Become a Mentor Donate
Tuesday, 11 October 2016, played host to our first large scale supporter’s event, something long overdue for our small charity.

The event had two purposes, 1) to meet and thank our fantastic network for 7 years (5 years since we officially registered) of support and 2) to speak about the legacy of our Founder, Adnan Jaffery.

The guest list included volunteers, mentors, donors, alumni, supporters in all forms, family and friends.

Our venue host was the now abandoned Averard Hotel in Lancaster Gate. The hotel has not been operating as a business for ten years and since been converted into an art exhibition space. Alex Meurice, from Slate Projects kindly sponsored us his exhibition space. As it turned out the venue was ideal for our event.

The event kicked off with drinks and snacks while Dan Farrant, an event magician, who also sponsored his services for the night, mingled with guests showing them a series of magic tricks.

We then rolled into a few speeches from trustees and family of our Founder to share the progress we have made in fulfilling Adnan’s legacy to improve the lives of disadvantaged young people.

Two highlights from the speeches were recent One Degree graduate, Miji Russell, performing a poem and a song,  and one of our first graduating students from 2009, Jabba Samson, delivering a moving speech sharing examples of our impact on students, and how valuable and life-changing it can be.

What became clear towards the end of the speeches was that although One Degree has made and is making tremendous strides in its level of impact, our programmes are limited by our funding. We are very much reliant on personal donations, and we would like to expand the programme to more students in need across London.

Huge thank yous must go to the following who made our event a success: Venue – Alex Meurice, from Slate Projects; Entertainment – Dan Farrant; Food – Mitre Lancaster Gate; Raffle prizes – Pret a Manger; Stax Diner and Boondock; Kua’Aina Restaurant; Amazon; and our student alumni waiters Artur, Yassine, Soufiane, Angela,Tyrone, and Jabba.

Here are the ways you can assist us in reaching more students and making more impact:

Personal donations
  • Donate using Virgin Giving, where your donation is increased by 25% with Gift Aid. Click the Virgin Giving here.
  • Sponsor a Student for £1,000, and become a Patron. We’ll allocate a student to you and give you an opportunity to meet them during our next mentoring programmes which run from November 2016 to May 2017. Please complete our patron form here, and we’ll send you more details.

Giving your time
There are various ways in which you can help us improve young peoples’ lives through giving your time – please email [email protected] if you’d like to help.

Corporate donations
  • Corporates can sponsor students or make donations, and be featured as a supporter, and have their staff become mentor
  • If you work in a larger company, you could introduce us to your CSR folks, who may also match any donations employees make

Thank you for helping us change the lives of young people in London.

Join our Patron Club here:

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