Why your support matters so much
M’s Journey to Finding her Way and her Future
When we first met M, she had been out of school for over a year. Starting secondary school had triggered a steep decline in her mental health, and she’d since been diagnosed as autistic and dyslexic. The idea of seeing peers filled her with such intense anxiety that she could only leave the house during school hours, and only with her mum. Education felt completely out of reach.
As her mentor explains, we began meeting weekly, doing things that felt safe and meaningful to her – art, craft, visiting the farm. Slowly, we built trust. As her confidence grew, she was able to spend more time outside the house, try new environments, and begin imagining a future again.
Two years on, M’s life has changed dramatically for the better: she’s on a re‑engage course at college, and she’s been offered a place for September to study animal management. After more than a year out of education, she’s returning with hope and with a pathway she’s excited about.
She still has challenges. But she is living her life again. She is part of the world again. And she has a future she can see herself in.
This is what mentoring makes possible.
This is what your support makes possible.
FAQs
All donations must be made on the Big Give campaign page – click here www.tinyurl.com/JHFBigGive or click the donate button.
There are three ways donors can donate during our Big Give campaign:
- Credit or Debit card (also compatible with Google and Apple Pay)
- Pay by Bank
- Donation funds (BACS donations)
Credit or Debit card – simplest option
If a donor wants to donate with a credit or debit card, all they need to do is visit our campaign page www.tinyurl.com/JHFBigGive while the campaign is open and click on the Donate button and proceed through the donation form with your card details on hand. Donors donating with a card do not need to create an account with us to make their donation.
Donors can donate as little as £1 and up to £25,000 using their card.
Cash – if anyone offers you cash and you are able to – you can make the donation online yourself. JHF is explicitly banned from making donations from our funds, but its’ people can donate with their own personal cards.
Pay by Bank
Pay by Bank gives donors a chance to donate to our campaign without the need for a card – using just their bank account and banking app. There is no change to the main donation journey. On our campaign page www.tinyurl.com/JHFBigGive they will reach step 3 of the donation process and then need to select the Pay by Bank option and then follow the on-screen instructions.
Donors can donate as little as £1 and up to £10,000 using Pay By Bank. You can find a list of the banks that support Pay by Bank here. Find out more about how Pay by Bank works here: https://biggive.org/blog/2025/10/01/big-give-launches-pay-by-bank-a-new-way-to-give/
Donation Fund (BACS Donations) – needs setting up in advance
This option is designed for donors giving £500 or more who would prefer not to use a debit or credit card. Donations are securely processed through Stripe (the Big Give’s payment processor) and credited to pre-created Big Give donor account. Full guidance and FAQs can be found here: https://biggive.org/donation-funds/
A summary of how it works:
The donor sets up a donor account on the Big Give website.
They complete a short form confirming their intended donation.
They receive unique bank details linked to their account and transfer the funds.
They transfer their funds to those bank details.
Big Give is a non-profit platform that allows charities to raise funds for good causes. They never charge fees to charities for joining the platform. Instead, they charge a small Processing Fee to cover the incurred cost of processing donations. This standard fee is deducted from the donation before it is paid to the charity. Read about our fees. Currently 1.5% + 20p per donation.
The JHF will be able to view the donation amount and donor details for each contribution. You can opt in or out of receiving emails from us. Donors who choose to receive email communications will be sent a thank‑you message from the JHF.
The minimum single donation that can be made during the campaign is £1. The maximum donation made during the campaign using a credit or debit card is £25,000. Pay by Bank option is £10,000. The largest donation made using the BACS Donation funds feature is £200,000.
Once our match funds have been exhausted, as the donation is being made, the Big Give website will clearly state that any subsequent donations will not be matched. Donors will still be encouraged to make an unmatched donation.
No – we are not registered for Gift Aid with the HMRC.
Donations made between on Monday 22nd June will be paid out the week commencing 6th July via their payment processor, Stripe. Donations made from Tuesday 23rd June to Monday 29th June inclusive will be paid out the week commencing 13th July via their payment processor, Stripe.
