Communications and technology company TELUS is launching a £1m package of grants for good causes that are working to improve health, education, the environment, and digital inclusion among young people.

The first grants have been awarded to 18 good causes including gynaecological cancer awareness organisation Lady Garden Foundation and the Great London Friendship Project, which provides training and programmes to reduce loneliness among young people not in education, employment or training (NEET).

Also receiving funding is young men’s peer support network Orange Bow, and Amos Bursary, which provides digital and employment skills to students from low-income backgrounds.

Decisions about funding are being made by the firm’s UK Community Boards.

These “contribute significantly to the legacy of giving we are building for the benefit of our communities and citizens, globally”, said TELUS president and chief executive Darren Entwistle.

So far 21 Community Boards have been set up globally and the firm has this month launched its first in the UK, for London.

The Greater London Community Board’s chair Johnny Hornby, who is the founder and chief executive of marketing company T&P, added that the community board model “brings decision-making closer to the ground, ensuring local organisations, often overlooked by traditional funding models, get the support they need to thrive”.

Board members include TV broadcaster June Sarpong, lead singer with Duran Duran Simon Le Bon, Sophie Pender, founder of social equality charity 93% Club, and Dr Nick Tylor, chief executive of workplace mental health organisation Unmind.

---