Youth Futures Foundation

What Youth Futures Foundation does

Youth Futures Foundation is a UK-registered non-profit and the national What Works Centre for youth employment, established in February 2019 with an initial £90 million endowment from dormant assets administered by the Reclaim Fund Ltd, with further allocations of £20m in 2023 and £15.35m in 2024. It is governed as a company limited by guarantee with The Oversight Trust as its sole member and operates from London.

Its core offerings are four freely accessible, web-based evidence tools: the Youth Employment Toolkit (synthesising international evidence on seven intervention types), the Data Dashboard (collating official NEET and labour-market statistics), the Evidence and Gap Map (the world's largest interactive mapping resource for global youth-employment evidence), and the Youth Employment Systems Map (the first interactive visualisation of England's youth employment system). These tools are complemented by six flagship programmes — Connected Futures (a £16m place-based initiative across 10 English localities), Building Futures (early-intervention mentoring for secondary-school students), Evidence into Action, What Works testing programmes, and an employer-focused recruitment and retention programme — which together fund delivery organisations, commission RCTs and evaluations, and embed youth voice via the Future Voices Group and other participation structures.

The organisation has no commercial revenue: all tools, publications and resources are free, and funding flows entirely from UK Government dormant-asset allocations. It serves a deliberately diversified ecosystem of employers (from SMEs such as Smarty Pants Day Nursery to large corporates including BAE Systems, TUI Group, Wickes and Tesco), public policymakers (notably the Department for Work and Pensions), researchers and evaluators, frontline delivery charities, and 14-24 year-old marginalised young people. Headcount is reported in the 1-10 band.

Name

Youth Futures Foundation

Legal name

Youth Futures Foundation

Website

https://youthfuturesfoundation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

UK non-profit and national What Works Centre for youth employment, funded by dormant assets, that builds free evidence tools and runs flagship programmes to help marginalised 14-24 year-olds secure good work, serving employers, policymakers, researchers, delivery organisations, and young people across England.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth Employment Research

NAICS

Child and Youth Services (62411), Educational Support Services (611710), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172), Educational Services (611)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Workforce Readiness, Career Pathways & Youth Employment Nonprofits (BPAGADAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Youth & Young Adult Workforce Programs (Out-of-School Youth) (EDAAAOAD)

Keywords

• Youth employment research
• Evidence-based policy
• Workforce development programmes
• Non-profit grant funding
• Labour market analytics

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Dormant Asset Funding: Youth Futures Foundation is funded through dormant assets funding from the UK Government. Established in February 2019 with an initial allocation of £90 million of dormant asset funding from the Reclaim Fund. A further £20 million was allocated in 2023 and £15.35 million in 2024. Spending of dormant assets funding must meet expenditure with a social or environmental purpose.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Youth Futures Foundation is a UK non-profit What Works Centre for youth employment that produces free digital evidence tools (Youth Employment Toolkit, Data Dashboard, Evidence and Gap Map, Youth Employment Systems Map) and runs flagship grant-funded programmes (Connected Futures, Building Futures, What Works testing, Evidence into Action) to translate evidence into systemic change for marginalised young people aged 14-24. Its primary outputs are research synthesis, interactive data tools, evaluations, policy positions, and place-based programme delivery to employers, policymakers, researchers, and delivery organisations across England.

Product overview

Youth Futures Foundation is the national What Works Centre for youth employment, operating as a research and evidence organization rather than a traditional software product company. Its core offering consists of four interactive evidence tools: the Youth Employment Toolkit (synthesizing international evidence on youth employment interventions), the Data Dashboard (collating official youth labour market statistics), the Evidence and Gap Map (the world's largest interactive mapping resource for global youth employment evidence), and the Youth Employment System Map (the first-ever interactive visualization of England's youth employment system). These are complemented by six flagship programmes including Building Futures (early intervention mentoring), Connected Futures (place-based change), What Works testing programmes, and Evidence into Action. The organization also operates youth participation structures including the Future Voices Group and produces annual publications and research reports.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Youth Employment Toolkit Free online resource summarising high-quality international evidence on the impact, cost and effectiveness of common interventions used to help young people find and keep good work. Built from in-depth literature reviews of multiple evaluations of youth employment programmes in high-income countries.
• Data Dashboard Digital tool collating official statistics on the labour market, NEET rates and related economic issues alongside regional, national and international data on youth employment, providing up-to-date insights and visualisations.
• Evidence and Gap Map World's largest interactive mapping resource for global evidence on different types of intervention designed to improve youth employment outcomes and young people's skills. Indicates quantity and strength of evidence with summaries of studies and links to full text.
• Youth Employment Systems Map First-ever interactive map of the youth employment system in England, providing a visual representation of the barriers and opportunities young people from marginalised backgrounds face as they seek good jobs.
• Building Futures Early intervention programme delivering and evaluating mentoring support for secondary school students at risk of missing out on further education, training or future employment. Delivery partner Football Beyond Borders will engage 500 young people aged 12-15 over a whole academic year.
• Connected Futures Place-based partnerships that foster localised solutions to the complex employment challenges facing marginalised young people. £16m programme operating across 10 localities in England through local coalitions of delivery organisations and authorities.
• What Works: testing youth employment interventions Programme working in partnership with delivery organisations to develop clear and robust evidence on what works to help young people find and keep good work through rigorous testing of interventions.
• What Works for Recruitment and Retention Programme testing promising employment interventions with trailblazing employers to build evidence on effective recruitment and retention practices for marginalised young people.
• Evidence into Action Three-year funding and learning programme to understand, enact and embed evidence-informed change for young people, translating insights into frontline practice.
• Evidence and Research on Youth Employment Programme building the evidence base on young people's educational and employment outcomes, identifying positive interventions, and developing approaches to affect outcomes at scale.
• Future Voices Group Group of young people who provide youth voice and lived experience perspectives to shape Youth Futures Foundation's research, policy and practice work.
• Youth Employment Outlook (annual publication) Annual flagship report bringing together the latest data and evidence on the youth employment landscape to inform effective action by policymakers, employers and delivery organisations.

