Impact of Jingle Jam 2023

Thanks to your incredible support, we’ve been able to fund 12 amazing projects directly improving the lives of over half a million children and young people while helping protect the future of the planet for all of us.

Right now your donations are funding:

  • Life-saving support for over 20,000 young people considering suicide
  • Access to digital learning for 120,000 children impacted by the war in Ukraine
  • Coppafeel! Mobile, a new van that travels across the UK raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of breast cancer amongst underrepresented young people
  • Support for over 20,000 young men affected by cancer
  • A ground-breaking new facility for patients and their families at Bristol Children’s Hospital
  • A mental health and wellbeing support hub for Autistic young people
  • Intensive one-to-one support for 40 young LGBT+ victims of abuse
  • Support for over 16,000 children with visual impairment
  • An app to help African farmers tackle climate change by restoring land
  • Campaigning to end whale hunting in Norway
  • Digital hubs to get over 25,000 children online in remote parts of Africa
  • Local charities putting food on the table for over 20,000 of those most in need in deprived areas of the UK

Improving the Mental and Physical Health of Young People

Help for young people considering suicide

We know how important mental wellbeing is to Jingle Jam supporters, which is why we’re partnered with UK charity Campaign Against Living Miserably. Our support enables them to answer calls from young people to their life-saving suicide prevention helpline 365 days a year. We’re also funding a mental health toolkit for creators to support their communities, which you’ll hear more about during Jingle Jam 2024. 

So far, Jingle Jam 2023 funding has covered 21,311 calls to the helpline—calls from young people like Sam:

“I’ve suffered from anxiety and depression since I was young. It got to a point that I couldn’t see any option and it felt like there was no way out.

Until I spoke to CALM.

A 15 minute call with CALM is the reason I’m here today. Their helpline staff helped me realise I’m not alone, people do care, there is a reason to stay.

Since then, I’ve fundraised for CALM through my streams, including at Jingle Jam. I’m proud to be here today to help make CALM’s life-saving work possible and tell my community about their services.”

Revolutionising care for critically-ill children

First of its kind in the UK, the creation of the ground-breaking Jingle Jam Building will provide therapy, rehabilitation and family accommodation all under one roof for up to 100 long-term patients per year at Bristol Children’s Hospital.

To find out what this would mean, we spoke to David, father of recent long-term patient Mae.

In June 2022, eight-year-old Mae woke up with a headache. Within 15 minutes she was unconscious. Mae had suffered a brain bleed and was rushed to Bristol Children’s Hospital for emergency surgery.

After waking up from surgery Mae could not move any part of her body; she could not move her eyes, she could not eat, and was mute for eight weeks. The family spent the following six months in hospital whilst Mae recovered and relearned how to walk, talk, swallow, sit and stand again.

As the first purpose-designed Patient Hotel for children in the UK, Jingle Jam Building is set to provide the benchmark for a new generation of health facilities for patients and their families at Bristol Children’s Hospital.

“Our lives and daily routines had been turned upside down. Mae’s weekly rehabilitation schedule was packed—from school and Speech and Language Therapy to physio, occupational therapy, and swimming. Meals, bathing, and medications were also part of the routine.

If you look closely at parents of long-stay patients, you can spot them a mile off. I know I looked drawn out, exhausted, and in some cases like a complete zombie, trying to accept the new trajectory of our family life.

If we’d had access to a facility like the Jingle Jam Building, the difference would have been profound. It would have been our halfway place between hospital and home – a place where Mae could have received her therapy and rehab in a less stressful non-clinical environment and a place where our family could regroup, recharge, and find solace.” 

Improving outcomes for young people affected by cancer

Jingle Jam supported Coppafeel! in 2023 and its vital work raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of breast cancer amongst young people. Together we’ll be reaching an estimated 1.375m young people in the UK, driving the message amongst underrepresented groups that breast cancer can affect ANY body, regardless of age, gender or race.

Jingle Jam funding has launched CoppaFeel! Mobile, recently debuted in Manchester at MegaCon Live, which chats all things chest-checking with young people and creators. Particularly valuable interactions were held and resources shared with neurodiverse, non-binary and trans community attendees. CoppaFeel! Mobile has already been booked in for Black Ballad Weekender in August 2024 for more vital outreach. 

