Building friendships. Ending loneliness.

Who we are

We’re on a mission to tackle loneliness among young adults,build friendships and drive change with campaigns, research and IRL activities.

Learn more about us

Our Community Activities

The impact we’ve had

77%

Attendees built friendships through the project’s activities

55k

Young adults in our community

73%

Regular attendees found that the project helped reduce their social isolation

40M

Our Campaigns have had 40 Million Impressions

18.5k

18,500+ young adults have participated in the last year

Learn more about our impact

Loneliness & Connection: A Call to Action

Over the past year, we have been part of a coalition of charities, researchers, policymakers and people with lived experience working to develop a shared vision for tackling loneliness in the UK. Drawing on the latest evidence, frontline experience and insights from communities across the country, the group came together around a simple belief: while […]

What We Learned at 10 Downing Street

Recently, I had the privilege of visiting Number 10 Downing Street as part of The Great Get Together, organised by the Jo Cox Foundation and the Prime Minister’s team. The visit came ahead of Loneliness Awareness Week and follows more than a year of work alongside researchers, charities, businesses and policymakers on a cross-government call […]

Together Against Loneliness: WE Award Winner 2025 🌍 🏆

Back in November, I had the huge honour of receiving the WE Award: Together Against Loneliness at the One Young World Summit in Munich 2025, recognising The Great Friendship Project as one of the leading youth-led initiatives tackling loneliness globally. The summit brought together around 2,000 young leaders from 196 countries, all united by a […]

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Research

The State of Friendship | 2026 Report

People are spending less time with friends than ever before, and 1 in 10 Britons report having no close friends.

Our landmark report explores the growing friendship recession, why social connection is declining and what needs to change.

Bringing together research from the UK and internationally, it makes the case for friendship to be taken more seriously across government, workplaces, technology and wider society.

Read the Report

“After moving back to London with most of my friends having left the UK, I was worried about rebuilding friendships. The project has made it easy, and I’ve met some truly lovely people that I now consider my closest friends”

Phoebe Diggins-Thorp

Joined 2023

“Joining the project’s activities was one of the best decisions I’ve made. Making friends was always something I found tricky but the project is easily the best place and way I’ve found to meet new people.”