Kids Company Campaigns and Events: 2008–2013 Record

Kids Company’s public campaigns were part fundraiser, part service appeal and part public exhibition. This evidence-led record reconstructs seven lost pages from 2008 to 2013 and shows which events happened, what each appeal promised, and which results can—or cannot—still be verified.

The original material was scattered across short news posts, a missing WordPress page, expired shopping links and pages that disappeared when the former charity closed in August 2015. Bringing the material together makes the sequence more useful than reviving seven isolated notices. It also exposes an important difference: an event can be independently confirmed without its fundraising outcome being known.

What is actually established?

The evidence labels are deliberate. “Recovered page” means the former organisation published the statement. “Independent evidence” means another contemporary or official record corroborates a material detail. Neither label makes a fundraising claim audited. When no settlement statement, annual-account note or partner result survives, the honest answer is “not established”.

Christmas 2008: a missing page and two different numbers

The earliest lost URL was not descriptive: it was simply ?page_id=261. No usable page body has been located in the Internet Archive. Its purpose can nevertheless be recovered from the page that linked to it. A 20 December 2008 MoneySavingExpert post told readers that Kids Company would provide “food, gifts and activities” on Christmas Day for 1,500 children and young people, then pointed directly to page 261 for ways to help.

A later Kids Company presentation supplies a second number. Its Kenbury slide says more than 1,800 children attended Arches II for lunch on Christmas Day 2008. That presentation is stronger evidence of a later reported outcome than the pre-event referring sentence, but it is still an organisational claim rather than an audited attendance register.

Why 1,500 and 1,800 are not necessarily a contradiction

The 1,500 figure appears in a pre-Christmas appeal and is phrased as intended provision. The 1,800 figure appears in a retrospective presentation and is phrased as attendance for lunch. A plan can be exceeded. The populations could also have been counted differently: “food, gifts and activities” across a programme does not automatically equal lunch attendance at one centre.

What the evidence does not justify is silently selecting the larger number as proven fact. The responsible reconstruction is:

• the public appeal described support for 1,500 people;
• Kids Company later reported more than 1,800 Christmas lunches at Arches II;
• the missing original page, underlying records and final cost have not been recovered.

The old page was a call to act before 25 December 2008. It is not a current donation route. The modern guide to checking and supporting a children’s charity explains how to verify a live organisation today.

Gladrags & Handbags 2009: what the designer sale actually was

The former event page itself no longer yields a readable body, but its unusually specific URL records the public dates: 13–15 November 2009. Contemporary press evidence fills in the substance. The sale was presented by Harper’s Bazaar at the Music Room off South Molton Lane in Mayfair and offered donated designer clothing and accessories to support Kids Company’s Christmas work.

A London Evening Standard listing names Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, Chanel, Christian Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Hugo Boss, Donna Karan, Stella McCartney, Chloé, Tom Ford and Luella among the contributing labels. Another listing gives concrete examples of the discount model: Louboutin shoes listed at £100 rather than £595, a Roland Mouret dress at £250 rather than £1,140, Topshop items at £10 and Karen Millen dresses at £30.

Getty Images’ catalogue dates the preview to 12 November 2009 and identifies Chris Martin, Camila Batmanghelidjh, Sunetra Sastry and Kathy Lette at the Music Room. A contemporary Coldplay fan-news report also documents Martin’s presence that evening. The preview date and the public 13–15 November dates therefore describe different parts of the same event, not a one-day discrepancy.

The aim is clearer than the result

The Standard reported that proceeds were intended to fund a Christmas Day for more than 2,000 young people. That establishes the advertised purpose. No source checked publishes gross sales, donated stock value, event costs or a net transfer. It would be false precision to assign the sale an amount from the prices of a handful of items.

The event mattered for another reason: it was a repeatable fundraising format. Designer surplus or donated wardrobes became accessible stock; a recognisable editorial partner supplied reach; the charity connected shopping directly to a seasonal service. The same Gladrags name appears again in Kids Company’s 2012 newsletter record, although the later event had different dates and a Marylebone venue.

Bare Thread: a fashion label intended to fund its own workshops

The recovered Bare Thread page was posted on 18 January 2009. It described a fashion label created by Kids Company staff and young people to showcase students’ work, build routes into fashion and raise awareness of the charity. Its commercial loop was explicit: proceeds from products would be reinvested in creative and educational workshops, some run with London College of Fashion.

The page promoted a downloadable lookbook, T-shirts and the “Hood that Hugs”. It also invited orders and partnership ideas through Bare Thread email addresses. Those addresses and product routes expired years ago and have not been revived.