Quantifiable outcome

• 27% of JobsPlus participants achieved positive employment outcomes between July and December
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• WorkwhilecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Youth Futures Foundation partnered with Workwhile to develop a youth-led definition of 'good work'. Through participatory research with marginalised young people, they explored what 'good work' means from the perspective of those most affected by unequal access to employment.
• The Social Change AgencyminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 January 2025Partnered with Youth Futures Foundation to build the Youth Employment Systems Map based on feedback from young people groups, Future Voices Group, and over 40 stakeholders including funders, policymakers, employers and practitioners.
• Football Beyond BorderscoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 January 2024Delivery partner for the Building Futures programme, selected for its excellent record of developing trusted relationships with young people in schools from areas of socio-economic disadvantage. Provides personalised coaching, mentoring, and wellbeing support to up to 500 young people aged 12-15 over a whole academic year.
• Behavioural Insights Team (BIT)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Conducts evaluation of the demonstrator phase of the Building Futures programme. BIT is a global research and innovation consultancy which uses behavioural insights to improve people's lives, spanning insight, intervention, evaluation, and capacity building.
• Bryson Purdon Social Research LLP (BPSR)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Research and evaluation partner for the Building Futures programme. BPSR provides social research expertise to support the evaluation of youth employment interventions.
• IpsoscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Research and evaluation partner and member of the Youth Futures evaluation panel. Ipsos is a leading provider of research and evaluation services to local and national government, public sector agencies, third sector organisations and What Works Centres in the UK.
• New Philanthropy Capital (NPC)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Past partner for Building Futures programme. NPC is a think tank and consultancy for the impact sector, helping charities, foundations, philanthropists, social enterprises, businesses and the public sector to maximise social impact.
• What Works NetworkcoreOthers · 1 January 2022The What Works Network was launched by the UK Government in 2013 to ensure public services are informed by the best available evidence. Youth Futures Foundation is the 10th full member, accredited in June 2022. The Evaluation Task Force serves as the Network's secretariat.
• Youth Employment Group (YEG)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020The YEG was founded during the pandemic and is now operated by Youth Futures Foundation. It brings together six chairing organisations working to shape the systems and policies that support more young people into good work. YEG co-chairs respond to government reports on youth employment.
• The Oversight TrustcoreOthers · 1 January 2019The Oversight Trust is the sole member of Youth Futures Foundation. Its role is to oversee the organisation, ensuring it is properly governed, remains true to its objectives, and delivers social impact. It ensures the dormant asset funding is used transparently and accountably.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Resolution Foundation: UK think tank focused on living standards and labour market outcomes. Comparable as an evidence-driven organisation producing influential research on youth employment, low pay, and workforce policy.
• Nesta: UK innovation foundation running challenge prizes, applied research and evidence programmes. Comparable as a UK evidence-and-innovation intermediary, though broader in scope than YFF's youth employment niche.
• Impetus: Major UK charity supporting disadvantaged young people into education and employment. Comparable given shared focus on youth employment outcomes, evidence-led approach, and grant funding to delivery organisations.
• Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR): UK progressive think tank producing policy research on economy, jobs and skills. Comparable as a policy-influencing research organisation with overlapping youth, employment and skills focus (YFF's Head of Research came from IPPR North).
• The Prince's Trust: UK's largest youth charity focused on disadvantaged young people aged 11-30. Broad incumbent in the youth employment space with comparable target population (NEET-adjacent) but much larger direct-delivery scale.

Others

• Behavioural Insights Team (BIT): Social purpose consultancy applying behavioural science to public policy. Ecosystem peer as YFF's evaluation partner for Building Futures and as a fellow 'what works'-adjacent evidence generator.

Direct peers

• Education Endowment Foundation (EEF): Founding member of the UK What Works Network focused on education. Closest analogue to YFF as a sister What Works Centre using evidence reviews, toolkits, and grant-funded evaluations to improve outcomes for young people.
• Youth Endowment Fund: UK charity focused on preventing youth violence through evidence-based interventions. Direct peer as a Home Office-backed 'what works'-style foundation focused on marginalised young people, using evidence synthesis, grant funding, and RCT evaluations.
• What Works for Children's Social Care: UK What Works Centre generating and synthesising evidence for children's social care. Direct peer given shared What Works Network membership, evidence-to-practice methodology, and youth-adjacent beneficiary base.
• Centre for Ageing Better: UK charity and What Works Network member focused on ageing and employment. Direct peer as a sister What Works Centre operating with similar evidence-to-policy hub model and grant-funded programmes.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/YF_Foundation
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC5siCNfA_g4
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/youth-futures-foundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles21 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Youth Futures Foundation