School Partnerships

Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI)

The Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) is a programme which empowers secondary school pupils to engage with and make a difference in their local communities. The programme culminates in pupils representing a chosen charity in front of a judging panel, with the winning charity securing a grant of £3,000.

We’re delighted to work with secondary school pupils every year who select St Columba’s Hospice Care as their chosen charity. If you’d like us to be part of the next YPI Charity fair at your school, please get in touch with our fundraising team.

Find out more

Ambassador Scheme

Our Ambassador scheme is a fantastic way to get senior secondary school pupils involved with the Hospice and their local community.

In order to be an Ambassador, we ask that the pupil:

Learn about the work of St Columba’s Hospice Care and how we help support people in their area
Visit the Hospice as part of this learning
Be an Ambassador within their school and local community by raising awareness of the Hospice and our work
Attend a fundraiser or host their own event
Consider presenting to peers alongside a member of our fundraising team to help raise awareness of our work.

By participating in the scheme, the pupil will benefit from:

A free St Columba’s Hospice Care lapel badge to wear with pride in school
Excellent leadership experience
Opportunities to develop public speaking/ presenting skills
Volunteering opportunities within the Hospice, in various roles including Reception, Events, in our Café and our High Street Shops
A portfolio of skills for UCAS applications
Ongoing support from our Fundraising team
A certificate of achievement on completion of the school year/ scheme.

Contact our team

Invite us along

We’d be delighted to visit your school to offer an educational talk within an assembly or class setting. Talks can be tailored to the year group, where we can explore what Hospice care really is and the work we do, or a focus on an area of particular interest to you.

We can adapt our talks to compliment the Curriculum, looking at health and wellbeing within the parameters of healthcare, or exploring the World of Work with pupils.

Request a visit

Fundraise!

It costs £11.3million a year to run our services. As an independent charity, much of that money comes from generous people in our local communities. Fundraising in schools is a great way to encourage creativity and teamwork amongst pupils; it teaches the value of helping others while also forging ties with the local community.

If your school would like to get involved with fundraising, we have a few easy ideas to get you started!

Bake sale – ask classmates to bring cakes and biscuits to sell at a baking stand at break time

Playground challenge – set up an obstacle course in the playground using equipment from around the school and have classmates complete the course for an entry fee – fastest time wine a prize!

Non-uniform day – ask classmates to pay £1 to wear their own clothes to school for a day.

Ready to fundraise