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Liverpool Echo

Sport

Paul Gorst

LFC Foundation delivers £8m boost to help 83,000 people in one year

Foundation LFC Foundation LFC John Aldridge Jordan Henderson Matt Parish Economy Echo Forever Reds Manchester United

An independent report has found that Liverpool's official charity, the LFC Foundation, has directly delivered £8million into the local economy and contributed nearly £25m in health benefits.

The Foundation, which is now in its 20th year, delivered the findings from its social impact report last week, with the charity responsible for over 348,000 hours of programme activity which has helped contribute to an overall social value of £80m.

The launch of only the second-ever social impact report, which was conducted by research and technology company Substance, also revealed that over 83,000 people have been supported in the last 12 months by the Foundation's work, some of them in the most deprived areas of the UK.

The results were detailed at an event at the club's AXA Training Centre on Thursday, which was attended by Reds legend John Aldridge alongside Foundation director Matt Parish.

“As a proud supporter of the LFC Foundation I’ve been lucky to see first-hand the difference their work makes to so many young people and families across the city and around the world," club captain Jordan Henderson said.

“In these uncertain times their work is more important than ever and seeing their dedication and passion to create opportunities for young people is really inspiring. With the support of everyone in the LFC family I know the next 20 years will be just as successful and impactful.”

LFC Women’s skipper, Niamh Fahey, added: "Access to sport for children and young people is so important for many reasons. Not only does it have a positive impact on physical and mental health by encouraging a healthy lifestyle and building important skills such as confidence and resilience. But it also has the power to bring communities together."

Aldridge told the ECHO: "I have to say we're all very humble at this club. As much as you want to shout about what we've done on the park, which we have done over the years, off the park, we don't shout enough. It's not a knock for me to say it but people need to know what the LFC Foundation have been doing over the years.

"To get it out there with the ECHO, who reach the local people is great. People are too quick to drag our city down and it's been happening for too long, hundreds of years, and this should be shouted from the rooftops what they have but it's that humbleness from within.

"I can't say how the Foundation has helped various former players because they're very proud and humble people and don't want people to know, but they have helped so many ex-players and we will continue to do that. We changed from the ex-players association to Forever Reds and it frustrated me a bit because we couldn't directly help our own because of the tax implications.

"Thankfully a few years ago when we became Forever Reds, that changed. So we do have a fund that is available for the ex-players and that has become a buffer if anyone needs it and if we don't use it for the ex-players, we use it for local charities, Merseyside-based charities.

"Those top players who come over for the charity matches, they pay for their own private jets to come over. People don't know about that. Which is amazing and then we get a fantastic amount of money from that game. A lot of people who can't get to first-team games come with their kids and they don't realise how much they are helping the city by coming out to support it. As well as watching some of the greatest players to have ever played for the club."

Mr Parish added: "I think when I first started, I was looking at some of the old paperwork and there was a line that said: 'better done than said'. The reality is we've talked about 20 years of the Foundation and some of the work that has gone on in that time has been phenomenal. And the actual community work goes back even further than that but we didn't talk about it enough. But we realised as well that we didn't do enough so we've tried to develop both. We will talk about it more.

"Our model isn't that complicated. It's do something, do it well and then we talk about it. We're so fortunate with things like the legends' game. There's probably only two clubs - us and Manchester United - who can sell out the legends games. I am not naive enough to think everyone is coming to support the Foundation; it's an opportunity to come to Anfield to see their heroes.

"But I think if they know if they are making a donation to charity they want to know where that money is going. I think if we can continue to demonstrate that impact then hopefully people will know. We want to show people how we're investing these funds.

"The legends game is a good example of the club working as one. Everyone at the club gives their time for free on that match. So the legends come in, the staff work on the day, they all give their time for free and that enables us to pull it together. That game is our biggest single fundraiser but it's not the only way of raising funds.

"We're meaningful, credible and we're able to speak about some of the success we've had. We've put £8m back into the local economy here. 83,000 people were supported in the last year alone. That makes us incredibly proud. It's seeing young people and the difference our work makes."

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