Charlton Athletic Community Trust: 25 years of community work
Jason Morgan MBE established the community programme at Charlton Athletic Football Club in August 1992 through a partnership between the Club and the Professional Footballers’ Association. Following years of expansion and success in community development, Charlton FC then set up the Charlton Athletic Community Trust (CACT) with Jason becoming the Chief Executive in 2009.
In 2017-18, CACT celebrated 25 years of community work with a series of anniversary events and published its first organisation-wide Impact Report which calculated that community work has a social value of more than £31 million.
CACT over the years has won numerous industry awards, winning the Beyond Sport Global Team of the year in 2104 and The Football League’s Community Club of the Year award in 2009, 2013 and 2016. CACT currently employs 92 permanent members of staff and over 100 casual staff which engage with thousands of young people each week. In 2012, CACT became the first football community programme in the country to be commissioned the deliver a Council’s Youth Service Provision, and again lead the way in 2017 becoming the first football charity to affiliate an LGBTQI+ Friendly team to the community trust.
CACT is regarded as one of the largest football charities in the country and last year turned over £5.4m. CACT has been highly recognised for the diverse projects delivered locally and internationally which have seen HRH Prince William and HRH Prince Charles visit projects run. Work in South Africa townships, for over a 10 year period was held up as an example of best practice and depicted by England’s World Cup 2018 bid book.
