GFS

What GFS does

Girls Friendly Society (GFS) is a registered charity (Charity Number 1054310) founded in 1875 to support girls and young women aged 6+ across England and Wales. Headquartered in London, GFS operates 29 volunteer-led community groups, a Schools Workshops Programme serving Years 4-6 in London and Greater Manchester, the Girls Friendly Schools pilot in Greater Manchester and Swansea, the Period Peers Programme on menstrual health (delivered with Plan International UK and Nurofen), and an online Big Dreamers Club. It also hosts the Girls' Rights Collective UK, a sector advocacy network it assumed in January 2025.

GFS employs 107 staff and is supported by 260 active volunteers delivering weekly after-school groups and 49 annual events/trips. Its 2024-25 reporting year covered 1,518 girls through community groups, plus 323 additional girls via 19 school workshops across 10 schools. Reported impact outcomes include 87% of girls saying GFS helps them deal with ups and downs, and 82% of parents saying GFS helped their child feel more confident speaking up.

GFS's business model is donation-funded. Weekly session fees (£0.50–£3 per week) cover a portion of operational costs with full fee waivers for low-income families. The remainder of income comes from individual donors, corporate partnerships (workplace fundraising, employee volunteering), trust and foundation grants, and legacy gifts. The charity is governed by a Board of Trustees chaired by Michelle Corrigan and led by CEO Heather Smith. GFS held royal patronage from Queen Victoria and in 2025 celebrated its 150th anniversary with a Guinness world record attempt for the world's longest friendship bracelet.

Name

GFS

Legal name

Girls Friendly Society in England and Wales

Website

https://girlsfriendlysociety.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1875

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Girls Friendly Society is a UK charity founded in 1875 that runs 29 volunteer-led community groups and school programmes to build confidence and socio-emotional skills in girls aged 6+ across England and Wales, funded primarily by donations and small weekly session fees.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth and Community Services

NAICS

Child and Youth Services (624110), Child and Youth Services (62411), Human Rights Organizations (813311)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Youth Mentoring & Positive Youth Development Nonprofits (BPAGADAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment (BPAGABAF)

Keywords

• Girls youth programs
• Community youth groups
• After-school programmes
• School wellbeing workshops
• Menstrual health education

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Donations and Fundraising: GFS relies on charitable donations from individuals and organizations to fund operations and expand services. They run fundraising campaigns, accept legacy gifts, and partner with corporate sponsors.
2. Session Fees: Weekly session fees between 50p and £3 per week help cover costs such as insurance, venue hire and resources. Fee waivers are available for families who cannot afford fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Girls Friendly Society runs volunteer-led after-school community groups for girls aged 6+ across England and Wales, supplemented by in-school workshops, a menstrual health education programme (Period Peers), a school-based after-school club programme (Girls Friendly Schools), and an online skills-building programme (Big Dreamers Club). All programmes are built on a socio-emotional skills framework focused on reflecting, connecting, and exploring, targeting girls in the most deprived communities.

Product overview

GFS operates as a single integrated charitable programme rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The core offering consists of community-based GFS Groups (weekly after-school sessions in underserved areas of England and Wales), supplemented by the Girls Friendly Schools programme (in-school workshops in Greater Manchester and Swansea), the Period Peers Programme (menstrual health education workshops), and the Schools Workshops Programme (RSHE and wellbeing sessions for Years 4-6 in London and Manchester). The Girls' Rights Collective UK, assumed in January 2025, is an advocacy network that unites sector professionals. The Big Dreamers Club provided online programming during COVID-19. All programmes share a unified theory of change focused on early intervention to build socio-emotional skills in reflecting, connecting, and exploring.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Girls' Rights Collective UK: A collective bringing together professionals, volunteers, sector experts and organisations to share best practice, advocate for change and create a better UK for girls and young women. GFS became the host of this collective in January 2025.
• Period Peers
• Girls Friendly Schools

Products and services

• GFS Groups Community-based after-school groups for girls and young women aged 6 and above, providing safe, non-competitive spaces for building confidence, resilience, and friendships through weekly sessions and activities across England and Wales.
• Girls Friendly Schools School-based programme bringing GFS workshops and after-school clubs directly to girls in primary schools, currently piloting in Greater Manchester and Swansea.
• Period Peers Programme Free menstrual health education workshops delivered in schools and youth groups, using peer-to-peer support to break down period stigma and build confidence in managing periods.
• Schools Workshops Programme Interactive sessions for girls in Years 4, 5, and 6 covering gender stereotypes, critical thinking, healthy relationships, and confidence-building, available in London and Greater Manchester.
• Girls' Rights Collective UK UK-wide network bringing together professionals, organisations, and advocates from the girls' rights sector to share best practice and advocate for change, hosted by GFS since January 2025.
• Big Dreamers Club Online group programme launched during the COVID-19 pandemic to reach more girls and develop their confidence and leadership skills remotely.

