Birmingham United Foundation CIO
Charity 1213348
Overview
Summary
Birmingham United Foundation CIO appears to be a broad youth-development organisation with a place-based remit in Birmingham. Its objects combine personal development, education, employment support and leisure provision, suggesting an approach that treats young people’s opportunities and wellbeing as interconnected rather than separate issues. The organisation’s formal scope is wider than a single activity type: it can provide direct support and advice while also enabling access to sport, recreation and other facilities for people facing disadvantage.
Operational geography
Coverage: Multi Neighbourhood
Operational areas:
Evidence and reasoning
Supporting evidence
Alum Rock
Confidence: high
The organisation's current programme page identifies Alum Rock as one of three weekly Football Fridays locations and names Rockwood Academy as the delivery venue. Its other official website also identifies Alum Rock as a holiday-camp area.
- Birmingham United Foundation, Football Fridays programme page
Football Fridays operates every Friday at three community locations; the Alum Rock session is held at Rockwood Academy and is described as an anchor session serving the local community. - Birmingham United Foundation, Our Work page
The organisation states that its holiday camps are in Alum Rock, Hodge Hill, Acocks Green and Balsall Heath/Highgate.
Nechells
Confidence: high
The current Football Fridays page explicitly identifies Nechells as a weekly delivery location and names Heartlands Academy as the host school.
- Birmingham United Foundation, Football Fridays programme page
Football Fridays includes a Nechells session at Heartlands Academy, providing a Friday-evening activity for young people in the area.
Sparkbrook and Balsall Heath East
Confidence: high
Current programme information explicitly places weekly Football Fridays delivery in Sparkbrook, at Concord Youth Centre, and the community-football programme also names Sparkbrook as a delivery area.
- Birmingham United Foundation, Football Fridays programme page
Football Fridays operates in Sparkbrook in partnership with Birmingham Youth Service at Concord Youth Centre. - Birmingham United Foundation, Community Football programme page
The Community Football programme delivers sessions, tournaments and leagues across Sparkhill, Sparkbrook and Balsall Heath.
Acocks Green
Confidence: medium
An official current website page identifies Acocks Green as a holiday-camp area, but does not give a venue, schedule or the next delivery period.
- Birmingham United Foundation, Our Work page
The organisation states that its holiday camps are in Alum Rock, Hodge Hill, Acocks Green and Balsall Heath/Highgate.
Bromford and Hodge Hill
Confidence: medium
An official current website page identifies Hodge Hill as a holiday-camp area. The evidence does not identify the precise venue or distinguish any smaller locality.
- Birmingham United Foundation, Our Work page
The organisation states that its holiday camps are in Alum Rock, Hodge Hill, Acocks Green and Balsall Heath/Highgate.
Remaining uncertainties
- The evidence supports a multi-neighbourhood inner-Birmingham operational footprint rather than a single-neighbourhood operation. The organisation also describes youth recreational teams, HAF provision and work across Birmingham, but current programme pages do not provide enough site-level detail to evidence a citywide operational footprint.
- Balsall Heath and Highgate are named as delivery areas on the organisation's website, but the available evidence does not locate activity sufficiently precisely within the supplied ward list; they have therefore not been assigned to a ward.
- The organisation gives The Old Print Works as a contact address, but this should not be treated as a confirmed service-delivery site. Charity Commission information indicates that the CIO does not own or lease land or property.
- HAF provision is described as operating across six Birmingham sites during major school holidays, but the current HAF page lists all site locations as to be confirmed for the next holiday period.
- Aston Villa Foundation materially supports the Everybody's Game element of Community Football, while Birmingham Youth Service hosts the Sparkbrook Football Fridays session. The available evidence does not establish additional areas reached through those partnerships.
Additional evidence needed
- Current HAF registration pages or a current holiday timetable showing all six delivery venues and dates.
- A current programme schedule identifying venues for community football, school delivery, mentoring and recreational teams.
- An annual report or impact report separating regular weekly delivery from one-off tournaments, holiday activity and historical activity.
- Confirmation from the organisation of whether The Old Print Works is solely an administrative correspondence address or is also used for delivery.
