News
For the latest news about the King’s Foundation go to The King's Foundation blog
Our Mission
The King’s Foundation was established in 1991 to assist the physical, emotional and spiritual development of young persons by the support and delivery of sporting, moral and spiritual principles and practises to children throughout the world regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender.
The Methods We Use
We use sport and healthy activities to develop young person’s physical and emotional capacities that they may grow to full maturity as individuals and members of society and that their condition of life may be improved. We use sport and biblically based activities to develop young person’s physical, emotional and spiritual capacities that they may grow to full maturity as individuals and members of society and understand the fullness of the Gospel.
Our Goals
- Increasing numbers of children developed
- Communities transformed
- A world-wide reputation for integrity
- Our potential released
Our Reason for Being
The King’s Foundation grew out of a small church in Sheffield by a group of Christians that saw sports camps as a way of developing children physically, emotionally and spiritually. Income was used in part to support projects that positively influenced children and young people.
Our values reflect our charitable status and our desire to make a difference to the lives of children and young people. The approach we take towards our people demonstrates a bias for inclusion regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, gender or social or economic circumstances.
For us at King’s, a love for children demands participation to provide positive, active experiences that contribute to their well-being and development. We donate our time, services and around 8% of King’s Camps income to providing services to UK families in need and to establishing similar organisations in developing countries.
Staying true to our core values during 20 years of activity has helped us to create an organisation we’re proud to run and work for. And our focus on investing in the development of children has brought us success in the marketplace.
At every level we are about people. We aim to serve the people that trust us with their children, we aim to provide children with an inspirational experience, we aim to provide high quality, enjoyable and progressive employment opportunities for staff and volunteers, we aim to enjoy mutually beneficial agreements with suppliers.
We are a sustainable charity because 95% of our income comes from our own income generating activities; this enables 100% of our fundraising income to be used in our work with disadvantaged children in the UK and developing countries.
The shared philosophy of our people is that we get one go at life on earth, so work to make a difference, make the journey as enjoyable as possible, don’t be constrained by tradition, take others on the journey.
Milestones
The charity was formed in 1991 with the purpose of developing children through sport. It initially operated out of the King’s Centre Church in Sheffield, UK and ran King’s Camps sports and activity programmes for children in three cities, Sheffield, Bradford and Leeds.
Subsequently a national network of venues was developed to allow increasing numbers of children to experience structured sports and activity programmes during the school holidays. Over the years revenue from the camps has been used in part to support a number of charitable projects that have helped to develop children and young people, including a soup wagon programme to homeless young people in Sheffield that still operates today.
| 2000 | The charity was awarded the Investors in People standard. |
| 2001 | The charity initiated work across Europe with Eurocamp, this was the first consultancy agreement that was processed through the charities trading company. |
| 2002 | Further consultancy contracts were secured, most noticeably with Cunard Line for their family services on board QE2 and QM2 ships. Also in 2002, the charity first sent a team of 16 volunteers to Botswana to run outreach programmes for children from disadvantaged communities. |
| 2005 | Full-time outreach workers for Botswana and Uganda were appointed to develop sports ministry programmes for children and leaders. |
| 2006 | King's Camps was launched in Botswana as an income generating activity to provide a child-care service to families and also to help fund our work amongst the poorer communities in that country and provide local people with paid and voluntary employment opportunities. |
| 2007 | The charity agreed a partnership with the England Cricket captain, Michael Vaughan, to establish cricket programmes in the UK that enabled increasing numbers of children to experience cricket. The charity initiated a King's Camps provision for military families involved with conflict, work which has subsequently received praise from the highest ranking military personnel. |
| 2008 | King's Camps was launched in South Africa and in 2009 we operated camps in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. |
Organisation Functions
- Commercial - including key accounts and trading
- Design & Development - including communications, marketing, systems and IT
- Finance & Administration - including finance, accounting and information
- International - including overseas outreach and income generating programs and partnerships
- Membership - including membership contact for all King's Camps services
- Operations - including UK and international activity camp delivery, programme staff, policies, practise and procurement
- Recruitment - including all recruitment services via King’s Recruit
Executive Team
Richard Holmes, Chief Executive Officer
Richard has been involved with the charity since 1991; leading the executive management team and providing leadership, direction and vision, facilitating short and long-term strategic planning.
