Kids Company 2013 Newsletters: Complete Archive Record

Twelve Kids Company publications survive from February to December 2013. Read together, they document the opening of the Morgan Stanley Heart Yard, a year of art and retail partnerships, urgent mentor recruitment, the charity’s first social-enterprise campaign, Christmas preparations for 4,000 people—and several claims and dates that need correction rather than repetition.

The complete 2013 sequence at a glance

The former site did not publish one tidy annual index. Some entries were monthly newsletters, one was a volunteer pool, two promoted individual art projects and the final post merely named a raffle winner. Consolidating them by year restores the chronology while keeping every old page findable.

This sequence matters because recurring items are reminders, not automatically new events. The Bupa run appears in February and April; the Superhero Run in April and May; Thinking Hats in June and July; the Vietnam–Cambodia cycle in April, July, September and October. An annual account must preserve those repetitions without counting each mention as a separate programme.

February to April: fashion, publishing, sport and a year-long mentor commitment

Global Kids Fashion Week: one public show, not every event receipt

The newsletter posted on 27 February promoted the first Global Kids Fashion Week at Freemasons’ Hall on 19–20 March. It described catwalks, performances and family activities organised by children’s retailer AlexandAlexa with the V&A Museum of Childhood, and said all proceeds from the public show on Wednesday 20 March would go to Kids Company. It also advertised an auction of fashion items.

The precise wording sets the boundary: the pledge applied to the public SS13 show, not every commercial activity associated with the two-day programme. The recovered issue does not publish ticket volume, auction takings, costs or the final transfer. The event can be reconstructed confidently; a donation total cannot.

International Women’s Day at Selfridges

For 8 March, Selfridges offered a £50 lunch in its Tasting Room with Mariella Frostrup and Camila Batmanghelidjh, a three-course meal, discussion and gift bag. The issue said all ticket proceeds would be donated. Again, capacity and final receipts are missing, so £50 is a ticket price rather than a per-person net donation proved by a settlement.

Placed beside Global Kids Fashion Week, the lunch shows a recurring 2013 model: use a recognisable venue and public conversation to create a bounded paid experience, then connect its proceeds to the charity. It was distinct from the open sponsored events that followed.

Mind the Child and the expiring government grant

The issue advertised Mind the Child at £4.99 as Kids Company’s contribution to Penguin’s twelve-book series for the London Underground’s 150th anniversary. The Victoria line was chosen because it crossed the area of the charity’s frontline service. The book was not merely merchandise: it used a physical London route as a way to narrate children’s experiences and the organisation’s work.

In the same newsletter, Kids Company said its two-year government grant was due to close in April 2013 and linked to an interview about pressure on frontline services. That juxtaposition is revealing. High-profile fashion and publishing partnerships increased reach, but the newsletter still presented the organisation as struggling to replace core public funding. Event visibility and unrestricted operating cash were not the same thing.

April’s urgent male-mentor appeal

The 5 April issue led with the year’s clearest volunteer specification. It sought male mentors for young people who lacked a positive male role model and required a one-to-one meeting every week for at least a year. Applicants needed the then-current CRB/DBS-style police check and had to complete Kids Company’s interview, training and matching process.

The long commitment is the important detail. This was not a one-day volunteering opportunity dressed up as mentoring. Consistency and reliability were part of the intervention described. Modern safeguarding terminology, providers and application routes have changed, so the old telephone number and email must not be treated as an active pathway. Readers looking to help now should use the current UK guide to volunteering with children.

Three physical challenges with three different costs

April also promoted the Bupa London 10,000 on 27 May, the 5 km/10 km Superhero Run in Regent’s Park on 19 May and a 350 km Saigon-to-Siem Reap cycle from 8 to 17 November. The prices reveal how different the asks were:

• Bupa London 10,000: £25 registration and a suggested £200 sponsorship target;
• Superhero Run: a £100 fundraising pledge after online registration;
• Vietnam–Cambodia cycle: £300 registration and £2,000 minimum sponsorship, with flights, insurance and kit explicitly excluded.

A minimum sponsorship amount is not the same as a participation fee, and neither proves the charity’s net return. The overseas challenge in particular imposed costs beyond the figures in the bold headline. The newsletter deserves credit for naming those exclusions; a modern reader should still regard every 2013 itinerary, price, operator and insurance assumption as closed.

The issue ended with London24 naming Kids Company its 2013 Community Action Partner. The surviving page establishes the announcement and intended awareness-raising. It does not quantify audience, referrals or donations attributable to the media relationship.