Champion funds (the £5,000 matched funds) will be paid out in August via their partner, Global’s Make Some Noise, upon completion of the post-campaign survey which we will send you once the campaign has ended.
About the campaign:
Big Give, Global’s Make Some Noise, and NCVO are partnering to run
the Small Charity Week match funding campaign. This seven-day
online campaign aims to support small charities across the UK and will
bring much-needed financial and training support to small charities
making a big difference in their communities. Big
Give, the UK’s largest match funding charity, will be hosting the
campaign on its platform. The campaign will multiply the public’s
generosity, as donations to the participating charities will be doubled,
supported by generous ‘Champions’, typically
philanthropists, foundations, or companies. It’s a simple idea – when the public donates to a
charity through Big Give, Champions match that donation. So, £50 from a member of the
public becomes £100 for a good cause.
We are delighted to share an amazing opportunity where your donation will be able to make twice the impact.
The Big Give’s Small Charity Week campaign will match-fund all donations made via the Big Give website – 22nd -29th June only, until we reach our £5000 goal.
Big Give Blog
M’s Story – Finding Confidence, One Small Step at a Time Wednesday 24th
We’re delighted to share some more of M’s story, which really shows how valuable mentoring can be. Every pound we raise this week will go towards supporting more young people like M.
When M first came to JHF, life felt heavy. School had become overwhelming and she was spending most of her time at home, unsure how to move forward. Her world had shrunk to the point where even small interactions felt daunting.
In those early weeks, her Mentor focused on creating a sense of safety. Quiet time together: art, craft, short walks and trips out to places where she could breathe and settle. Little by little, M began to relax. She started talking more.
Over time, those small moments added up. Her confidence grew in ways that were easy to miss day to day, but unmistakable when you looked back.
Recently, M shared something that felt like a turning point for her:
“I realised I could open up to new people.”
Her mum, R, has seen that change too. She told us:
“Over the last year she’s gained confidence, happiness and overcome goals we didn’t think were possible.”
She also shared how much the mentoring relationship has meant to their family:
“She’s become a real good friend to M and to me as her mum. We trust her with any issues that arise.”
These words say so much about the quiet, steady work that happens in mentoring, the kind that builds safety first and confidence second.
These days, M is chatting more easily, joining in with things she once avoided and taking steps towards her future.
Her story is a reminder that progress does not always look dramatic. Sometimes it is a conversation on a walk. Sometimes it is saying yes to something small. Sometimes it is realising you can talk to someone new and feel okay.
And it is these moments, the gentle, steady ones, that mentoring makes possible.
Thanks to the incredible generosity of our supporters, we have already reached our £5,000 match funding target for the Big Give. Donations from today will not be doubled, but they will still go directly into supporting young people like M to feel safe, confident and hopeful about what comes next.
If you would like to help us continue this work, you can donate here: 🔗 tinyurl.com/JHFBigGive
Standing Together for Young People: Celebrating Our Campaign Ambassador, Horizon Tuesday 23rd
When a community chooses to stand alongside its young people, extraordinary things become possible.
Today we are celebrating Horizon, our Campaign Ambassador and lead donor. Their commitment to young people right here on our doorstep has already helped us build early momentum for the week ahead. Over the past seven months their support has been generous, hands‑on and rooted in a genuine belief in what mentoring can make possible.
We are proud to share their statement in full.
Horizon’s Statement
‘Horizon are proud to be supporting the Jack Hazeldine Foundation and the fantastic work they do for young people in our community.
As an Employee Ownership Trust, giving back is built into who we are, it’s a decision made by every employee within the business. When we heard about the work JHF are doing right here on our doorstep, offering mentoring, tutoring and real, meaningful support to young people who need it, it felt like a natural fit.