What survives beyond the launch claim

Later evidence shows that the label progressed beyond a single web announcement. Kids Company’s December 2012 newsletter said Liberty stocked Hoods That Hug and products using designs by young people, including cards made with Liberty-print off-cuts and a charity T-shirt. That is useful corroboration of retail exposure. It does not establish the volume sold, the money reinvested or how many students entered fashion careers.

Bare Thread is best understood as a hybrid:

• creative education, because students developed and presented work;
• public communication, because the products carried the charity’s identity and young people’s designs;
• trading, because products were offered for sale;
• programme finance, because the page said proceeds would return to workshops.

That structure is more informative than describing Bare Thread merely as merchandise. It also explains why the page belongs in the campaign record while the later ALL IN ALL TRANSIT, NewBiggz and F.A-B Arts ventures belong in the separate Kids Company youth social-enterprise record.

Conspiracy for Good: a real-world toy appeal inside a mobile story

On 14 July 2010, Kids Company announced an unusual partnership with Heroes creator Tim Kring and Nokia. Conspiracy for Good was a participatory story played through mobile apps, online clues, alternate-reality gaming, interactive theatre and live London events. The Kids Company element asked people to add a new toy to an installation at the Old Truman Brewery on Saturday 24 July, 10am–4pm.

The archived page said the toys were for 2,000 vulnerable children expected at the charity’s Christmas Day programme. It also promoted an Amazon wish list and the Peace of Mind campaign, which was seeking £5 million to change support for vulnerable children. James Galt, LEGO Games, Bandai UK and Flair were named as manufacturers that had already donated toys.

What Nokia’s completion report proves

Nokia’s 12 August 2010 report confirms that Conspiracy for Good ran four London live events, attracted more than half a million downloads, enrolled more than 4,000 online members and incorporated several real charities into the narrative. It specifically lists Kids Company among the charity partners.

Those project-wide statistics must not be reassigned to Kids Company. Nokia’s report publishes separate outcomes for literacy partners—50 scholarships and five Zambian children’s libraries with more than 10,000 books—but no Kids Company toy count. The correct conclusion is that the event and partnership happened, while the number of toys collected remains unreported in the sources found.

As a campaign design, it anticipated a now-familiar idea: turn an audience from viewers into participants, then attach a physical act to the story. The 24 July action was concrete and low-friction—bring one new toy—but its timing was five months before Christmas. That helped move seasonal procurement earlier while the entertainment supplied urgency.

Christmas 2010: gifts, lunch, games and volunteer labour

The next recovered page was posted on 2 November 2010. Kids Company said it had hosted more than 2,000 children the previous Christmas and expected more in 2010. It described games, activities, Christmas lunch and an individually wrapped gift for each child.

The appeal offered three inputs:

1. buy a requested gift through a John Lewis list;
2. give money online or through a £5 text donation;
3. give time by helping transform the venue or joining the Boxing Day clear-up.

This division of labour is the useful historical detail. Christmas delivery needed suitable stock, flexible money, set-up, service and removal work. The page translated each need into a different supporter action rather than treating “donate” as one undifferentiated request.

The John Lewis list number, SMS keyword, old email and sales links are now historical evidence only. They must not be used. More importantly, the page contains no retrospective total for 2010. “We expect even more” is a forecast, not proof that attendance exceeded 2,000.

Child Hood – The Real Event: 1,049 voices at the Royal Academy

Child Hood – The Real Event ran at the Royal Academy’s 6 Burlington Gardens building from 13 June to 22 July 2012. Admission was free. The recovered Kids Company post, dated 5 July, said 1,049 children and young people contributed work about childhood and heroism, including experiences of violence and sexual or physical abuse.

The exhibition is independently well documented. Time Out, British Vogue, the New Statesman and the Guardian all covered it; the latter described a collaboration involving Royal Academy artists and young people. Contemporary reviews show that this was a public art exhibition with a defined venue and run, not simply a fundraising image campaign.

1,049 contributors and 17,000 supported are different populations

The archived letter also said Kids Company supported 17,000 children a year. That broader claim should not be read as the exhibition’s contributor count. The 1,049 figure refers to people sharing work for the project; 17,000 was the charity’s then-stated annual service reach. The page does not provide a participant roster or show how every contributor related to its service database.

The exhibition’s stated method was to let children communicate experience visually when ordinary testimony might be difficult. Coverage describes painting, sculpture and installation addressing trauma, survival and heroism. That gives the event a dual purpose: the work had artistic standing inside an academy setting, while its public display asked adults to confront what contributors described.

It is also a useful counterweight to celebrity-led fundraising in the record. Here the principal content came from young people themselves. The venue, reviews and famous supporters amplified it; they were not the artwork.

