Access Sport’s partnership with The Columbia Threadneedle Foundation began in 2013 and is one of our most successful long-term partnerships.

Support from the Foundation has been instrumental to Access Sport’s growth over the last decade and has enabled Access Sport to support over 60,000 disabled and disadvantaged children and young people during this time.

During the current phase of our partnership, The Foundation has supported several key projects including the expansion of our Changing Sports (basketball) work in London, with both a disability and social inclusion focus. The Foundation is also supporting our Changing Places multi-sport work to expand into three additional London Boroughs, so that more disabled children can take part in low-cost, inclusive community sport.

Our partnership began in 2013 when Columbia Threadneedle teamed up with Access Sport to develop Tri-3-Sportz, a legacy programme designed to break down barriers to triathlon and make the sport more accessible to young people in London.

Building on the success of Tri-3 Sportz, we then worked with The Foundation to enable 1,000 disadvantaged young people to develop the core physical literacy skills of running, cycling and swimming - specifically enabling inactive teenagers to become active and to benefit from lifestyle and health improvements. 

Columbia Threadneedle staff have fully engaged in our partnership since day one by taking part in several one-day volunteering initiatives, increasing the overall impact of our partnership. This has included volunteers helping Access Sport to deliver inclusive multi-sport festivals for disabled children and young people and supporting the cycling inclusion programme by carrying out bike maintenance at BMX pump tracks across London.

We look forward to continuing our work with The Columbia Threadneedle Foundation during the years ahead!