Being able to donate £3,000 during Small Charities Big Give week means a lot to all of us. More than the donation, we love that this is a charity where we can see the impact first-hand, get involved, and genuinely feel part of something that’s making a difference in the community we all share. Investing in our young people is not just an act of charity, it is a catalyst for growth and prosperity for us all.
We couldn’t think of a better cause to get behind and we’re behind the whole JHF team every step of the way.
To support JHF too, visit: www.tinyurl.com/JHFBigGive
The Horizon Team’
Our thanks
We cannot thank the team at Horizon enough.
In just seven months their support has created more than £7,500 of impact for young people in North Somerset. This includes last year’s donation, buying a BBQ for our Orchard sessions, joining us at the quiz night and now a Big Give donation that will be doubled to help us build early momentum this week.
What means the most to us is how deeply they care about the young people growing up in our community. They believe in the power of mentoring to change lives and they choose to stand alongside us as we do this work every day.
We are so grateful to have them with us as Campaign Ambassadors for this year’s Big Give.
Join Horizon in supporting young people
Every donation made this week will be doubled. This helps us reach more young people with the mentoring, stability and support they deserve.
If you would like to be part of this, you can donate here: 👉 www.tinyurl.com/JHFBigGive
Big Give Week is Now Live
Today marks the start of Big Give Week, and we’re beginning with a message from our founder, Ben Hazeldine.
“Every donation this week is matched and goes straight to the children most in need across North Somerset.”
During Big Give Week, every donation is matched, doubling the impact and helping us reach more young people who need support right now. For a small local charity, this opportunity is transformative. It means more mentoring hours, more children reached, and more of the steady, consistent support that schools tell us is making a real difference.
If you’re able to support the campaign, you can donate here: tinyurl.com/JHFBigGive
Thank you for standing with us during Small Charity Week. Your support helps us continue this work with young people at the heart of everything we do.
Feel Good Friday – Friday 19th June
Every week, our mentors step quietly into schools across North Somerset. They offer time, warmth and a steady presence to young people who need someone in their corner. Most of this work happens out of sight. It’s gentle, relational and built slowly over time.
This week, we received a message from a local SENDCo that really stayed with us:
“The JHF charity and the mentors are absolutely priceless to our children and to us at school… The relationships they build are warm, empathetic and sustained… It opens up our children to safe, kind and important interventions that can be life‑changing.”
This is what mentoring looks like for us – not about quick fixes or one‑off sessions. It’s about showing up, week after week, with patience and kindness. We help young people feel safe enough to talk, explore and grow, working alongside schools as part of the team around each child.
We are really proud of the partnership we have with local schools. They welcome our mentors in and share our belief that steady, relational support can make a real difference.
We are also incredibly grateful for the mentors who make this possible. Their work is quiet and consistent, and its impact is felt in classrooms, corridors and conversations every day.
Next week we will be sharing more stories like this on the blog. And on Monday our Big Give match funding opens, which means every donation will be doubled for one week.
💛 Happy Feel Good Friday, from all of us at JHF.
Getting Ready for Big Give Week – Monday 15th June
This week marks the countdown to one of the most exciting moments in our year. In just seven days, our Big Give Small Charity Week campaign will open, and for one week only every donation made to The JHF Youth Charity will be doubled.
For a small local charity, this match‑funding opportunity is a game‑changer. It means we can reach more young people, deliver more mentoring hours, and offer the kind of support that helps them feel safe, confident and hopeful about their future.
Behind the scenes, we’re getting everything ready for launch: preparing stories and updates, working with our early pledgers, and making sure the campaign page is ready to go live at 12pm on Monday 22nd June. We’ll be sharing more throughout the week as we build towards the start of the campaign.
Once Big Give week begins, we’ll be posting daily updates, celebrating the people who make our work possible, and tracking our progress towards the £5,000 match‑funding target. It’s shaping up to be a brilliant week, and we’d love you to follow along.
More updates coming soon – we can’t wait to get started.
Campaign Totals – Target £5,000
Pledged £1,000
Donated £2,000
£3,000 still to raise