Building Happier Futures

*Having spent significant time building our knowledge of the care sector, we were struck by the profound inequalities that many children and young people who’ve grown up in care face - who are more likely to be made homeless than go to University.

*As a business driven by its purpose (working in partnership for a happier world) we wanted to create change for these young people - giving them greater opportunities and to unlock their potential. *We therefore created our “Building Happier Futures” programme, pledging to: A) Support young people leaving the care system into meaningful long-term employment at the John Lewis Partnership or with other employers. B) Support children in care to equip them for happier futures through partnerships with voluntary and charity sectors. C) Raise awareness of the inequalities faced by those who are care experienced. *In addition to launching a series of pilots to start bringing more young people from care backgrounds into the Partnership, we wanted to create a level of awareness and fundraising for this community that has never been achieved before. *We therefore used the high profile and fame of John Lewis ad (something that generates millions of views) to do just that. *The result : 40m views on social platforms, reaching 84% of the British public. 1,000 pieces of coverage (30.1m views). £1.1m donations from customers to our charity partners Action for Children (AFC) and Who Cares? Scotland. AFC reported 5,000% uplift in visits to its fostering site on the day of the ad launch.