May and June: a permanent therapy centre and partnerships built around it

The Morgan Stanley Heart Yard opened on 30 April

The May newsletter began with the opening of the Morgan Stanley Heart Yard by Joanna Lumley, Batmanghelidjh and Morgan Stanley International Foundation chair Sue Watts. It said Morgan Stanley employees had raised £1.6m to buy and equip the building, making it the first centre Kids Company owned outright.

Morgan Stanley’s contemporary announcement supplies the strongest independent check. It records £1.3m raised by July 2012, more than £1.6m by opening, a 30 April opening date and services beginning in May. It also says the new property offered double the capacity of the former rented centre.

The newsletter translated “double capacity” into an operational ambition: six additional dedicated therapy rooms and a plan to move from 500 to 1,000 face-to-face sessions each month. That is a target, not a later utilisation report. The building purchase and opening are confirmed; a completed run of 1,000 monthly sessions needs service data the issue does not provide.

Sainsbury’s nominations, playschemes and Marylebone

May asked customers to nominate Kids Company as a Sainsbury’s Local Charity before 15 May. Selection would mean twelve months of store fundraising and volunteering. A nomination was therefore the first step in a local process, not a national partnership or guaranteed grant.

The corporate playscheme was more concrete. Company teams were invited to help run cooking, sport, arts, crafts and drama at two schools for up to 50 children early in the summer holidays. Unlike the weekly mentor commitment, this was a bounded group activity. The newsletter does not report which employers participated or how many places were filled.

The Marylebone Summer Fayre returned on 16 June with a Kids Company bar, tombola and voluntary £1 additions at local retailers and restaurants. “Every penny” from the festival bar and optional bill additions are two distinct contribution streams. No final settlement has survived for either.

Channel 4’s The Secret Millions: the funding format matters

The May issue referred readers to the 28 April broadcast in which Gok Wan worked with young people on a therapy-informed employment programme. It described a pilot designed to develop workplace skills and an attempt to secure Big Lottery money to make it permanent.

Channel 4’s launch announcement confirms that Gok Wan teamed with Kids Company and explains the format: five charities developed pilots while competing for access to a total £10m, with up to £2m attached to each concept. That does not prove Kids Company received £10m or even £2m merely by appearing. The broadcast was part demonstration and part funding decision.

Art with Heart: a proposed recurring fundraising model

The separate 17 May post promoted German artist Günter Roth’s Bathers at the Saatchi Gallery on 22 May. It said half of sales would go to Kids Company and described the event as the first in an intended annual programme developed by supporters Luca and Graziella Ferrari.

The page contains extensive background on the artist and a clear rationale: build a repeatable art platform that could help fund therapeutic services. But it gives no catalogue of works sold, gross sales, deduction policy or final transfer. It proves a private view and a 50% pledge were announced; it cannot establish that the annual model continued.

June: the Chelsea garden’s second life

The June newsletter connected the Heart Yard to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Garden designer Susannah Hunter and Catherine MacDonald created the Massachusetts Garden; after the show, its planting was moved to the new centre with Morgan Stanley volunteers.

This was more useful than a short-lived display donation. The plants became part of the calm outdoor environment around a permanent therapy property. The newsletter ties public design, corporate volunteering and service infrastructure together in one traceable chain: show garden, volunteer transfer, therapeutic setting.

Whole Foods, Charlotte Tilbury and Thinking Hats

On 19 June, the Kensington High Street Whole Foods was to donate 5% of total store sales for the day to the Plate Pledge food appeal. On 17–23 June, Charlotte Tilbury’s House of Rock ’n’ Kohl at Selfridges combined consultations, demonstrations and limited-edition pouches. British Vogue confirms the dates and format; the recovered newsletter is the source for its “all proceeds” wording.

The issue also previewed Anthropologie’s Thinking Hats, opening 3 July. It said 12 children spent 12 weeks transforming recycled display material into hats based on six emotions. The July follow-up changed only one key figure: it said 10 children, not 12. There is no participant list or catalogue to resolve whether two children withdrew, one issue counted differently or one number was simply wrong. The responsible record keeps both counts visible.

Running for “over 36,000 vulnerable children across London”

Ten extra places for the Royal Parks Half Marathon on 6 October were attached to the claim that runners would help more than 36,000 vulnerable children across London. This sentence later became part of the debate about Kids Company’s reach because the annual report used broader population and geographic language. The complete explanation appears below; the newsletter wording should not be used on its own.

July: repeat challenges, changing figures and a revealing volunteer bulletin

The July newsletter made Thinking Hats the lead story and set its run as 3–31 July at 139 King’s Road. It then offered three endurance routes: the 54-mile London-to-Brighton cycle on 8 September; 25 km, 50 km or 100 km versions of the Thames Path Challenge on 14–15 September; and the November Vietnam–Cambodia ride.

