Award-winning youth work charity, Empower Youth Zones (EMPOWER), welcomes Manchester-born investment platform AJ Bell’s charitable foundation as its latest Founder Patron.
The AJ Bell Futures Foundation is a UK registered charity, established in 2023, to help people who have faced significant life challenges. With AJ Bell plc committed to contribute 0.5% of its profits before tax to local community each year.
The Foundation has pledged £100,000 to support EMPOWER’s mission to provide young people across Manchester and Salford with somewhere safe to go, something positive to do and someone trusted to talk to.
The partnership will see the AJ Bell Futures Foundation play a key role in supporting EMPOWER’s growth, helping expand opportunities for young people, increase the charity’s impact and broaden the scale of communities it reaches.
The Futures Foundation joins a growing network of businesses and donors helping EMPOWER to support more than 15,000 young people across its two Youth Zone sites: HideOut Youth Zone in Gorton, which opened in 2020 and Salford Youth Zone in Pendleton, which opened in 2025.
EMPOWER are proud to partner with the AJ Bell Futures Foundation to support young people and local communities in Salford’s Centenary year, celebrating the city’s continued growth and development as it strengthens opportunities for future generations.
Adam Farricker, CEO of Empower Youth Zones, shared: “It is great to welcome the AJ Bell Futures Foundation onboard as one of our Founder Patrons. Their consistent commitment to championing young people and supporting local communities makes them a natural partner for us. We are really excited to work together to further our mission, ensuring young people have the space and support to realise their full potential.”
Liz Carrington, AJ Bell Futures Foundation trustee also commented: “As a business with a strong presence in Manchester, we’re proud to be working with Empower Youth Zone to broaden our support of local communities.
“Our partnership with Empower Youth Zone will build on our impactful work with primary partners IntoUniversity, Smart Works and the UK National Parks Foundation, giving individuals the ability to overcome barriers to success.
“Since the launch of the AJ Bell Futures Foundation in 2023, £1.5 million has been donated to 174 charitable initiatives, and this latest donation enables us to explore new opportunities for young people to fulfil their aspirations and positively impact their communities.”
About Empower Youth Zones:
Empower Youth Zones is a dedicated youth work charity overseeing the creation, management and sustainability of Youth Zones in Manchester and Salford.
We provide young people aged 8-19 and up to 25 with additional needs, affordable access to vibrant purpose-built spaces, high-quality activities and trusted youth workers to talk to, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year.
We are supporting young people create their own narrative – helping them see what they could achieve and giving them the skills, confidence and ambition to go for it.
Are you a business passionate about transforming the lives of children and young people? Join us as we build a brighter future for our young people and communities!
To find out more about supporting Empower please contact: amanda.coverdale@empoweryouthzones.org
About AJ Bell:
Established in 1995, AJ Bell is one of the largest investment platforms in the UK, operating at scale in both the advised and direct-to-consumer markets.
Our purpose is to help people invest by providing them with easy access to Pensions, ISAs and General investment accounts, great customer service and competitive charges.
Our platform propositions offer a wide range of simple, low-cost investment solutions including shares and other instruments traded in the UK and other major stock exchanges around the world, as well as our own range of AJ Bell funds.
In the advised market, we offer AJ Bell Investcentre, our full-service proposition, alongside AJ Bell Touch, a simplified app-based proposition enabling a fully digital service model, and AJ Bell Custody Solutions, which provides flexible, low-cost, white-labelled investment management.
In the D2C market we offer AJ Bell, our low-cost, full-service proposition and AJ Bell Dodl, a low-cost investment app that offers a simplified investment journey.
AJ Bell is headquartered in Manchester, UK, with offices in London and Bristol.
