What We Belong does

We Belong is a UK-registered charity (number 1184348) founded in 2019 that supports young migrants aged 16-25 with legal advice, leadership development, and immigration policy advocacy. The organisation operates as the UK's first migrant youth-led charity, with staff, governance, and volunteers all drawn from young migrants with lived experience of the UK immigration system. It maintains offices in London (headquarters at The Green House, Cambridge Heath Road) and Manchester (1 St Peter's Square), and engages parliamentarians to advocate for policy reform on immigration, settlement routes, and student finance access.

Its service portfolio integrates three pillars: advocacy campaigns (Let Us Learn, Chasing Status, #OutOfTheLoop), direct support services (Legal Advice Clinic run in partnership with Coram Children's Legal Centre, an Advice Line, and an Online Triage Tool), and empowerment programmes (the CPD-certified Emerging Young Leaders Programme and the Migrant Moods Podcast). Technology is light and consumer-grade: digital distribution is via a Typeform-based booking system, podcast platforms (Spotify, Apple, YouTube), and standard social media channels (Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube). The organisation has no proprietary technology platform beyond standard web and content tooling.

The business model is grant and donation-funded, with services free to beneficiaries. Funding sources include individual donations via the CAF Donate platform, foundation grants including a £550,000 Youth Strategic Investment Fund from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, and NGOsource equivalency certification enabling US-based grantmakers. The only paid labor arrangement is the Co-Producer role at £15/hour (max 5 hours/week, 12-month contract) for young activists. As a registered non-profit, there are no customers in the commercial sense — beneficiaries are young migrants with precarious immigration status, and institutional stakeholders include schools, universities, faith institutions, and Members of Parliament.

Name

We Belong

Legal name

We Belong

Website

https://webelong.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

We Belong is a UK-registered charity (founded 2019) that supports young migrants aged 16-25 with free legal advice, leadership development, and immigration policy advocacy, operating from London and Manchester with grant and donation funding.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth Migration Advocacy and Support Services

NAICS

Individual and Family Services (6241), Other Individual and Family Services (624190), Human Rights Organizations (813311), Social Assistance (624)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Legal Services (8111)

akta.pro primary industry

Refugee & Immigrant Support Services (BPAGAEAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Refugee, Migration & Displacement Support (BPAGABAH), Diaspora, Family Reunification & Case Management Services (BPADAHAM), Family & School System Navigation (Parent Engagement, Youth Services) (EDAAADAH)

Keywords

• Youth migrant advocacy
• Immigration legal advice
• Leadership development programme
• Immigration policy campaigns
• Youth community empowerment

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: We Belong accepts donations through CAF Donate platform and has NGOsource equivalency determination certified status for US-based grantmakers.
2. Foundation Grants: Received Youth Strategic Investment Fund from Paul Hamlyn Foundation (£550,000 long-term investment) providing grants and expert support for organizational development.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

We Belong is the UK's first migrant youth-led charity, providing an integrated suite of free services to young migrants aged 16-25 with precarious immigration status. Its core offering combines direct support services (Legal Advice Clinic in partnership with Coram Children's Legal Centre, Advice Line, Online Triage Tool), youth empowerment programmes (CPD-accredited Emerging Young Leaders Programme, Migrant Moods Podcast), and advocacy campaigns (Let Us Learn, Chasing Status, #OutOfTheLoop) that drive policy reform on settlement routes, student finance access, and Home Office fees.

Product overview

We Belong is a migrant youth-led charity offering an integrated service portfolio of advocacy campaigns, direct support services, and youth development programmes for young migrants aged 16-25 in the UK. The core offering comprises: advocacy campaigns (Let Us Learn, Chasing Status, #OutOfTheLoop) that lobby for policy reform; direct support services including a Legal Advice Clinic (in partnership with Coram), an Advice Line, and an Online Triage Tool; and empowerment programmes including the CPD-certified Emerging Young Leaders Programme and Migrant Moods Podcast. The organisation also runs community engagement through Core Group membership and the Schools and Universities Programme, all unified under the mission to end the hostile environment around immigration.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Let Us Learn: Campaign for equal access to higher education for young migrants
• Chasing Status
• Emerging Young Leaders (EYL) Programme
• Migrant Moods Podcast
• Legal Advice Clinic
• #OutOfTheLoop Campaign

