Calling all adventure-lovers! If your new year’s resolution is to make more memories, look no further: Pawprint Trust has reopened its annual grant scheme, allowing young people from all across the UK to enter and kick-start their own adventures in 2023.
Pioneered by Pawprint Family – which helps leaders, teachers and parents save time and money by providing ideas and opportunities to deliver everyday adventure and skills for life – the Pawprint Trust strives to support young people to experience life-changing adventures.
With a particular focus on increasing involvement in exciting activities and participation in youth projects, Pawprint Trust provides young people with the chance to receive monetary grants that bring them one step close to embarking on adventures of a lifetime. Beneficiaries from previous years have put their grants towards a range of impressive feats, including an expedition to Malawi to build a community centre for a local village, a World Challenge to Borneo, and an Antarctic exploration trip.
One of last year’s recipients, Eloise Smith, a Leader at Trinity Guiding, used the grant to fund the start-up costs of a new Girlguiding Ranger unit in Basingstoke. Commenting on the grant, Eloise said:
“Trinity Rangers has been up and running for almost two years now and thanks to the Pawprint Trust, we were able to purchase all the unit resources we needed to make this possible. As our local “new starter” funding got cut during COVID, it is because of amazing initiatives like Pawprint Trust that we have been able to provide the girls with so many adventures like campfires, shelter building to fun evenings such as escape rooms, and water fights. The funds have been truly lifechanging and I am very happy to say we are now financially stable to support more girls for many years to come.”
With the ambition of helping young adventurers sitting firmly at the heart of the charity, Charlotte Russell, co-founder of the Pawprint Trust and its parent company, Pawprint Family, added:
“Our mission is, and has always been, to help every young person in the UK access
adventure all year-round. We want to show people that rewarding activities can be accessible and affordable for all, which is even more important as people face the cost of living crisis.
“If you have a project that needs extra funds, the Pawprint Trust can help make those plans a reality. Whether it’s a trip abroad, a community project, or a camping trip here in the UK, no adventure is too big or too small, and we want to support it! We’d love to get on board with as many adventures as we can, and we encourage anyone aged 11-25 to get involved and apply.”
Pawprint Family was co-founded by husband-and-wife duo Charlotte and Jamie Russell in 2016 with the aim of showcasing #AdventureForAll. Through its signature badges, tales, and trails, Pawprint Family offers thousands of free activity ideas and resources, location-based treasure hunts, and collectible badges.
“On top of the funding, Pawprint Family also provided us with some of their amazing badges in which the girls soon became fan favourites of! I can’t count the times they searched through Pawprint website at planning meetings to ensure we included the badges in our activities in some way or form. We are so thankful for the funding and delighted we can continue to provide our girls with a next step between Guides and Leaders,” Eloise continues.
The deadline for applications is 31 March 2023 and anyone aged between 11-25 (inclusive), and a resident in the UK, is eligible.
To download the application form, visit www.pawprintfamily.com/pawprint-trust.