And through support for Movember, Jingle Jam is also funding multiple projects designed to help men—and therefore their communities—live healthier, longer lives. These projects challenge the status quo and innovate and fast track health research whilst transforming how health services reach and support men, with nearly 20,000 more men reached as a result of our support.

Men like Movember ambassador Ben Bowers:

“I was just 26, fit and very active when I discovered I had a lump on one of my testicles. I went to the doctor and tests quickly showed that it was indeed cancer. It was caught early because I took action immediately. Unfortunately, within just three years of being given the all-clear, I discovered I had another cancer on my remaining testicle and that too had to be removed.

Cancer is a hell of a word. When they break it to you, it feels like your world is falling apart. I’m encouraging everyone to get to know your nuts and raise awareness about testicular cancer, because with early detection, we can save lives.”

Inclusion of Neurodivergent, Disabled, LGBT+ and Diverse Young People

A Mental Health Hub for young autistic people

Your donations are enabling leading Autism research charity Autistica to build a digital Mental Health & Wellbeing Tips Hub to support young autistic people struggling with their mental health. This is vital because evidence shows very clearly that young autistic people’s mental health needs are not being met. 

Once completed, we anticipate the Hub may support up to 300,000 autistic young people, including many like Finty. 

When Finty was 15, she spent a school summer holiday hospitalised with anorexia. She struggled to make progress with treatments based on body image which didn’t apply to her. She felt desperate. 

"If an autism mental health tips hub was around when I was struggling, it would have helped me to feel like I wasn't alone. I think a lot of my issues stemmed from feeling isolated, and really lonely, like I was an anomaly and nobody could help me. Hearing other people's experiences is really powerful in being able to navigate your mental health and how to get better."

Support for young LGBT+ victims of abuse

Jingle Jam donations have also enabled UK-based LGBT+ anti-abuse charity Galop to nationalise its Young People’s Service, which provides intensive, one-to-one support to young LGBT+ people experiencing abuse, helping unlock a better future for all young victims and survivors of abuse. 

This has enabled the charity to be be there for people like 19-year-old Ali*.

Ali was being abused at home because they were non-binary, and their father was threatening forcible deportation. They were in crisis, experiencing suicidal thoughts, and terrified that no professional would respect their gender identity or believe they’d been abused.

Galop was there to listen—helping them to access mental health support, safe housing, and make a plan to secure their immigration status.

Now, Ali is feeling hopeful and looking forward to their future.

*name changed to protect identity

Inclusion of children with visual impairment

Jingle Jam support is enabling RNIB to change the lives of children with visual impairment, ensuring they have equal opportunities to fulfil their potential, and have fun growing up while feeling included. Work is ongoing to develop best practice for accessible gaming, and on a forthcoming Devkit to help create a more inclusive gaming environment worldwide. 

Jingle Jam funding also had a significant impact on RNIB’s children, young people and families programme, such as through Parent Pathway courses, where recent participants said:

“I signed up to the course because I was trying to gain a better understanding of the new world my daughter had been catapulted into. It's been incredibly valuable to find out what support is available and just to chat to people who understand vision impairment!” 

“It was nice to feel understood and to speak to other parents who are going through a similar situation.”

Safeguarding the Future of the Planet for Young People by Combating Climate Change and Protecting Animal Welfare

Regreening African landscapes

Jingle Jam supports Justdiggit’s work regreening African landscapes using indigenous techniques, mobile technology and communication to inspire farmers to restore their land. 

Over 1,600 hectares of land will be restored in Tanzania by 2027 and a new mobile app funded by Jingle Jam will help accelerate delivery across sub-Saharan Africa, with a target of 100,000 downloads by the end of 2024.

