The Huddersfield Town Foundation was officially launched in July 2012 by Huddersfield Town Chairman, Dean Hoyle. The launch of the Foundation created further initiatives to benefit young people across the Kirklees community, such as trips to the Play-Off Final games at Manchester United’s Old Trafford (May 2011) and Wembley Stadium (May 2012), with almost 2,000 children attending. These trips offered families a rare opportunity to create lasting memories and enjoy the game free of charge, with tickets and travel paid for through fundraising activities such as bike rides from Huddersfield to Wembley, the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge and ‘It’s a Knockout.
With a remit of improving the lives of young people across the region, the Town Foundation created the ‘Early Kick-Off’ Breakfast Club initiative to ensure that children started their learning day in school with a healthy and nutritious breakfast.The first breakfast club launched at Christchurch Academy in July 2012, with the charity harnessing the football club’s unique position within the community to pull together several charitable businesses to provide this at no cost to the children.
The Foundation now proudly facilitates over 30 Early Kick Off breakfast clubs across the region and has served well over 1.5 million breakfasts to local children.In December 2016, the Foundation’s Memorandum and Articles of Association were expanded to reflect a new focus on empowering ‘ONE CLUB ONE COMMUNITY’, irrespective of any protected characteristics. In addition to fundraising activities, the Foundation turned its focus to five key areas: Trust; Sport; Inclusion; Education and Health.