Products and services

• Emerging Young Leaders Programme (EYL) A six-week CPD-certified leadership course for young migrants aged 16-25, pairing participants with mentors to develop their unique leadership style, confidence, and story-of-self.
• Migrant Moods Podcast A podcast featuring voices and stories of young migrants, community members, and guest speakers discussing migration issues, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and social media.
• Legal Advice Clinic Free legal advice service for young people aged 16-25 seeking to regularize their immigration status or apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain, delivered in partnership with Coram Children's Legal Centre.
• Advice Line Telephone and email advice service for young people aged 16-25 on education, student finance, and immigration support.
• Online Triage Tool Online form for young people to request meetings with staff for support on education, student finance, immigration, or accessing opportunities.
• Schools and Universities Programme Educational outreach programme supporting young migrants blocked from higher education due to immigration status, providing information on student finance eligibility and delivering workshops/training in schools and universities.
• Core Group Membership Structured volunteer programme and community group engagement for young changemakers with lived experience of the UK's immigration system, based in London and Manchester.
• Let Us Learn Campaign Campaign advocating for equal access to higher education for young migrants, including overturning discriminatory student finance laws.
• Chasing Status Campaign Campaign calling for shorter, more affordable routes to settlement and challenging punitive Home Office fee increases.
• #OutOfTheLoop Campaign Campaign urging the government to freeze spiralling Home Office fees, review fee impact, and extend fee waivers for indefinite leave to remain applications.
• Building Belonging: Summer Programme Summer programme for young migrants created in partnership with 42nd Street, focusing on identity, belonging, wellbeing, democracy, and skills development.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduced settlement route from 10 years to 5 years for young migrants, potentially impacting 300,000+ young people
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 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

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• Coram Children's Legal CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWe Belong's Legal Advice Clinic is led by Coram's Senior Outreach Solicitor Smita Bajaria, providing free legal advice for young people aged 16-25 seeking to regularize immigration status or apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain.
• 42nd StreetflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with 42nd Street, a Manchester-based young people's mental health charity, to deliver the Building Belonging: Summer Programme focusing on identity, wellbeing, and youth activism.
• Student Action For Refugees (STAR)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with STAR to create an information pack for schools and colleges to support students who are young migrants, seeking asylum, or have refugee status access higher education.
• Nutmeg ProductionsminorOthersProduced an impact film showcasing how We Belong's work has transformed young migrants' lives, shot in London and Manchester featuring 12 inspiring young people.
• 42nd StreetcoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerInnovative Greater Manchester young people's mental health charity with 40 years' experience providing free and confidential services to young people experiencing mental health difficulties.
• Various UK UniversitiescoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPartnership with universities across the UK for widening participation, including scholarship and fee waiver programs for migrants without access to student finance. Created 20+ scholarships through Young Gifted and Blocked campaign.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• British Red Cross: Major UK humanitarian organisation delivering refugee support, family reunification and destitution services across the country. Comparable on direct service delivery to vulnerable migrants but with a much broader humanitarian remit.
• Refugee Council: Largest UK charity working with refugees and asylum seekers, providing advice, advocacy and integration support. Operates a wider portfolio than We Belong but shares parliamentary-advocacy and individual-support functions.

Direct peers

• Praxis Community Projects: London-based charity providing immigration legal advice, casework and policy advocacy for migrants, including those with precarious status. Directly comparable individual-support-plus-advocacy service model.
• Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI): Long-standing UK charity combining immigration legal advice, strategic litigation and policy advocacy. Highly comparable mix of individual casework and systemic immigration reform campaigning.
• Student Action For Refugees (STAR): UK student-led charity campaigning for refugee access to higher education and a named partner of We Belong (co-produced schools/colleges information pack). Directly comparable on university access advocacy for migrants and youth-led mobilisation model.
• Project 17: Charity working with children and young migrants with No Recourse to Public Funds, focusing on casework and advocacy for young people facing destitution. Highly comparable beneficiary population and case-management model.
• Safe Passage International: Charity helping young refugees and migrants reach safety and access legal rights in the UK, with a strong legal-advocacy and youth-casework stack. Closely aligned with We Belong on legal-clinic delivery and parliamentary engagement.
• Migrants' Rights Network: UK-wide migrant-led advocacy and campaigning organisation with lived-experience governance, similar in operating philosophy to We Belong and active on hostile environment and settlement-route issues.
• Coram Children's Legal Centre: Specialist children and migration legal charity that operates We Belong's Legal Advice Clinic. Closely comparable on immigration legal advice for children and young people and a strategic operating partner.

Emerging players

• Choose Love: Refugee-focused charity combining fundraising, advocacy and direct aid distribution. Compares on public-facing refugee advocacy but operates a different (largely fundraising-led) model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/WeBelong19
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@webelong19
• Facebookfacebook.com/webelong19
• Instagraminstagram.com/WeBelong19
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/webelong19

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about We Belong