Graham Sandersfield, Head of Operations
Graham joined the King’s Foundation in 1995; he is responsible for the delivery of top class activity camp experiences for children by ensuring products and services are delivered to the highest possible standards, best practise policies and practises are delivered and essential governance requirements are fulfilled.
Rebecca Padgett, Commercial Manager
Rebecca joined the King’s Foundation team in 2004; she is responsible for managing key relationships with external organisations and for increasing revenue for the charities trading company, King’s Professional Services Ltd.
Peter Thompson, Head of Products & Services
After undertaking work for the charity in a consultancy capacity, Pete joined the staff team in 2004; he provides the creative impetus to drive forward products and services, directs our marketing and communications strategy, and is responsible for the smooth running of our IT systems.
Board of Directors
David Taylor (Chair)
David joined the board of trustees in 2000 and became chairman in 2005. Professionally he holds the position of Senior Research Fellow at Cardiff Business School and has experience in business research, consultancy and lecturing. He has lived in Sheffield for over 30 years and is a member of Christ Church Fulwood. David says ‘It has been a great privilege to be involved with the King’s Foundation over the last decade. King's provides a valuable and enjoyable service for children in the UK and Europe through our King's Camps, military camps and other activities. And I am particularly proud of the work we do in Africa, where we bring top-quality sports activities, fun and encouragement to some of the most disadvantage children and at the same time sensitively share something of our Christian faith.
Barry Ninnes
Barry joined the board of directors in 2004. A Manufacturing Manager involved in the manufacture of orthopaedic implants in Sheffield. A committed Christian and former Rugby Union international who believes in sport as a means of developing people in order to reach their full potential, particularly those who struggle academically.
Geoff Thompson OBE
Geoff joined the board in 2004 when he was the Chairman of the Football Association. Geoff is now a Vice President of both FIFA and UEFA with significant responsibilities and influence on world football. Home is Chesterfield, Derbyshire and Geoff always manages to keep involved with the development of King’s despite his demanding international schedule.
Christine Buxton
Christine joined the board of trustees in 2009. A Chartered Accountant with twenty years experience in finance and general senior management roles in the telecoms and manufacturing industries. Christine lives in Sheffield, is a member of Christ Church Fulwood and as a mother of 3 children has personal experience of the excellent service provided by King's for children of all ages.
Employment
The King’s Foundation is an Equal Opportunity Employer and offers full and part-time, permanent and temporary paid and voluntary positions with varying levels of responsibility for the development and support of our mission. King’s Recruit is the recruitment brand of the charity, for details of employment opportunities go to King’s Recruit.
Financial & Legal Information
Registered charity number: 1105460
Company number: 5099069
As a UK registered charity, the charity’s annual returns are available to view on the Charity Commission register.
The charity's registered address is:
Osborne House, 47 Snaithing Lane, SHEFFIELD, S10 3LF
The charity's auditors are:
Landin Wilcock & Co, 68 Queen Street, SHEFFIELD, S1 1WR
The charity's bankers are:
Lloyds TSB Ltd, 14 Church Street, SHEFFIELD, S1 1HP
The charity's lawyers are:
HLW Commercial Lawyers, Commercial House, Commercial Street, Sheffield, S1 2AT
The King's Foundation's trading company is:
The King's Foundation Professional Services Ltd. Company No. 03145498
Contact Us
By Post
The King's Foundation, Osborne House, 47 Snaithing Lane, SHEFFIELD, S10 3LF
By Phone
+44 (114) 2632150
By Email
Click to send an email about our children’s holiday camps.
Click to send an email about opportunities to work in the UK.
Click to send an email about our international work.
Click to send an email about finance, administration or systems.