The Windmills Foundation is our charity which inspires young people to make the world a better place. 

We have recently launched the £10 challenge with all of the primary schools in Formby, Merseyside, where Windmills is based.

Sixth-form students from local schools were given the opportunity to mentor more than 300 primary school pupils in teams of 5. They were given £10 to make a difference - with the only caveat being that they couldn’t actually give the money away. Their challenge over the next month was to use their skills, talents and relationships, together with £10, to make the world a better place by creating a sustainable difference in their community.

 
Helen Wakefield, Director of Windmills, said: “There are three purposes that provide meaning to the challenge.”
“Firstly, inspiring young people to collectively make a difference in the wider community.
Secondly, releasing personal potential, helping young people to be the star they are and finally, impacting on school curriculum, community cohesion and unlocking the enormous potential the school has to support the community.
It is all about getting them to be aware of the local community and how they can help it”.

The month-long challenge saw the pupils embark on a wide range of activities, from organising performances in old people’s homes to creating photo albums for people with Alzheimer’s.
A celebration event was held at the end of the project where each team could present their challenge to a Dragons Den-style panel who gave the team with the winning idea an award.

The success of this programme has led to discussions with MPs to roll the idea out across the borough with a view to looking at national involvement.
We have an outrageous ambition for Windmills to have made a difference to the lives of 1 million people of 2020.  We hope that by setting up the Windmills Foundation, which is particularly focused on young people making a difference in the world, we will go a long way towards achieving that goal.

The Foundation isn’t about giving money to people.  Instead, it’s about working with people who want to make a difference in the world but who may not necessarily have the vision or confidence to know how to do this.

We donate 10% of pre-tax profits to the Windmills Foundation as well as time and resources. We would love to discuss any creative ideas you may have to help make a difference together.

If you would like to sponsor a £10 Challenge event or have an idea that you think would help your community please contact us on 0844 249 1990 or click This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to send us an email.