Huddersfield Town’s charity has a new chief executive … and he’s transferred here from Premier League champions Manchester City.
Sam Dainty has been appointed chief executive officer at the Huddersfield Town Foundation after six years with Manchester City’s club charity, City in the Community.
He joined City in the Community in the summer of 2018, progressing from an education management role to becoming Head of Partnerships and Fundraising Growth in June 2021 to ensure the money was there for community projects and campaigns.
Huddersfield Town Foundation now runs lots of sports and educational programmes and Sam will be looking to expand its work.
Sam, 41, who lives in Saddleworth and was educated at Greenhead College, said: “Football is the hook for a lot of the work we do and I’m looking at ways we can expand that.
“My remit is to look at what we’re doing, where we’re going and any potential gaps we could fill to provide some great opportunities for young people in Kirklees.”
The charity employs 24 full-time staff and 15 people on a casual basis and works with around 20 primary and six secondary schools in Kirklees but Sam is aiming to expand that, especially looking at setting up projects aimed at youngsters aged 16 to 19 going through their college years.
He’ll also be looking for potential partnerships and sponsorships with businesses. City in the Community was proactive with this and one example was the Nissan motor company sponsoring the charity’s inclusion and equality work.
“We need to be agile as a charity,” said Sam. “If any businesses are interested in supporting, sponsoring or fundraising for the Foundation – or any aspect of the work we do – I’d love to talk to them.
“Also, there are lots of organisations in Huddersfield doing amazing work so if they feel the Foundation could work with them, again it’d be great to hear from them.”
Huddersfield Town Foundation was set up in 2012 by Town chairman Dean Hoyle and was originally known for its Early Kick-Off Breakfast Club in schools and has since provided more than two million meals to youngsters at more than 40 schools across Kirklees, often in the most deprived areas.
It then grew to include running the Premier League Primary Stars programme in primary schools which follows the National Curriculum and helps youngsters with sport, maths and English.
It also runs schemes for secondary schools such as the Premier League Inspires programme aimed at helping youngsters struggling in school to achieve learning and life skills so they can reach their potential.
Sam said: “The youngsters may not be fulfilling their potential due to attendance, behaviour or mental health. Foundation staff work closely with them and we have some great success stories of youngsters then going on to college, degrees and work, becoming positive role models for others.”
The Foundation also runs multi-sports sessions for disabled youngsters aged eight to 18 and a project called Premier League Kicks, funded by the Premier League Charitable Fund, which allows youngsters to take part in free weekly football sessions and educational workshops.
Other work includes after school sports sessions run by FA qualified coaching staff to build self esteem and encourage healthy lifestyles.
The Foundation now runs a foundation degree in Football Coaching And Development in partnership with the University of South Wales.
Sam began his working life as a trainee PE teacher at Mossley Hollins High School in Mossley, Tameside, and within a year had moved to Matthew Moss High School in Rochdale where he rose to become Head of PE and then Head of Performance over the next 11 years before joining City in the Community.
Huddersfield Town Foundation chair of trustees Dr Delroy Beverley (above) said: “As the Board of Trustees look to refresh and reinvigorate the Huddersfield Town Foundation at all levels to make an even bigger and more meaningful impact in our local area, Sam’s arrival as chief executive officer is an extremely critical and important part of our ambitions.
“The outstanding candidate for the position, his track record and experience provide our hugely talented staff with the best leadership possible and I’m encouraged to see our Foundation grow and evolve under his leadership.
“We are taking the opportunity to work more closely with our friends at the football club and see progress in our combined efforts that can be reflected in more opportunity and investment in Kirklees and beyond.”
To find out more about the Huddersfield Town Foundation go tohttps://www.htafcfoundation.com
W ritten by ANDY HIRST who runs his own Yorkshire freelance journalism agency AH! PR (https://ah-pr.com/) specialising in press releases, blogging, website content, copywriting and ghost-writing autobiographies.
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