upReach 2024-27 Stategy - Flipbook - Page 2
Unlocking potential: a message from our CEO
Nick Bent
Chief Executive Of昀椀cer
Dear Partners, Supporters, Associates and Alumni,
It is my pleasure to introduce upReach’s exciting new 2024-27
strategy. In the 12 years since we were founded, the upReach
family have achieved a huge amount: helped thousands of students
from lower socio-economic backgrounds to get top graduate jobs;
empowered them to ‘get on after getting in’; and used our ‘double
bene昀椀t approach’ to advocate for both employers and policymakers to
make the UK fairer, highlighting the business case as well as the moral
arguments for greater social mobility.
However, our work is needed more than ever. Over the last three years, the UK’s class gap
has only grown larger, exacerbated by the double whammy of the COVID pandemic and the
cost of living crisis. If we want to bridge the gulf that exists between raw talent and tangible
achievement, we need to unlock potential.
This strategy presents our plans to do just that, setting out our direction for the next three years.
What does unlocking potential look like? By 2027, we want to achieve two key goals:
1) Sustainably scale up our reach: Our unique 1-to-1 support model means every undergraduate
receives sustained, tailored support from a speci昀椀c member of our team. By 2027, we aim to
work with at least 3,300 undergraduates a year – our Associates – sustainably increasing our
reach from the 3,000+ undergraduates we support now. We currently turn eligible students
away due to lack of space on our programmes - the more places we have available, the more
lives we can transform.
2) Evidence our impact: We have strong data on the quality and impact of our work, and we
hold a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise. By 2027, having completed an external
review of our core programmes in 2025, we aim to have even more robust, independently
veri昀椀ed evidence for our success while continuing to achieve benchmark-beating graduate
job outcomes for our Associates year-on-year.
How do we plan to do this? For the next three years, we plan to focus on two key enablers:
1) Invest for growth and impact: To serve more Associates each year and to improve our
impact still further, we need to invest in our people and our technology. We want upReach to
be a tech-powered, best-in-class charity while maintaining our people-focused model with its
unique 1-to-1 support.
2) Grow our income and pro昀椀le: To grow our team, invest in our technology and scale up our
core programmes, we need to inspire and engage more people and create a step change in our
income generation. By 2027 we aim to be raising more than £5 million each year.
Of course, the world changes and we have just had a change of government in the UK, so we will
review our strategy annually. And beyond 2027, we aspire to scale up still further and to achieve
even stronger impact.
Finally, whatever your connection with upReach, I hope you 昀椀nd these plans stimulating and
worthwhile and I hope you will continue to support the upReach family on our journey of
unlocking potential. We cannot do it without you!
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