Established DFN Foundation, hired Norman Stromsoy as first CEO and set up board.
Buy Undershaw, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s listed country house and converted it into a special needs school, partnering with Stepping Stones School.
Opened Undershaw with 43 pupils across both sites.
Launched DFN MoveForward, a JV with ThinkForward, a post-16 programme curriculum to give young people employability skills.
Worldwide search for the best supported internship employment courses for people with learning disabilities and autism. DFN discovered Project SEARCH in the US and bought the franchise rights for the UK, Ireland and Iberia and set up DFN Project SEARCH, initiially as a subsidiary of DFN Foundation.
Spun out DFN Project SEARCH as a stand-alone charity with DFN as Chairman and a separate board. Claire Cookson hired as CEO.
Sponsored Big Butterfly Count from 2020-2023
Established CSJ Disability Commission in 2020 and published recommendations in March 2021. Co-founded the Disability Employment Charter with 6 key disability organisations in October 2021 with recommendations from CSJ Disability Commission.
Launched Internship Works in September 2022, with DFN Project SEARCH partnering with NDTi and BASE. The project was funded by the Department for Education with a target to double the current supported internship provision in England by 2025.
DFN Project SEARCH has employed more than 2200 interns and is training 1000+ interns a year across its 140+ host business sites in the UK.
Partnered with The Pangolin Project to ensure survival of the Giant Ground pangolin in the Nyekweri Ecosystem in Kenya.
Fivefields, 8-10 Grosvenor Gardens, London, SW1W 0DH 02034323402 info@dfnfoundation.org
Our registered office: Fivefields, 8-10 Grosvenor Gardens, London, SW1W 0DH
Our registered office is:
Fivefields, 8-10 Grosvenor Gardens, London, SW1W 0DH
The DFN Charitable Foundation currently has sizeable commitments
and is not accepting grant applications.
Charities Commission
Please find our certificate from the Charities Commission here.