The formats ranged from a day ride with £35 registration and £100 suggested sponsorship to a 100 km, roughly 24-hour ultra challenge and a ten-day overseas trip. Listing them side by side gave supporters choices, but the newsletter provides no completion, sponsorship or net-income data. Four mentions of the overseas cycle across the year are four marketing reminders for one scheduled expedition.

The 31 July Volunteer Pool shows what “volunteering” actually meant

The separate bulletin is one of the year’s most practically informative documents because it lists five different assignments rather than using a generic call to help:

• Urban Academy administration: two people, two weekdays a week for at least twelve weeks, supporting finance liaison, filing, room bookings and student opportunities; a current Kids Company police/DBS check was required.
• Countryside Live: eight checked volunteers to accompany two Year 5 classes between Riverley School and Lee Valley Park on 25 September.
• Library organisation: one or two people to arrange a quiet head-office reading and research area.
• Freud Museum launch: a 4 September evening beginning at the Anna Freud Centre, with Peter Fonagy and Batmanghelidjh, followed by a private view; 90 tickets were advertised at £20.
• Wilderness Festival childcare: Mortimer Nannies planned paid babysitting sessions in a yurt on 8–11 August, saying 100% of its proceeds would go to Kids Company.

The contrast is useful. Administrative continuity required twelve weeks and access checks; a school trip required eight checked adults on one date; a library task needed organisation skills; the museum was a paid event; the festival was a partner service with a proceeds pledge. None of the expired contacts is a current vacancy, but the record explains what was being requested far better than a surviving “volunteer” label alone.

September and October: art, research, social enterprise—and two publishing errors

Hide and Seek at the Freud Museum

The September newsletter led with work made by children following experiences of trauma and neglect, installed throughout the Freud Museum. It advertised public viewing from 5 to 29 September. The Freud Museum’s permanent exhibition record gives 4–29 September because it includes the launch evening; the volunteer bulletin independently names that 4 September launch.

These dates are compatible once the opening event and normal public run are separated. The museum record also confirms that the works explored defences, hiding and the emotional effects of trauma. An Anna Freud account confirms Peter Fonagy’s role and the partnership around the opening.

Eleven Imola chairs and one £500 football-team ask

BoConcept invited eleven designers to reinterpret its Imola chair for a 19 September auction in aid of Kids Company. The newsletter names designers including Nina Campbell, Timorous Beasties, Melanie Porter and Ella Doran but gives no hammer prices. The Kids Company Cup on 27 September requested a £500 donation for each corporate five-a-side team and said only two team spaces remained. “Requested” is not “received”; capacity is not a result.

Molecules of Happiness and what the LSE work can prove

The 26 September conference at LSE launched research into Kids Company’s organisational model and combined it with work from UCL and the University of East London. The surviving LSE report, Underground Sociabilities, is a substantive qualitative and organisational study. It describes a diagnosis and treatment model, young people’s social worlds and the role of attachment and care.

It should not be stretched into a controlled outcome trial. The research was undertaken with the organisation and is valuable for understanding its theory and practices; it does not independently validate every beneficiary count, clinical effect or gang-violence claim. A contemporaneous LSE policy discussion made the broader point that youth-violence programmes needed stronger outcome evidence.

Frontline London moved from coverage to three early enterprises

The October issue introduced Kids Company’s partnership with the Evening Standard to expose gang violence and help young people build social enterprises. A later Evening Standard follow-up closes part of the loop: it records three early businesses—NewBiggz, All in All Transit and The FAB Arts Company—and £10,000 start-up grants for the finalists.

A further April 2014 campaign update describes a next phase and an additional £3.8m government pledge for grassroots gangs work. That later pledge was not the October newsletter’s result and should not be presented as £3.8m paid to Kids Company.

October’s Santa-run date was wrong

The October newsletter says the Victoria Park Santa Fun Run was on 9 December. In 2013, 9 December was a Monday. The November issue says Sunday 8 December, which matches the calendar and contemporary ELLE coverage. The corrected historical date is therefore Sunday 8 December 2013.

The archived October body also repeats part of the Vietnam–Cambodia paragraph inside its Arctic Biathlon section. That appears to be a page-copying or publishing error, not a second cycle. The genuine Arctic offer named two weekends, husky sleds, Nordic skis and temperatures as low as −30°C; the copied cycle paragraph should not be used to reconstruct it.

Gladrags linked October sales to Christmas delivery

The 11–13 October Gladrags & Handbags sale at the Old Truman Brewery advertised new designer stock with 100% of proceeds for Kids Company’s Christmas period. The issue anticipated support for more than 4,000 children, young people and family members on Christmas Day and food gift bags for more than 7,500 people.

