All women at 144 charities to receive free training place
Howard Lake | 30 May 2023 | News
Every woman at over 144 charities is being offered a free place on a six-week course to build women’s confidence.
UPFRONT has been running its Bond courses since 2020, providing training and inspiration for women in over 50 countries. A bond is “the collective noun for a group of women”.
The 4,000 women at charities who are about to benefit from the next Bond – Bond 7 – will begin their course on 5 June.
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The original plan for UPFRONT was to offer free places to every woman at one selected charity. But, according to founder Lauren Currie, the quality and missions of the 144 charities that applied for this opportunity were so strong that she felt they all deserved a place. “When we read the stories, the missions, the need, we kept coming back to what our first instincts told us to do – “Let’s support all of them”, she explained.
So, over 4,000 women have received the free training places offer, with a combined value of £4.8 million.
Currie was Chairperson of Pregnant Then Screwed for over six years and a trustee of the Design Council for three years.
UPFRONT Bonds
UPFRONT has a bold mission of “changing confidence for 1 million women”. It aims “to change confidence – from something that is seen as strangely offensive, often American and typically masculine to something that is celebrated, understood and generous.”
The Bonds support this approach, recognising that “the problem isn’t that women aren’t confident but that confidence in women is not rewarded in the world. This is the problem we’re solving together.”
The course asks for a commitment of three hours per week.
At the end of the course participants get to join Global Bond, a global support community of alumni.
In addition to the large gift of charity places, UPFRONT tries to ensure that the course is available for any woman that wishes to attend. Places are therefore free for women on maternity leave and no income. When purchasing a ticket participants are reminded that “if you can afford to pay more for your ticket or you’d like to support our mission please consider donating”, which helps boost the level of support for free places.
If your charity has been accepted, Currie is asking you to check your emails for the enrolment information as it seems quite a few charities’ systems are blocking UPFRONT’ emails, and the deadline to complete enrolment is tomorrow.
Booking for Bond 7 is open until 2 June 2023 at 12.00 BST.
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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.