Positive Youth Foundation

What Positive Youth Foundation does

Positive Youth Foundation (PYF) is a registered charity in England and Wales (Charity Number 1145284, Company Number 07613299) delivering youth development programmes primarily in Coventry and the wider West Midlands. Founded in 2011 as a spin-out from Coventry City Council — with operational roots tracing to the 1996 Coventry Community Sports Initiative — the organisation is led by Founder Rashid alongside an Executive Director, a ~17-person staff team, a Board of Trustees chaired by Drew, and a Patron (Sir John Egan, since 2012).

PYF operates eight programme lines: Changing Trax (creative arts), Healthy Futures (health and physical activity), Involved (refugee and asylum-seeker integration across the Midlands), Positive Futures (mentoring for vulnerable youth at risk of gang involvement, exploitation or school exclusion), the Raising Aspirations Programme (6–12 month employability support), PYF Connect (sector-support service and convenor of the Coventry Youth Partnership), Youth Voice (advisory and policy influence), and Go Foleshill (community mapping). Services are delivered free at point of use through PYF's headquarters at The Techno Centre, Puma Way (CV1 2TT) and the Hillfields Young People's Centre, supplemented by an online referral system for statutory partners and self-referral via open-access youth sessions.

Revenue is generated entirely through grants and donations from charitable trusts and public-sector funders including BBC Children in Need, Comic Relief, the National Lottery Community Fund, Tudor Trust, Coventry City Council and the Home Office. Additional income flows from individual donations via JustGiving and commissioned services channelled through PYF Connect. The organisation does not sell technology products, charge beneficiaries for participation, or operate any commercial pricing model; its economics are those of a grant-funded charity. In 2024–25 PYF reached more than 2,000 young people and recorded 173 statutory referrals.

Name

Positive Youth Foundation

Legal name

Positive Youth Foundation

Website

https://positiveyouthfoundation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Positive Youth Foundation is a Coventry-based registered charity delivering youth development programmes — mentoring, creative arts, health, refugee integration and employability support — to 2,000+ young people aged 8–25 across the West Midlands, funded by grants and donations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth Services

NAICS

Child and Youth Services (62411), Child and Youth Services (624110), Educational Support Services (611710), Educational Services (611)

SIC

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

akta.pro primary industry

Youth Mentoring & Positive Youth Development Nonprofits (BPAGADAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Youth Justice, At-Risk Youth & Violence Prevention Nonprofits (BPAGADAM), Arts, Sports & Recreation-Based Youth Development Nonprofits (BPAGADAJ), Student Mentoring & Peer Support Programs (EDAJALAL), Dropout Prevention, Alternative Education & Re-Engagement Nonprofits (BPAGADAL)

Keywords

• Youth development programmes
• Youth mentoring services
• Community youth work
• Vulnerable youth support
• Charitable youth services

Headquarters

HQ city

Coventry

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Grant funding and donations: PYF operates as a registered charity funded primarily through grants from charitable foundations, government bodies, and corporate funders. Additional revenue comes from commissioned services through PYF Connect and individual donations via JustGiving platform.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Positive Youth Foundation delivers youth development programmes for young people aged 8-25 in Coventry and surrounding regions, focused on education, employment and training, healthy and safe lifestyles, arts and culture, and social action. Services are delivered through open-access youth clubs, targeted mentoring and one-to-one coaching, creative arts programmes, physical activity sessions, refugee integration support, and youth voice advisory work. The organisation also operates PYF Connect, a sector support service formalising its role in supporting the youth work sector at local, regional, national and international levels.