Under 1 Roof 2013: the concert, the raffle and the missing total

The recovered “A night for Kids Company” page offered two VIP seats for Under 1 Roof at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith, on Thursday 19 December 2013. The line-up named Fearne Cotton, Rizzle Kicks, Dynamo, David Brent and Foregone Conclusion, Lily Allen and Coldplay. The prize also included early entry, signed Coldplay memorabilia and access to the aftershow party.

Raffle tickets cost £1. The terms set a ceiling of 20,000 tickets, said sales would run from 14 November to 4 December unless sold out, and scheduled an online random draw for 13 December. “20,000 available” is a maximum inventory, not evidence of £20,000 raised. The actual number sold is absent.

The concert is confirmed; the 2013 profit is not

Eventim’s archive records “Kids under one roof” at the venue on 19 December. The Guardian and London Evening Standard reviewed the show and confirm the principal performers. The Standard also notes that Coldplay’s earlier 2011 O2 event had raised £400,000 for vulnerable children.

That £400,000 belongs to the 2011 event. It is not the result of the 2013 raffle or concert. The 2013 event page promised that raffle proceeds would go to Kids Company, and press coverage described the concert as a charity benefit, but the sources checked do not publish a final 2013 profit. Combining separate years would create a result that no source supports.

Seven campaigns compared by what supporters actually did

The recurring strength was translation. A broad concern—Christmas isolation, lack of opportunity, experiences of trauma—became an action a particular audience could understand. Fashion readers shopped donated stock; mobile-story participants brought toys; museum visitors encountered art; companies supplied teams; music fans bought access or a raffle chance.

The recurring weakness in the surviving public record is closure of the loop. Campaign notices were detailed about the next action but often silent about the final quantity delivered, net proceeds and measured outcome. That does not mean nothing happened. It means the archive supports a narrower conclusion than promotional language sometimes invites.

How this record was reconstructed

Six of the seven former page bodies were recovered through timestamped Internet Archive captures. The 2008 page and 2009 Gladrags body could not be read, so their reconstruction uses the exact incoming-link context, contemporaneous press listings, dated photo metadata and later organisational material. No missing copy has been invented.

For each campaign, four questions were applied:

1. What did the original page ask people to do?
2. Which date, venue, partner or mechanic can another source confirm?
3. Is a later delivery or financial result published?
4. Which numbers describe plans, availability, participation or annual reach rather than outcomes?

This method prevents familiar archive errors: treating a maximum raffle inventory as tickets sold, a campaign-wide audience as charity-specific delivery, an annual service figure as exhibition participation, or a result from one year as the result of another event.

Frequently asked questions

What were Kids Company’s best-known campaigns and events?

The recovered 2008–2013 pages cover large Christmas operations, Gladrags & Handbags fashion sales, the Bare Thread youth label, Conspiracy for Good, Child Hood at the Royal Academy and Coldplay’s Under 1 Roof benefit. Other major projects are documented in the Kids Company Archive.

How many children attended Kids Company at Christmas 2008?

A pre-event referring page said support was planned for 1,500 children and young people. A later Kids Company presentation reported more than 1,800 attending Arches II for lunch. The underlying attendance records were not located, so the latter remains an attributed retrospective claim.

When was Gladrags & Handbags held in 2009?

The public sale was listed for 13–15 November 2009 at the Music Room in Mayfair. Getty’s catalogue and contemporary coverage document a preview attended by Chris Martin on 12 November.

What was Bare Thread?

Bare Thread was a fashion label created by Kids Company staff and young people. Its recovered page said products would showcase students’ designs and proceeds would finance creative and educational workshops, including work with London College of Fashion.

How was Kids Company involved in Conspiracy for Good?

Kids Company asked participants to bring a new Christmas toy to an Old Truman Brewery event on 24 July 2010. Nokia’s later project report confirms Kids Company as a charity partner, but does not publish the number of toys collected for it.

How many children contributed to Child Hood – The Real Event?

The recovered Kids Company page says 1,049 children and young people shared work for the exhibition. That is distinct from the charity’s separate claim that it supported 17,000 children in a year.

Who performed at Under 1 Roof in 2013?

The bill included Coldplay, Lily Allen, Rizzle Kicks, Dynamo and Ricky Gervais as David Brent with Foregone Conclusion; contemporary reviews also record surprise participation by Robbie Williams and other guests.

Did the 2013 Under 1 Roof raffle raise £20,000?

That cannot be established. The terms made up to 20,000 tickets available at £1 each, but availability is not proof of sales. No final raffle settlement was found.

Can the old gift lists, emails, raffle or donation links still be used?

No. They belonged to a charity that ceased operating in 2015. They are preserved only as historical evidence and should not be used to send money, products or personal information.