Liverpool FC manager Jürgen Klopp has praised the LFC Foundation for giving people hope and belief as the club’s official charity released its third annual social impact report.
The men’s first team manager, who is also an ambassador for the LFC Foundation, expressed his pride in the “incredible job” that the Foundation does every day in the Liverpool City Region and beyond.
Klopp was speaking as the LFC Foundation announced a 47% increase in the number of people supported over the last year, from 83,694 to 122,861 unique users, and a 47% increase in the number of contact hours across all programmes, from 348,000 to 675,986.
LFC Foundation began providing independent reporting on its impact for the 2020/21 season, and it takes pride in maintaining verified and transparent statistics to accurately convey its impact, which have been continued for the third year in a row by research and technology company Substance.
Over the course of three years, the Foundation has provided over £65 million in health benefits, contributed over £16 million directly to the local economy, and now has a total social value of more than £192 million. The Foundation can generate a social return of £13 for every £1 spent or raised.
Speaking about his love for LFC Foundation, Jürgen Klopp, said:
“I am happy and proud to be an ambassador for the LFC Foundation. To have people listening to me is the best thing I can do to help our Foundation. All of the people who work for our Foundation do an incredible job, I love them all, because the things they are doing are just incredible.
“It’s such a wonderful organisation and the best thing a football club can do is to give people good moments, hope, belief and the knowledge that they are actually never alone. I enjoy each moment with the Foundation, it’s really great, so it’s win-win situation for all of us.”
Almost half of LFC Foundation participants in the last year came from the 10% most deprived local authority wards in the country, demonstrating how deeply it is embedded in the most vulnerable communities.
While sport and physical health are central to what the Foundation does, its work encompasses much more, with 60% of LFC Foundation employees involved in non-sport-specific programmes.
This includes working with young people to keep them out of gangs and from being exploited by County Lines crime organisations through youth intervention work, teaching young people job-search skills, and providing specialist mental health courses.
LFC Foundation has also made direct donations and been a direct funder of a variety of projects for children and young people delivered by trusted partner charities and community groups.
In the last year, nearly 90,000 gifts were given to 17,500 people experiencing significant disadvantage, primarily through Red Neighbours, with a total recorded value of £1.4 million, representing an 84% increase year on year.
Matt Parish, LFC Foundation chief executive, added:
“Each season we aim to improve and deliver the best possible outcomes for the young people and families that need our support the most, ensuring that we are making a positive impact to their lives.
“We started these official impact reports three years ago to ensure that we continue to define, monitor, asses and report on our impact to help us to continue to grow and be a leader in the sector. Key to this is transparent and accurate reporting, which ensures that we remain authentic, credible and true to the values of our football club.
“The Foundation continues to be humbled by the outstanding support we receive from across the LFC Family – our players, fans and valued partners – we simply could not reach so many without their support. And as the need for support unfortunately continues to grow, we need this support more than ever.”
Read LFC Foundation’s Impact Report 2023 in full here.
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