Product overview

Positive Youth Foundation is a registered charity providing a portfolio of youth development programmes primarily in Coventry and surrounding regional areas. The organisation operates eight distinct programmes: Changing Trax (creative arts), Healthy Futures (health and physical activity), Involved (refugee integration), Positive Futures (vulnerable youth mentoring), Raising Aspirations Programme (employability support), PYF Connect (sector support and Coventry Youth Partnership), Youth Voice (youth advisory boards), and Go Foleshill (community mapping). These programmes serve young people aged 8-25 (up to 30 depending on programme) and are delivered through open access youth clubs, targeted support services, mentoring, and regional partnerships.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Changing Trax A creative arts programme that uses music and art as a platform to develop skills, talent, and relationships with young people. Operates in recording studios, dance studios, film sets, and live performance spaces. For young people in Coventry and surrounding areas.
• Healthy Futures A health and physical activity programme directing young people towards positive, healthy, well-informed life choices through mainstream and non-traditional sports activities. For young people aged 8-25 in Coventry and surrounding areas.
• Involved A programme supporting the integration of newly arrived refugee and asylum-seeking young people through education, training, and community provision across the Midlands region.
• Youth Voice Youth advisory and consultation service that collects and responds to insights and opinions from young people to shape service development and policy design. For young people and policy stakeholders in the youth work sector.
• Positive Futures Mentoring and one-to-one coaching programme for vulnerable young people who may be at risk from gang activity, criminal or sexual exploitation, low school attendance, or school exclusion. For vulnerable young people in Coventry and surrounding areas.
• Raising Aspirations Programme (RAP) A flexible 6-12 month programme supporting young people experiencing challenges in mainstream education, or those out of education, training, or employment, through personal development and employability skills. For young people in Coventry and surrounding areas.
• PYF Connect Sector support service formalising PYF's role in supporting the youth work sector at local, regional, national and international levels, including development of the Coventry Youth Partnership. For policy leads, commissioners, funders, and agencies in the youth sector.
• Go Foleshill Location-based service providing a map for the Go Foleshill initiative supporting young people in the Foleshill area of Coventry.
• Referral System Online referral system allowing professionals from statutory bodies (children's services, family hubs, mental health services, police, schools) to refer young people to PYF programmes, collecting information about the referrer, young person, and reason for referral.

Quantifiable outcome

• 97% of young people felt safe attending PYF sessions in the last financial year
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• West Midlands Combined AuthoritycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRegional government partnership for programmes supporting young people's participation in decision-making, an important development within the sector's response to ensuring young people's voices have been meaningfully listened to.
• West Midlands Police and Crime CommissionercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for regional programmes supporting young people's participation in decision-making and youth voice initiatives.
• West Midlands Violence Reduction PartnershipcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommissioned project supporting youth voice activities including VRP Youth Assembly for young people across the West Midlands.
• Coventry UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoventry University's Centre for Global Learning undertook independent analysis of the organisation in 2022 to understand its impact and effectiveness of its work.
• Coventry Youth PartnershipcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCity-wide initiative bringing Coventry's youth sector together, improving youth work and maximising impact of what they do together. PYF develops and supports this partnership through PYF Connect.
• WMCA Young Combined AuthorityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommissioned projects with regional partners across the West Midlands supporting youth voice activities.
• UK YouthminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational youth organization partner supporting youth work sector.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• UK Youth: National membership body for the youth work sector and a confirmed partner of PYF. Comparable as a UK-wide intermediary that supports youth organisations and advocates for youth policy, mirroring PYF Connect's convening role.
• Barnardo's: One of the UK's largest children's charities, delivering services for vulnerable children and young people across safeguarding, mental health, and exploitation. Overlaps with PYF's Positive Futures mentoring and at-risk youth work at much greater scale.
• Catch22: National social business delivering services for vulnerable young people including employability, justice, and exploitation prevention. Comparable to PYF's Positive Futures and RAP programmes and competing for similar commissioner contracts.
• The Prince's Trust: Large UK charity supporting young people aged 11-30 into education, employment and training through grant-funded programmes. Directly comparable to PYF's Raising Aspirations Programme in target beneficiary and outcome focus.
• National Children's Bureau (NCB): National charity working to improve outcomes for children and young people through research, policy, and practice, including Youth Voice / participation work. Comparable to PYF's Youth Voice advisory service and policy-shaping role.

Direct peers

• StreetGames: UK charity using sport and physical activity to engage disadvantaged young people, closely comparable to PYF's Healthy Futures programme and its Positive Futures origins in community sports work.
• Mentor UK: UK charity focused on young people's mentoring, substance misuse prevention, and resilience-building, directly comparable to PYF's Positive Futures mentoring programme and Raising Aspirations coaching model.
• National Youth Agency (NYA): UK-wide body that supports youth work quality, training, and policy, comparable to PYF Connect's sector-support role. Operates at national scale and is a natural policy and training counterpart to PYF's convening work.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/positiveyouthUK
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCTRZ7DYhBJ6JVIbwCduTIKA
• Instagraminstagram.com/positiveyouthuk/?hl=en
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/positive-youth-foundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Positive Youth Foundation