The 2026 BRIT Challenge will start on
26th January 2026 & will finish on 26th December 2026
Our collectively powerful approach, with support from our Education, Sport and Charity Partners to promote and champion our events, ensures that universities and colleges in the UK have the ability and flexibility to embrace our annual BRIT Challenges in order to further improve their students' mental health and fitness.
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Our annual BRIT Challenges provide fundraising opportunities for students to further enable our partner mental health charities to provide vital mental health services to all young adults in the UK who need their support.
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Donating to or sponsoring the British Inspiration Trust will help enable us to support and improve young adult, student and staff mental health, fitness and wellbeing throughout the UK by delivering our annual inclusive BRIT Challenge.
Furthermore, we have implemented BRIT Regional Steering Groups in eight regions of England, and in Scotland and Wales. Student and staff representatives from every university and college are being invited to join the Steering Group, for a one-year tenure, to explore how to involve more universities and colleges in the BRIT Challenge, engage students and staff of all abilities, destigmatise mental health and champion equality, diversity and inclusion. We also aim to triple the size of our 200 strong BRIT Ambassador family.
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We currently do not employ any staff, our Founder is the Non-Paid Chief Executive, and we make every effort to reduce operational overheads by finding innovative ways to secure professionally gifted support and services. BRIT does need professional administrative assistance and, with funding, we intend to secure support from retired Paralympians, Olympians, and experienced Education Sector Administrators, in order to increase our team and the impact we have on the lives of young adults and students.
Donations and sponsors fund our operational costs and enable our BRIT Challenges to engage students in every university and college in the UK. Through the relationships we continue to build with universities, colleges and student unions, together we will encourage the millions of students and staff in the UK to take part in our annual BRIT Challenge.
We hope that donors, philanthropists, businesses and corporations see the potential UK-wide impact we can continue to have on raising funds for our partner mental health charities and improving young adult mental health and fitness; both of which are vitally important in the short, medium and long-term.
Together, we have the ability to be collectively powerful.​
WHY YOUR SUPPORT IS CRUCIAL
MESSAGE TO DONORS AND SPONSORS
“Having worked in fundraising and the charity sector for over 30 years, I have had the privilege of meeting many extraordinary people and Phil, who founded The British Inspiration Trust (BRIT), is one of the most inspirational leaders I have met. Notwithstanding his unique experience that spans the disability, charity, mental health, education, sport and military/veteran sectors, Phil consistently delivers inspiring and life changing opportunities for young people. His determination to ensure that they have the help and support that they need to overcome their physical and mental challenges is at the heart of BRIT. He has underpinned this vision by securing powerful strategic collaborations and partnerships to increase the impact of what the charity can achieve.
The BRIT ethos is to minimise overheads and reduce operational costs. Phil has achieved this through his dedicated leadership (always unpaid). He has inspired corporations and businesses to gift their professional services that equate to hundreds of thousands of pounds. He has also inspired a wealth of volunteers to help deliver BRIT events.
BRIT’s future success now needs the security of annual long-term income to provide a sustainable base that will allow for some capacity building and cover its lean operational costs. The charity relies on voluntary income to deliver the mission. Support through gifted professional services, sponsorship and donations will further enable the delivery of mental health and fitness challenges to both raise vital funds for BRIT’s partner charities and support young adult mental health throughout the UK”.
Liz Haigh-Reeve MInstF
Founder and CEO of Fundraising Works
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WAYS TO SUPPORT
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Donations
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Donations are vital. Since its inception, BRIT has operated as a lean charity and strived to ensure overheads are kept to a minimum. We currently do not employ any staff and rely on volunteers and external professional support. To maximise our impact, we do need to fund professional support to ensure our BRIT Challenges are successful. This includes areas of governance and coordination; integral to our charity's survival.
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Sponsorship
Corporate Sponsorship would enable us to secure an annual long-term income for our capacity building. We aim to reach young adults throughout the UK; an estimated 5million students. This requires funding the coordination of our communication strategy, branding, and outreach across Social Media including the management of the British Sporting Icons joining us as BRIT Ambassadors.
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Gifted Services
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BRIT has secured gifted professional services and support from businesses across the UK amounting to hundreds of thousands of pounds. This has included secondments and gifted Offices, Banking, Governance, Accountancy, IT, Vehicle, Travel, Accommodation, Insurance, Websites, Branding, Comms, Clothing and Marketing Space in National, Regional and Social Media. All these opportunities are available for businesses to support for each of our annual Challenges.
There are many ways that Philanthropists, Corporations and Businesses can help us to have an extraordinary impact on improving young adult and student mental health and fitness. With funding, sponsorship and gifted professional services, we will support the lives of young adults and students throughout the UK by;
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Uniting the HE and FE Sector through a UK-wide inclusive BRIT Challenge
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​Delivering inspiration through our BRIT Ambassadors
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​Offering the BRIT Challenge as a UK-wide feel-good fundraiser and inviting teams to choose a second charity to raise funds for, alongside BRIT, to support local, regional and national charities
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By securing funding and resources, we hope to engage with every UK university, college and specialist college and improve the physical and mental health of every student taking part in our annual BRIT Challenge.
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THE IMPACT OF YOUR SUPPORT
"Young adults and students are at a unique stage in life where the opportunity to find themselves is so closely allied to the risk of losing themselves. BRIT’s determination to support and improve young adult and student mental health in the UK through the delivery of the annual BRIT Challenge is a perfect way of tapping into the human desires to connect with others, find purpose, feel a sense of belonging, compete, feel good and have fun.
Every university, college and Students’ Union has the opportunity to embrace the BRIT Challenge; I hope that their Leadership Teams will assist their students by providing support and resources to ensure their team’s efforts are a success. There is huge potential for student engagement and the raising of vital funds throughout the UK if staff and students unite as teams and take on the BRIT Challenge.
Every young adult and student taking part in the BRIT Challenge will be giving hope to others through their fundraising efforts. The personal reward that comes with such acts of kindness will be a sense of purpose that brings them closer to finding their own path in an increasingly challenging world."
James Murray, who lost his son Ben to suicide.
DONATE ONLINE
We adhere to the Fundraising Regulator Standards. The Fundraising Regulator is an independent, non statutory body that regulates fundraising across the charitable sector in England, Wales, & Northern Ireland. They work in partnership with other regulators and represent bodies in the charitable and fundraising sectors to build public confidence and ensure consistent fundraising standards across the UK.
THANK YOU
Our collectively powerful approach to supporting young adult mental health in the UK is underpinned by special relationships and partnerships with individuals and organisations who gift their advice, guidance and time to shape our strategy and enable us to deliver our annual challenges.
We are sincerely grateful for this invaluable gifted support from across the Charity, Education, Sport and Business communities. The British Inspiration Trust saves hundreds of thousands of pounds every year in staff costs and funding external professional services due to the kindness and generosity of our friends and advisors.