Education and Employers Taskforce

What Education and Employers Taskforce does

Education and Employers Taskforce is a UK-registered charity (charity number 1130760) founded in 2008, headquartered in London, that operates free online platforms connecting workplace volunteers with primary and secondary schools to broaden students' career aspirations and challenge gender stereotypes. The charity's core products include Inspiring the Future, a secondary school volunteer-matching platform; Primary Futures, the primary-school counterpart; and icould, a video library featuring over 1,000 career stories with more than one million views annually. The underlying technology combines Salesforce CRM with Ordnance Survey mapping functionality, enabling schools to search volunteers by skill set and geography on an interactive map. The platform has accumulated over 80,000 registered volunteers and 23,000+ teachers, reaching more than 500,000 young people through events across the UK.

The charity operates on a freemium model with no charges to schools, teachers, or volunteers, generating revenue through charitable grants and donations from trusts (AKO Foundation, Dulverton Trust, Edge Foundation), government contracts (previously the Department for Education's Inspiring Governance service from 2016 to September 2024), corporate supporters (Bank of America as lead corporate supporter since 2011, JP Morgan), and individual contributions. The go-to-market motion is community-led: volunteers self-register online, teachers invite them to deliver career talks, and matching occurs digitally with minimal unit costs. International expansion has been pursued through licensing partnerships in 35+ countries including Australia, Ireland, China, Switzerland, Uganda, and Bangladesh.

The charity is led by CEO Nick Chambers (formerly Director of Education at Business in the Community) with David Cruickshank (Global Chairman of Deloitte) serving as Chair. Recent strategic shifts include the closure of the Inspiring Governance service following DfE funding cessation in September 2024, offset by new programme launches such as the 'Inspiring the Future of Local Media' North West initiative in 2026 and continued international partner network expansion.

Name

Education and Employers Taskforce

Legal name

Education and Employers Taskforce

Website

https://educationandemployers.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Education and Employers Taskforce is a UK charity running free online platforms (Inspiring the Future, Primary Futures, icould) that connect workplace volunteers with primary and secondary schools to broaden students' career aspirations and challenge gender stereotypes.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Career Education Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Educational Support Services (61171)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Internship/Apprenticeship Matching & Work-Based Learning Platforms (EDAFAMAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Career Services & Job Placement Platforms (Jobs, Recruiting, Employer Networks) (EDAFAMAM), Workforce & Job-Seeker Services (Community-Based) (EDAAAFAM)

Keywords

• Career education
• Volunteer matching
• School engagement
• Employer outreach
• Career inspiration

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Charitable grants and donations: Funded by charitable trusts, government commissioners and individuals through grants, contracts and donations. Key funders include AKO Foundation, Education and Skills Funding Agency, Commercial Education Trust, JP Morgan, The Dulverton Trust, and Edge Foundation.
2. Government contracts: Department for Education funded Inspiring Governance service from 2016-2024. Contract ended September 2024.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Education and Employers Taskforce operates free online platforms that connect volunteers from the world of work with schools and colleges to inspire young people about careers. Core programmes include Inspiring the Future (secondary schools), Primary Futures (primary schools), and the icould career video library, collectively reaching over 80,000 volunteers and 23,000 teachers.

Product overview

Education and Employers Taskforce operates a portfolio of free online platforms and campaigns connecting volunteers from the world of work with schools and colleges. The primary offerings include Inspiring the Future (a match-making platform for secondary schools), Primary Futures (for primary schools), and the icould video library. The charity also ran Inspiring Governance (2016–2024), a governor recruitment service using Salesforce and Ordnance Survey technology, and manages the Inspiring Women campaign. These programmes collectively aim to broaden young people's career aspirations and challenge stereotypes through direct engagement with professionals.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Inspiring the Future A free online match-making platform that connects volunteers from the world of work with schools and colleges. Volunteers sign up to share career stories through short talks, speed networking, mock interviews, and other career-related activities with secondary school students.
• Primary Futures A counterpart to Inspiring the Future tailored specifically for primary-age children. It engages pupils to broaden horizons, challenge gender stereotypes, and bring learning to life by connecting primary school children with volunteers from the world of work.
• icould A video library for young people, schools and parents featuring over 1,000 people talking about their careers, with over 1 million views per year.
• Inspiring Governance A school governor and academy trustee recruitment service delivered between 2016 and 2024 using Salesforce CRM and Ordnance Survey mapping. The service recruited over 9,000 governors, with 30%+ from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds, and closed on 30 September 2024 following the end of Department for Education funding.
• Inspiring Women A campaign to challenge gender stereotypes by connecting female volunteers with schools to inspire girls and young women, helping them consider jobs outside traditional gender roles.

