A Decade of The Atlas Foundation, Achieving Real Outcomes and Improvements in Children’s Welfare Globally
The Atlas Foundation celebrates 10 years of transforming children's lives globally through sports-driven initiatives in 19 countries
This year marks the tenth anniversary of The Atlas Foundation, a dedicated children’s charity based in the UK. Working with a broad network of international partners, the foundation uses the spirit and values of sport to create direct, positive changes in the lives and futures of children worldwide.
The Atlas Foundation has made a significant impact in that decade, supporting over 192,000 children in some of the most disadvantaged communities and areas facing severe deprivation, collaborating with 43 partners, and operating in 19 different countries.
Recognising Ten Years of The Atlas Foundation’s Remarkable Charitable Work
Founded by English rugby legend and former professional player Jason Leonard OBE, The Atlas Foundation was first registered in 2014. Its aim is to build on a legacy of parity, ambition, and inspiration to improve the lives of children living in the most challenging environments and circumstances.
The dream was to create a children’s charity that would actively, practically, and meaningfully help children living in extreme poverty—not only in the interim but in a sustainable, long-term way to provide them with the education, means, resources, and support to build better futures with real opportunities.
While the charity's roots and story are embedded in rugby, it is not solely or primarily a sporting organisation, nor does it provide charitable assistance only through the medium of rugby.
Instead, it draws on the values and ethos of the sport to fulfil its aims. By partnering with community organisations, other charities, and leaders and receiving invaluable advocacy and support from sporting heroes and champions, The Atlas Foundation is able to support children in poverty with an exceptionally informed perspective.
Over its 10-year history, the charity has achieved incredible success and stands apart with clarity about the importance of long-term support structures and reliance on partners who know, live in and understand impoverished and disadvantaged communities—without assumptions about how and where the charity can provide input.
Landmark Achievements Celebrated By the Global Children’s Charity
The statistics are significant, but the effects on the children benefiting from The Atlas Foundation are profound when adding the context that when the charity engages with a community, it will stand by that commitment for the long term. To date:
- 192,347 children have benefited, with 95% graduating from their school year, 3,713 re-enrolling in school, and 4,885 attending tertiary education.
- The charity has formed 43 local partnerships, of whom 100% work with local schools, 88% provide clean water and nutrition, and 100% promote the benefits of healthy exercise.
- The Foundation has worked in 19 countries, from England to Eswatini, Argentina to Asia, and India to Israel.
Reflecting on these impacts, Peter Scott, General Manager of the Foundation, says, ‘Putting the outcomes we have achieved in our short history thus far into facts and figures is amazing and demonstrates how practical, long-term support delivers tangible, real-world improvements to the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable children.
However, the power of sport as a vehicle for good is often best seen through individual stories, listening to how the children we support, directly and through our partners, have felt, the experiences they have had, and what direct help and opportunity will mean to them now, and for the rest of their lives.
Education, empowerment, health and access are all vital, and something so many of us take for granted in our own lives because they have always been given or are part of life we know will always be available. For millions of children, the reality is somewhat different, and every single child and family we help matters enormously to us, changing the world for one child at a time.’
Plans for Future Charitable Initiatives Led By The Atlas Foundation
After ten years of action, The Atlas Foundation seems to be only just getting started, with a staggering array of stories, anecdotes, and projects that showcase the scale of the initiatives and schemes it undertakes.
Working with charitable, community-led, and sporting partners, the charity targets its work at specific areas or groups where there is a demonstrable need, including regions with high instances of disability, intolerance towards marginalised groups, exploitation of vulnerability, and wide-scale poverty, disease, and malnutrition.
Peter adds, ‘Our vision is simple—to use rugby to change children’s lives, to help them heal and thrive, and develop the skills, resilience and knowledge to shape a better future. The successes we have achieved are the beginning, and we have so much to do and so many projects in the planning stages we are excited to get started on.
Change does not happen overnight but progressively and with commitment. We are dedicated to our goals and hope that in another ten years, the Foundation will be stronger than ever and can report even stronger impacts.’
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About The Atlas Foundation
Founded by rugby legend Jason Leonard OBE, The Atlas Foundation uses rugby as a tool to improve the lives of children in disadvantaged communities around the world. By partnering with local organisations, The Atlas Foundation provides educational, health, and social development opportunities to help children thrive.
Media Contact:
Caitlin Clark
Marketing and Communications Officer
The Atlas Foundation
+44 (0)207 043 2232
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Source Company – https://theatlascharity.org/