Quantifiable outcome

• 87% of girls say GFS helps them deal with ups and downs in life
• +5 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Girls' Rights Collective UKcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025GFS became the new host of the Girls' Rights Collective UK in January 2025. This coalition brings together professionals, organizations, and advocates from across the girls' rights sector to share best practice and advocate for change.
• Plan International UKcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGFS works alongside Plan International UK and Nurofen's See My Pain campaign as part of the Period Peers Programme. The partnership aims to reduce period shame, increase menstrual health knowledge, and support young people in creating Period Proud Environments.
• Nurofen (See My Pain campaign)supportingGTM or Marketing PartnerPartnership through Nurofen's See My Pain campaign to tackle period stigma and share knowledge about menstrual health and period pain for young people.
• Corporate PartnerssupportingGTM or Marketing PartnerCorporate partnerships for workplace fundraising, employee volunteering, and charity partnerships. Includes Friendship Festival micro-volunteering activities and corporate volunteering opportunities.
• Saracens WomensupportingOthersProfessional rugby team that has partnered with GFS to deliver sports activities, allowing girls to try netball and rugby with professional sportswomen.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• UK Youth: National membership body for youth organizations in the UK, supporting hundreds of thousands of young people through affiliated groups. Comparable as an infrastructure and capacity-building peer that supports delivery organizations in growing youth provision; competes indirectly for the same restricted funds.
• Plan International UK: UK arm of a global girls' rights nonprofit running both domestic advocacy and international programs. Overlapping mission (girls' empowerment, period poverty, rights advocacy), and an active GFS partnership counterparty via the Period Peers Programme — operating at much larger scale and funding capacity than GFS.
• YMCA England & Wales: Large UK youth and community development charity with a long heritage of delivering group-based activities for young people. Operates as a broad incumbent across housing, health, and youth; competes for volunteers, families, and grant funding in overlapping geographies.
• The Children's Society: Established UK charity working with children and young people facing disadvantage, including girls in vulnerable situations. Comparable in mission focus on disadvantaged youth in England and in competing for the same trust, foundation, and statutory funding pool.
• Malala Fund: Global nonprofit advocating for girls' education and empowerment, founded by Malala Yousafzai. Comparable in girls-only empowerment mission and in competing for major-donor and policy attention; differs by being advocacy-led and primarily international in scope.
• The Prince's Trust: Large UK youth charity supporting 11–30 year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds. Comparable in targeting underserved young people via structured programs and in competing for youth-focused trust and corporate funding; differs by being age-cohort older and mixed-gender.
• Scouts UK: Major UK youth organization with deep heritage providing structured weekly activities for 4–25 year-olds. Comparable as a volunteer-led, group-based youth-development provider competing for the same families and volunteer pools; differs in being fully mixed-gender and broader in age range.
• NCS Trust (National Citizen Service): Government-backed UK youth program providing structured personal-development and social-mixing experiences for 16–17 year-olds. Comparable in mission of building confidence and resilience in UK young people, and as a competitor for policy attention and statutory funding in the youth sector.

Direct peers

• Girlguiding UK: UK-wide girls-only youth organization running unit-based weekly groups and activities. Most directly comparable peer: same girl-only mission, similar volunteer-led group delivery model, similar age-range focus, and a deeply established brand — meaning GFS and Girlguiding compete for the same families, volunteers, and trust-and-foundation funds in England and Wales.

Emerging players

• Women in Sport: UK charity focused on increasing women's and girls' participation in sport and physical activity. Directly comparable via sport-based engagement and shared girls-only focus area (e.g. GFS's work with Saracens Women); smaller in operational scale and primarily an advocacy/policy body rather than direct provider.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/girlsfriendlysocietyuk
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/gfs-england-and-wales
• Instagraminstagram.com/girlsfriendlysociety

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 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 GFS