised more than 32,000 hours of voluntary help.