Areas of work
- Other Charitable Purposes
Who they help
- Children/young People
How they help
- Provides Advocacy/advice/information
- Provides Services
Discoveries involving this organisation
The Atlas has not published any Discoveries involving this organisation yet.
Observations
A multi-pathway model of youth development
The charity appears designed to support young people through several connected routes: skills development, education, employment, advice and structured activity. This may indicate that it sees barriers facing young people as overlapping rather than solvable through a single service.
Why it matters
This helps distinguish the organisation from a narrowly focused sports, education or employment provider. It may be well placed to connect participants’ immediate interests with longer-term progression.
Show evidence
“The CIO acts as a resource for young people up to the age of 30 through advice, assistance and physical, educational and other activities.”
Source:Charity Commission“Its objects include advancing education, relieving unemployment and developing young people’s skills, capacities and capabilities.”
Source:Charity Commission
Recreation is framed as an inclusion mechanism
Sport, recreation and leisure appear to be intended not only as activities in themselves, but as ways to improve life conditions for people excluded by youth, disability, poverty, financial hardship or social and economic circumstances.
Why it matters
This suggests potential relevance to organisations working on inequality, disability inclusion, poverty or community wellbeing, not only those focused on youth activities.
Show evidence
“The CIO may provide or assist in providing facilities for sport, recreation or other leisure time occupation.”
Source:Charity Commission“These facilities may support people with need arising from youth, age, infirmity, disablement, financial hardship, poverty or social and economic circumstances.”
Source:Charity Commission
A broad mandate may create partnership potential, but obscures its current niche
The organisation’s objects permit both direct services and advice, alongside activity and facility provision. This breadth may make it a potential bridge between youth support, learning, employability and recreation, but the available evidence does not reveal which role it currently emphasises.
Why it matters
Understanding its active niche is important before identifying complementary partners or assessing whether it fills a local gap versus overlaps with existing provision.
Show evidence
“The charity helps through providing services and providing advocacy, advice and information.”
Source:Charity Commission“The objects are to be carried out in Birmingham.”
Source:Charity Commission
- Which activities, services or facilities the charity currently delivers in practice.
- Whether it works directly with young people, through partners, or both.
- Which Birmingham communities, neighbourhoods or forms of disadvantage it currently reaches.
Remaining uncertainties
- Recent annual reports, programme descriptions and beneficiary numbers.
- Information on delivery partners, referral routes, venues and geographic reach.
- Evidence of participant outcomes across education, employment, wellbeing and recreation.
Additional evidence needed
Charity Commission profile
Activities
Charity objects
THE OBJECTS OF THE CIO, WHICH ARE FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT AND TO BE CARRIED OUT IN BIRMINGHAM, ARE: (1) TO ACT AS A RESOURCE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE UP TO THE AGE OF 30 BY PROVIDING ADVICE AND ASSISTANCE AND ORGANISING PROGRAMMES OF PHYSICAL, EDUCATIONAL AND OTHER ACTIVITIES AS A MEANS OF: A) ADVANCING IN LIFE AND HELPING YOUNG PEOPLE BY DEVELOPING THEIR SKILLS, CAPACITIES AND CAPABILITIES TO ENABLE THEM TO PARTICIPATE IN SOCIETY AS INDEPENDENT, MATURE AND RESPONSIBLE INDIVIDUALS; B) ADVANCING EDUCATION; C) RELIEVING UNEMPLOYMENT; D) PROVIDING RECREATIONAL AND LEISURE TIME ACTIVITY IN THE INTERESTS OF SOCIAL WELFARE WITH A VIEW TO IMPROVING THEIR CONDITIONS OF LIFE. (2) TO PROVIDE AND ASSIST IN PROVIDING FACILITIES FOR SPORT, RECREATION OR OTHER LEISURE TIME OCCUPATION OF PERSONS WHO HAVE NEED FOR SUCH FACILITIES BY REASON OF THEIR YOUTH, AGE, INFIRMITY OR DISABLEMENT, FINANCIAL HARDSHIP, POVERTY OR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CIRCUMSTANCES OR FOR THE PUBLIC AT LARGE IN THE INTEREST OF SOCIAL WELFARE AND WITH THE OBJECT OF IMPROVING THEIR CONDITIONS OF LIFE.