Chelsea FC chooses Plan International as its global charity partner
Howard Lake | 15 September 2015 | News
Chelsea Football Club is to work with children’s charity Plan International as its new global charity partner for an initial three-year deal. The partnership is designed to “use the power of football to help some of the world’s poorest children to fulfil their potential”.
Plan’s logo will feature on Chelsea’s European shirts, introducing the charity to a global audience. The new shirts will be seen for the first time on Wednesday 16 September in the club’s first Champions League fixture of the season against Maccabi Tel Aviv at Stamford Bridge.
Champions of Change
Chelsea will support Plan’s work in Africa, Asia and South America, raising funds and awareness of its work. It will help the charity engage new supporters and work with groups of young people who are traditionally difficult to engage.
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In Colombia they will develop a football-themed programme ‘Champions of Change’ to engage young people. The organisations hope to establish more sport-based programmes around the world, reaching both boys and girls, in particular hard-to-reach marginalised teenagers.
Bruce Buck, Chelsea Football Club Chairman, said:
“We are passionate advocates of using football as a force for good within all our communities and we’re delighted to be working with Plan and excited about what this partnership can achieve. Chelsea’s profile combined with Plan’s expertise means that together we can support more children and young people throughout the world using the power of sport to inspire and educate.”
Tanya Barron, Plan International UK’s Chief Executive, described the partnership as “a game changer for Plan”, believing that it “will take Plan’s work to the next level”.
Other football clubs with global charity partnerships include Arsenal FC, which has partnered with Save the Children.
Chelsea’s other charitable activity
The Chelsea Foundation, set up in 2010, works on initiatives focusing on employment, education, social deprivation, crime reduction, and youth offending.
It does accept requests for signed merchandise from charities, but points out that, due to heavy demand, it can’t meet all requests.
It also clearly makes occasional donations to other major appeals:
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.