Quantifiable outcome

• Work experience can reduce the odds of young people becoming NEET by 80%
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

19 partnerships are on record, tiered minor, core and major.

• Good Shepherd School (Uganda)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 10 August 2018Partner school in Uganda that launched Primary Futures and inspired expansion to other schools.
• The Smith Family (Australia)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 4 May 2018Australian charity partnering on Primary Futures Australia launch at Willmot Public School.
• South Dublin County Partnership (Ireland)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 21 September 2017Irish not-for-profit piloting Inspiring the Future Ireland in South County Dublin since September 2017.
• MOD-ELLE (Switzerland)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2017Swiss not-for-profit running Models of the Future programme in French-speaking Switzerland, inspired by Inspiring Women campaign.
• British Council ChinacoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 5 December 2016Launched Inspiring Women China campaign in December 2016, running national campaigns and school events.
• National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKey education partner co-developing Primary Futures programme and promoting initiatives to members.
• National Governance AssociationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered on Inspiring Governance providing quality training and guidance for recruited governors.
• Department for EducationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGovernment department that commissioned Inspiring Governance and supported policy development.
• OECDcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational partner co-producing research reports including 'Envisioning the Future of Education and Jobs' launched at Davos.
• DeloittemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGlobal Chairman David Cruickshank chairs Education and Employers. Partner on research and Davos events.
• Teach FirstmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEducation charity partnered on research reports including career-related learning in primary schools.
• UCL Institute of EducationmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partner in Drawing the Future survey and other research collaborations.
• TESmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEducation media partner in Drawing the Future survey and content sharing.
• SalesforcecoreTechnology or IntegrationProvides CRM technology platform powering the volunteer-school matching system.
• Ordnance SurveycoreTechnology or IntegrationProvides mapping data enabling geographic search for volunteers and schools.
• Schools Industry Partnership (Australia)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAustralian not-for-profit that rolled out Inspiring the Future programme across Australia since April 2017.
• Business in the CommunitymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBusiness membership organisation that was involved in early governance research and campaigns.
• Confederation of British Industry (CBI)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor business organisation supporting employer engagement in education initiatives.
• Confederation of British Industry (CBI)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCBI is a key business organisation partner supporting employer engagement in education initiatives.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• Teach First: UK education charity and major partner of Education and Employers — operates teacher training and development programmes that address educational disadvantage in similar school segments.

Direct peers

• Future First: UK charity building alumni networks in state schools to support students with careers and motivation — analogous model leveraging volunteers from the world of work for school engagement.
• CareerReady (Career Ready): UK charity offering employer mentoring, masterclasses, and workplace experiences for young people — comparable programmes and target audience of secondary school students.
• Speakers for Schools: UK charity that connects schools with professionals for career talks and work experience — directly overlapping with the Inspiring the Future model and free-to-schools proposition.
• The Social Mobility Foundation: UK charity supporting high-potential students from lower-income backgrounds into professional careers — overlapping mission on employer engagement and widening aspirations among state-school students.
• The Brokerage: UK social mobility charity linking state school students with career opportunities through employer engagement — same mission of broadening career aspirations via employer-school connection.

Broad incumbents

• The Prince's Trust: Major UK youth charity focused on education, training and employment for disadvantaged young people — broader portfolio but overlapping youth-employment and NEET-prevention outcomes.

Regional players

• NAF (National Academy Foundation): US non-profit delivering career-themed academies and employer engagement in high schools — equivalent mission of connecting industry volunteers with school-age students in the US market.

Emerging players

• Speakers Trust: UK charity developing communication and public-speaking skills in young people through volunteer-led programmes — adjacent model of using employer/role-model volunteers in schools.
• Jobberman (Ringier One Africa Media): Emerging-market employment platform connecting young job-seekers with employers — analogous online matchmaking approach to connecting youth with world-of-work opportunities, though operating in different geographies.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCJ-Zcj1ONjTsGnkAlzgILTA
• Xx.com/edu_employers
• Facebookfacebook.com/inspiringthefuture
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/educationandemployers

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Education and Employers Taskforce