Shaban Abrahman Swella, a farmer from Kinambiri village who took part in training with scores of others from Mkalama district, Tanzania, says:

“I personally benefited from the Kisiki Hai [treecovery] training. When I get back home, I believe my family and community will also benefit from the knowledge gained. I will work with the community to bring changes from the ward level, district level and the nation at large, to make sure that our region becomes greener. It could have been expensive to get this knowledge, but we got it here for no cost. So, the community will benefit through raising their income, and improvement on the farms that have been affected by gullies that they can restore in a shorter time once we start implementing the training.”

Aerial picture of the farmers from Mkalama District, Tanzania

Campaigning to end whale hunting

Jingle Jam is also supporting Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) in their campaign to end whale hunting. Donations have supported the Norway for Whales campaign which raises awareness and supports Norwegian activism to stop Norway hunting whales. WDC will measure success by the numbers engaged within Norway, until the hunting stops.

World Saving Hustle—an organisation of dynamic young activists—needed support to refocus their whaling campaign. With Jingle Jam funding, WDC attended their Oslo Conference, where they empowered over 20 young activists to become community stop-whaling campaigners.

Whales deserve to live safe and free. We need their help to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises. Empowering young, environmentally conscious people through impactful relationships like this is key to ending whaling in Norway, where hundreds of whales are unnecessarily killed each year.

“...WDC brought awareness to me about whaling. That really inspired me to take action in something that should be stopped...” 

Support for Young People Affected by Global Events Including Poverty, Disasters, Epidemics, or Conflicts

Using technology to enable learning in some of the world’s hardest-to-reach places

Children in Ukraine are living through an unimaginable nightmare. With Jingle Jam support, War Child is providing its innovative ‘Can’t Wait to Learn’ app to children across Ukraine to ensure their education continues amidst the war. 

‘Can’t Wait to Learn’ uses custom gaming technology to deliver quality education, and over the past year, thanks to Jingle Jam donors, nearly 83,000 Ukrainian primary school children and teachers have been using the app to support learning in Math and Reading. 

Viktor, a primary teacher in Kyiv, recalls a missile attack during the school day: “We’ve become so used to sirens; we knew exactly what to do.” While they hid in a bomb shelter for a terrifying five hours, they played Can’t Wait to Learn games on tablets and solved math problems.

“‘I’m learning, not waiting’ is the motto—and so they did. It distracted them from the violence outside and offered an escape when they need it most.”

Hello World seeks to close the digital divide for young people in marginalised communities

globally by connecting children to education, numeracy and literacy skills often for the very

first time. Jingle Jam funding is building several new Hello World Internet hubs in communities in Uganda, Burundi, Nigeria and Nepal which will enable over 25,000 children and young people to get online. Young people like Muwanguzi Benjamin and Susan Nyoka:

“My name is Muwanguzi Benjamin. I am 11 years old and recently started secondary school. I am very grateful for the services provided here at the Namakwekwe Primary School Internet Hub. They have helped me improve my art skills significantly. I come here daily to watch various art tutorials. Now that art is one of my secondary school subjects, I am considering making fine art one of my core subjects. I plan to continue researching to reach advanced stages of art, like creating sculptures and other art pieces.”

“My name is Susan Nyoka. I am a resident of Village 10, and this afternoon when I arrived at the Hub, I found my brother Pitia Alex, who can not talk or hear, learning translated sign language on the tabs using the YouTube app, so I joined him in learning, and as of now, I have learned a few things about sign language. As a result, I felt that as time passed and this endeavour continued, I would learn a lot and be able to fully grasp sign language. Thank you to Hello World for providing free internet.”

Providing food to children and their families

Funds raised by Jingle Jam are enabling Comic Relief and FareShare to provide food to local charities in deprived areas of the UK in response to the cost-of-living crisis. This helps people who are struggling to put meals on the table while preventing environmentally damaging food waste. 

So far, over 20,000 people have received food or meals thanks to Jingle Jam support.

One such local organisation is Emmie’s Kitchen, a project dedicated to supporting and feeding families staying with their children at Manchester Royal Hospital. 

“Parents can sometimes be an invisible community in the hospital – many of them are running on empty. We knew these were the people we wanted to support,” explains Jacqueline, one of the founders. “We’ve put the funding right back into the organisation to buy food or other things that people might need in the hospital. We’ve also put some of the money towards training our volunteers.”