London Youth Choirs’ No Barriers Appeal has beaten its £100,000 target, raising a grand total of £109,375 including Gift Aid as part of the nationwide Big Give Christmas Challenge fundraising event. The appeal was supported by £50,000 of match funding from The Childhood Trust and a corporate donor.

The success of the appeal is set to have a crucial impact on LYC’s ongoing efforts to ensure that financial circumstances are never a barrier to participation in LYC for any young Londoner. All funds raised will ensure that support continues to match LYC’s growth, with two new regional choirs due for launch in the next 12 months.

This year’s achievement builds on the success of LYC’s 2020 No Barriers Appeal, with the grand total raised higher in both absolute and relative terms (see ‘In Figures’ table below).

LYC was also hugely successful within the overall context of the Big Give Christmas Challenge, which this year involved 928 charities, up on 764 in 2020. Incredibly, LYC ranked 13th overall in terms of funds raised, within the top 1.5% of all charities taking part. This performance also continued the positive trend, following a top 3% result in 2020.

“Wow! Year in year out, the generosity of our supporters to LYC’s Big Give Christmas appeals never ceases to amaze me. The enormous kindness we have experienced this week, at the end of yet another challenging year for everybody, reaffirms our belief in the power of LYC to make a difference to young people and their families across every single London borough, and will make a profound difference as we head into our 10th anniversary year with plans to expand our access and impact still further. On behalf of the entire LYC family, thank you to everyone for your support.”

“Yet again, the success of our LYC No Barriers Appeal has been truly remarkable, and all the more so following another year of unprecedented challenges. We give our most grateful thanks to everyone in our community of supporters – families, friends, staff, trustees, long-standing supporters, new donors, and charitable trusts. We are also once more profoundly thankful to our Champion funders, The Childhood Trust and a generous corporate donor. Their vital match giving support is what has enabled us to increase our ambitions to unprecedented heights, and to secure this success for LYC and all our young people and families across London.”