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This year, we are embarking on a new strategy, which will make Yes Futures a more innovative, agile and responsive charity.
The challenges that young people face today are immense and ever-evolving, as they navigate growing up in an uncertain, changeable world. Yes Futures’ approach to building young people’s self-belief through coaching has never been more needed, and we are ambitious about the impact we can have in the coming years.
There’s no doubt that we currently exist in a challenging context - both the charity sector and school sector have been hit hard by austerity, budget cuts and the cost-of-living crisis. Yes Futures has weathered the storms of the past few years thanks to the generosity of our funders, the commitment of our volunteers, and the tireless hard work of our incredible staff team.
However, the reality is that we are working at a smaller scale than we were a year ago and we know that school funding is likely to continue to be limited for a while. Yet, despite the range of challenges faced by schools, we are motivated by the fact that several of our long-standing school partners continue to sign up for future programmes and we are attracting new schools to our community each year.
Our 2025 school partners have done everything they could to ensure more young people could benefit from our support again this year, and many of our other valued school partners have emphasised how much they want to continue when their budgets allow. We hope to welcome many of them back in the near future.
It is evident that our work is valued, impactful, and needed more than ever. We will be delivering our March and September 2025 programmes as planned, and we are determined to ensure the quality of our work can be felt by more young people, for many years to come.
As a result, we are implementing a plan to secure Yes Futures’ future. This new strategic phase will see Yes Futures move to a more agile delivery model. We will also explore new innovations: using our years of experience, trusted partnerships and respected position in the sector.
We are undergoing a team restructure which will sadly result in the loss of many valued colleagues, but ultimately better position the charity to serve the current context and build for the future. This restructure has opened up three new roles, which are undergoing open recruitment. You can find more details about these roles here.
Alongside this organisational shift and new strategic direction, I have decided that it is the right time for me to step down as Chief Executive, after 12 wonderful years. I founded Yes Futures with a powerful passion for young people’s self belief - and that will never leave me. But it is time for me to focus this passion on my young family, and open up space for a new leader to take Yes Futures forward to this exciting next chapter.
Whilst my departure represents a significant change for the charity, it also provides a positive opportunity for the new energy and ideas that will come with a new leader.
The CEO role is currently open and our Trustees are accepting applications - please do share it with anyone who may be interested.
The new team members are expected to be in place by June 2025, and I can’t wait to see what they achieve together.
Sarah Sewell
Outgoing Chief Executive
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