Those are two populations and two forms of support, not 11,500 distinct audited beneficiaries. Someone at the party might also belong to a household receiving a bag. The newsletter does not supply a deduplication method or final event count.

November and December: Christmas products, 2,000 Santas and two art fundraisers

The 4 November issue led with preparations for a Christmas party at the Oval for 4,000 children and young people. It then showed how product design, retail space, participation and corporate equipment were being assembled around that operation.

John Lewis: designed through two school workshops

Kids Company said children aged 8–9 worked with therapeutic practitioners and the John Lewis design team during two school art sessions. Their ideas became onesies, long-sleeved tops and tote bags for ages 1–6, with 10% of the selling price pledged to the charity at nine stores and online.

The wording matters: 10% of selling price is a gross-price formula, unlike a percentage of profit. The recovered issue gives no eligible sales or return figure, so it supports the collaboration and formula but not a final amount.

Liberty, Selfridges and “Hoods that Hug”

Liberty stocked four knitted hoods designed by Olivia and three bird ponchos designed by Humaira under Kids Company’s Bare Thread label. The newsletter says 50% of profit would support the charity. Selfridges stocked related “Hood That Hugs” garments and planned buskers and donation points.

Half of profit is not half of the shelf price. Without a cost definition and sales account, it cannot be converted into a donation total. The creative purpose is still clear: young people reworked the threatening stereotype attached to a hoodie into clothing intended to feel safe and distinctive.

Radley’s first picture book has the year’s cleanest product pledge

Radley’s Twelve Days of Christmas was the accessories company’s first picture book. The newsletter promised £2 from each copy. A surviving Nosy Crow publisher record matches the product, partnership and £2-per-copy amount; illustrator Steven Lenton’s production account describes making the 32-page book in six weeks.

This is precise corroboration of the mechanism, but still not the missing denominator. A final sales count would be needed to calculate how much Kids Company received.

Sunday 8 December: the date the Santa run actually used

The November newsletter expected more than 2,000 participants at Victoria Park across 5 km and 10 km routes. Unlike October’s incorrect date, it identifies Sunday 8 December. ELLE’s contemporary record confirms the same date, place, distances and Kids Company connection.

Samsung’s Digital Classroom was an announcement, not an evaluation

The final November item thanked Samsung for a Digital Classroom at the Arches II centre, describing tablets, computers, cameras and training resources. No stable Samsung case study or usage report for this exact installation was located. The defensible statement is that Kids Company announced the classroom and its intended educational purpose; learner numbers and outcomes remain unknown.

The Artists’ Colouring Book: book income and auction income were different

On 5 December, Kids Company announced that 26 international artists had each interpreted a letter of the alphabet. The list included Alex Katz, Joseph Kosuth, Paula Rego, Tracey Emin, Grayson Perry, Marc Quinn, Gavin Turk, Gary Hume and Mat Collishaw. Original works were displayed at Sotheby’s New Bond Street before a 12 December auction.

The Kids Company post says all proceeds from the sale of the originals would be donated. Contemporary Evening Standard coverage adds a second, separate mechanic: 10% of profits from the published book plus all funds from the original-art auction. Combining those phrases into “all book sales went to charity” would be wrong.

The final post names a raffle winner, but not the prize

The 16 December “Drum roll please!” post contains only a result: David Kita, ticket number 4555, won the Coldplay Under 1 Roof raffle and was asked to contact the fundraising team. The surviving body does not say what the prize was, how many tickets were sold or how much was raised. A useful archive resists filling those blanks from a similarly named Coldplay event.

What the 36,000 headline actually counted

The June newsletter said Royal Parks runners would help “over 36,000 vulnerable children across London”. November referred to “the 36,000 children and young people we support”. Kids Company’s 2013 annual-report language was broader again: approximately 36,000 children, young people and vulnerable adults across its wider operation.

The amended Charity Commission inquiry report records the explanation later given by the former chief executive:

• approximately 19,000 school pupils;
• approximately 9,700 children at street-level centres; and
• approximately 7,200 adults.

The rounded components total 35,900, which explains the approximate headline. The central issue was methodology. The Commission understood the number to include indirect beneficiaries—for example, other family members where one child received direct help, or classmates where one pupil received direct support. It concluded that this should have been made explicit whenever the total was used.

The 2025 High Court judicial-review judgment did not remove that finding. The challenge to this section failed because evidence existed on which the regulator could rationally reach its conclusion. Other passages were amended or removed following the litigation; this beneficiary-count conclusion remained.

