Our Impact
Since 2021, we’ve been proud to watch our community grow to over 40,000 young adults across London and to have built thousands of friendships blossom, as a result of the project’s regular events, activities and initiatives.
Since 2021, we’ve run weekly events, activities and community initiatives to help young adults connect, build life-long friendships and make amazing memories in the process. In that time, we have:
- Built a community of 40,000 young adults across London and a team of over 20 volunteers
- Hosted over 350 community events in 2 years designed to build friendship and connection, with an average review rating of 4.7/5 over more than 2,500 reviews.
- We have developed, refined and delivered over 25 large scale and cost-effective event concepts, with over 36,000 participants, equating to over 100 attendees per event.
Service Evaluation – 2023
As part of our 2023 evaluation of the project, we found that the project had the following impact:
– 77% of attendees built friendships through the project’s activities.
– 96% of attendees said that they’d had fun at our community events and activities.
– 60% of attendees said that the project’s activities had enabled them to see more of London and make the most of living in city.
– 73% of regular attendees found that the project helped reduce their social isolation
– 67% of regular attendees found the project helped increase their sense of community
– 100% of regular attendees said that the project’s activities had enabled them to have new experiences and develop new interests.
Oscar’s Story
After six years of living in London, Oscar found himself increasingly isolated.
Not only had he lost his girlfriend, but within months, his best friend had also relocated out of the city.
Despite struggling with severe anxiety in the hours leading up-to the event, he was resolved to meet new people and was able to summon the courage to break out of his comfort zone and attend a games night hosted by the Great Friendship Project.
In his story, Oscar shares his journey with The Great Friendship Project (TGFP) and how he overcame his own social anxiety to build friendships and find the sense of community he’d been searching for.
Tom’s Story
“I felt like I came out of a very rough pandemic where I did lose both of my grandma’s during that time and it really knocked my mental health and my confidence.
I remember going weeks without talking to practically anybody apart from my girlfriend at the time.
But I knew that I had that strength and that confidence in me to break out of loneliness and the events proved vital, as I found a sense of belonging that was really important in sort of rebuilding those foundations in my own self-esteem and confidence.”
Paulo’s Story
“I was really worried about moving to London because of how unfriendly people are known to be and the lack of community.
So I felt incredibly lucky in finding the project soon after I moved to London.
I moved to London on the Monday, and met my closest friends on a Wednesday at one of the project’s events.
A year ago, I may have shied away from social opportunities. But I think consistently going to these events has massively helped me to come out of my shell and really thrive socially.”
The Great Friendship Project 