Welcome to The Childhood Trust | London's Child Poverty Charity

Our Campaigns

The Christmas Challenge

The 2021 Christmas Challenge is an online matched-fundraising campaign that doubles every £1 donated to a range of impressive and effective grassroots organisations and youth projects supporting disadvantaged children across London. The funding generated by the campaign will help to sustain the delivery of 98 different youth projects and services over the next 12 months. Projects funded by The Christmas Challenge will support the health and development of disadvantaged children and young people in London by providing:

Recreational and play activities
Food provision
Arts, music, and sporting activities
Mental health support
Special educational needs & disabilities support
Mentoring and counselling

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The Met Christmas Tree Appeal

The Childhood Trust is once again partnering with the Metropolitan Police Service to deliver the 2021 Christmas Tree Appeal. This popular annual campaign aims to ensure that the most disadvantaged and vulnerable children in London who are being supported by social services will receive a present to open on Christmas morning.

Our virtual gift shop is now live, on which a range of presents can be purchased for children in poverty across London's 32 boroughs. Last year, 22,000 presents were given to children via social services departments across London. With 16,000 children on our list, we're hoping it's just as big a success this year!

Donate a present for child in need now

Child Poverty

Child poverty in London is about more than income. For many children, poverty can mean uncertainty, stress, hunger, loneliness, boredom, poor health and a lack of opportunities. The most disadvantaged children fall at least two years behind their peers when they come to sit their GCSEs.

Our work is focused on helping children living in poverty to overcome the many disadvantages caused by poverty. London children are much more likely to live in poor households and are less likely to be able to afford everyday items than children in the rest of England. 55% of poor children in London are materially deprived compared to 44% in the rest of England.

Read Our Research

Young filmmakers highlight food poverty and London's housing crisis

As part of our mission to promote the voices of children and young people, we worked in partnership with the Octavia Foundation and a group of young people to produce two films in the summer of 2021. These films highlight some of the many challenges facing children and young people in London such as inadequate housing and food insecurity. The young people wrote, produced, shot, and edited these films with no prior experience. Both films were premiered at our London Child Poverty Summit in October 2021.