Two simplistic readings are therefore both wrong. The evidence does not show that every one of 36,000 was an invented person, and it does not show that 36,000 individual London children each received direct casework. The headline combined different populations, places and degrees of contact. June’s short fundraising sentence hid those distinctions.

How to compare the contribution language

The year uses almost every common charity-retail formula. They should not be treated as synonyms.

A pledge explains a route by which value was meant to move. A result establishes how much did move. Only a sales count, settlement, auction result or recipient record can bridge that gap. That is why the £2 Radley pledge can be independently confirmed while the total donation still remains unknown.

Announcements and later outcomes compared

What the full year reveals

June and November alone make 2013 look like a seasonal retail story. The complete sequence is broader. Spring paired financial anxiety with fashion, publishing, exercise and an urgent need for long-term male mentors. May turned years of Morgan Stanley fundraising into a property the charity owned. Summer connected children’s art to retail display materials and exposed how varied volunteer work actually was. Autumn placed the organisation inside a museum, an academic conference, a newspaper campaign and social-enterprise funding. Christmas concentrated products, art and mass participation around a large support operation.

The year’s competitive strength was translation. A grocer could offer one day of turnover; a designer could turn workshop ideas into clothing; a museum could make children’s art public; a company team could move a garden or run a playscheme; a publisher could attach a fixed amount to a book; a newspaper could turn attention to business grants. Kids Company offered many ways into one story.

The weakness was measurement consistency. Promotional copy mixed targets, capacity, contribution formulas, approximate populations and later outcomes. The 36,000 shorthand erased direct/indirect and child/adult distinctions. Thinking Hats changed its participant count. The Santa run moved from the wrong Monday date to the correct Sunday. The October page duplicated cycle copy in another challenge. These are not reasons to discard the newsletters; they are reasons to read them as dated communications and check each consequential claim against a better record.

For connected primary records, see the Heart Yard reconstruction, the child-led Print Happiness campaign, the team and trustees record and the complete Kids Company archive.

Frequently asked questions

Which Kids Company newsletters and updates survive from 2013?

Twelve former-site records were recovered: the March, April, May, June, July, September, October and November newsletters; the July Volunteer Pool; the Art with Heart notice; the Artists’ Colouring Book post; and the short Coldplay raffle-winner post.

What were the biggest Kids Company developments in 2013?

The Heart Yard opened as Kids Company’s first owned therapy centre after Morgan Stanley fundraising passed £1.6m; the charity launched work with Channel 4, the Freud Museum, LSE and Frontline London; and its Christmas newsletter described a party for 4,000 children and young people.

How much did Morgan Stanley raise for the Heart Yard?

Morgan Stanley reported more than £1.6m raised by the 30 April 2013 opening. The building offered twice the previous property’s capacity; the newsletter’s move from 500 to 1,000 face-to-face sessions a month was a target, not a published result.

What was The Secret Millions project with Gok Wan?

Gok Wan worked with Kids Company on a therapy-informed employment pilot for young people. Channel 4’s five-part format offered five projects the chance to secure portions of £10m in Big Lottery funding; appearing did not mean Kids Company automatically received the whole sum.

How many children made the Anthropologie Thinking Hats?

The June newsletter says 12 children worked for 12 weeks; the July issue says 10 children over the same period. No stable participant record was found to resolve the discrepancy, so both contemporary figures are preserved.

When did the Hide and Seek exhibition run?

The launch was on 4 September 2013 and the Freud Museum dates the full exhibition 4–29 September. Kids Company’s September newsletter advertised normal public viewing from 5–29 September, so the one-day difference reflects the launch.

When was the 2013 Victoria Park Santa Fun Run?

It was Sunday 8 December 2013. The October newsletter’s 9 December date was wrong; the November newsletter, calendar and contemporary ELLE coverage all support Sunday the 8th.

Did Radley donate £2 from every Christmas book?

Yes. Publisher Nosy Crow independently confirmed a £2 donation from each copy of Radley’s Twelve Days of Christmas sold. The surviving sources do not state the final eligible sales or total donation.

Did Kids Company directly support 36,000 children in London?

Not in the simple sense implied by the June wording. The wider total combined about 19,000 school pupils, 9,700 street-level children and 7,200 adults and included indirect beneficiaries. The regulator said that method should have been clearly disclosed.

Can the old volunteer, event and donation details still be used?

No. The activities and contacts date from 2013–2014 and Kids Company closed in August 2015. Use current organisations, checks, event operators and payment routes rather than any archived instruction.

Return to the Kids Company archive or continue to the evidence-led profile of Camila Batmanghelidjh and Kids Company.