The Astra Foundation
The Astra Foundation is a UK-based family foundation whose mission is to advance the efforts to combat loneliness in young adults, empower youth to reach their potential regardless of their circumstances, and reduce plastic pollution. The geographic focus of the foundation is the UK, France, and the African continent.
Loneliness and Isolation Among Young Adults
The goal of our work on loneliness and isolation is to give young adults the life skills needed to prevent, tackle and manage the experience. The Astra Foundation focuses on this age group because, unbeknownst to many, the younger population face even higher levels of loneliness than older adults and loneliness has been steadily increasing amongst youth in recent years. In addition to the stigma loneliness and isolation create, their economic, health and societal costs are immense.
Astra’s grants will focus on increasing the knowledge base regarding successful interventions to prevent loneliness and on providing young adults access to programs to address the problem. Our theory of change is that by strengthening the knowledge base around how to address loneliness and isolation and supporting best in class interventions, the Foundation can act as a catalyst to improve support for young adults.
Current grantees include:
Jo Cox Foundation to convene organisations, amplify voices and advocate for sustained momentum on loneliness
Warm Welcome Campaign to support community connection
Unite Foundation to support estranged and care-experienced university students
Fédération Française pour les Liens Sociaux (French Federation for Social Connections) to convene stakeholders interested in loneliness in France and advocate for change
Association Astrée to prevent isolation and exclusion in middle school by encouraging solidarity among students
Association Aïda to support adolescents and young adults who encounter illness throughout France
La Maison de la Conversation to support connection and cohesion through place-based activities
Youth Empowerment
The goal of our work on youth empowerment is to remove barriers that prevent youth from reaching their full potential, and to give youth the skills and confidence they need to succeed in life. The Astra Foundation believes that all youth should have the opportunity to reach their full potential in life. We realize that many disadvantaged youth face systematic structural barriers to achieving success in life, and aim to help remove these barriers and give youth the skills needed to succeed.
The Astra Foundation’s grants will focus on programs that use innovative and proven strategies such as those deploying sports and the arts to give youth the life skills, vocational training, and confidence they need to succeed in life. Our theory of change is that preparing young people for the challenges they will face is key to enhancing their success in reaching their full potential.
Current grantees include:
London Screen Academy to break barriers in the film and TV industry and support a future diverse workforce
Street League to support young people to enter further education or work through the power of sport
The Brilliant Club to support young people to aspire to and access university and thrive once enrolled
SAYes Mentoring to provide young people with long-term, regular mentoring
Art History Link-Up to support access to Art-History education for under-represented students
A Zeldin Company to engage young people in the co-production of theatrical art
Ukrainian St Mary's Trust to support Ukrainian displaced children in London through play and therapeutic activities
Dalgarno Trust to support the local community and young people in Ladbroke Grove through programmes and activities
Plastic Pollution
The goal of our work in this area is to reduce the amount of disposable plastic that society consumes. We aim to achieve this goal through a dual approach -- focusing on alerting consumers to the importance of changing their habits of consumption, as well as on business-friendly efforts aimed at encouraging alternatives to single use plastics.
Astra’s grants will support organizations and coalitions that work to raise awareness around the environmental, climate and health risks associated with single use plastics and to encourage businesses to eliminate single use plastics in their supply chain. Our theory of change is that by improving public and corporate awareness of the environmental, climate, and health risks associated with plastic, consumers will change their consumption habits and demand alternatives to single use plastics in their shopping which in turn will stimulate businesses to provide alternatives.
Current grantees include:
Ellen MacArthur Foundation to convene the Business Coalition advocating for an ambitious treaty on plastic pollution
We are not accepting unsolicited proposals at this time.
If you need to contact Astra Foundation you can email us via info@astrafoundation.co.uk
