Every year we gift our time to a charity of choice. This year, we are proud to be supporting Futurestars.

The Futurestars Charity Project is an exciting education-through-sports programme, working with schools in both Ghana and Togo. They deliver physical education and sports coaching, as well as assisting in the refurbishment of schools, so as to create safe and secure learning environments.

The children who attend the Futurestars schools come from some of the poorest communities. Previously, they had no access to physical education or sports at school. Futurestars organises pre and after school clubs for both boys and girls to help in developing their sports skills. Sport is also used as an incentive to encourage attendance at core curricular lessons.

Futurestars identified a need for a minibus to enable them to better support the children they work with. They currently reach 2,500 children each week through football and netball coaching sessions. To further encourage and raise aspirations, they are keen for pupils to participate in sporting matches with other schools. Having a minibus in both Ghana and Togo will enable them to transport students safely and mean that activities need not be limited by locality. Students will also be able to attend events such as sporting festivals, for example, where previously they would have had to hire minibuses.

Working with Futurestars, Banbury Howard is running a campaign incorporating direct mail, print, sponsorship and event management, to raise awareness of the charity and the much-needed funds for the minibuses. We first came up with a campaign name and created a look and feel that was then rolled out across the website, email marketing, printed literature and associated comms to support an event celebrating the completion of the fundraising campaign.

The result of the successful campaign will be two minibuses owned by Futurestars to support their amazing work – one in Ghana and one in Togo. We are delighted to be working with this fantastic organisation and wish them every success.

Should you wish to find out more about the charity or the campaign, please visit www.futurestarscharity.org.uk for further information.