Jürgen Klopp praises “incredible” LFC Foundation with 47% increase in people supported and £65m in health benefits

Jürgen Klopp has praised the “incredible” LFC Foundation after its been announced that the charity has seen a 47% increase in people supported and £65m in health benefits.

Reds’ boss Jürgen Klopp has praised the hope and belief the LFC Foundation gives to people, as the club’s official charity released its third annual social impact report.

The men’s first team manager, who is an ambassador for LFC Foundation, also revealed his pride in the “incredible job” the Foundation continues to do every day in the Liverpool City Region and beyond.

Klopp was speaking as the LFC Foundation announced over the last 12 months alone it has seen a 47% increase in the number of people supported – from 83,694 to 122,861 unique users. While the number of contact hours across all programmes has grown from 348,000 hours to 675,986.

LFC Foundation first started providing independent reporting on its impact for the 2020/21 season, and prides itself on its continued verified and transparent statistics to accurately convey its impact, which has been continued for the third year in a row by research and technology company Substance.

In those three years the Foundation has delivered over £65million in health benefits and contributed over £16million directly into the local economy, and now has a cumulative overall social value of more than £192million. For every £1 spent or raised for the Foundation, it is able to create a social return of £13.

Speaking about his love for LFC Foundation, Jürgen Klopp, said:

“I am happy and proud to be an ambassador for the LFC Foundation. To have people listening to me is the best thing I can do to help our Foundation. All of the people who work for our Foundation do an incredible job, I love them all, because the things they are doing are just incredible.

“It’s such a wonderful organisation and the best thing a football club can do is to give people good moments, hope, belief and the knowledge that they are actually never alone. I enjoy each moment with the Foundation, it’s really great, so it’s win-win situation for all of us.”

Almost half of LFC Foundation’s participants in the last 12 months were from the 10% most deprived local authority wards in the country, showing just how much it is embedded in the most high-need local communities.

While sport and improving physical health are at the heart of what the Foundation does, its work covers so much more, with 60% of LFC Foundation staff involved in non-sport specific programmes.

This includes working with young people to help keep them out of gangs or exploited by County Lines crime organisations, through youth intervention work, giving young people the skills to help them get jobs, and providing specialist mental health courses.

Liverpool FC — Credit: LFC Foundation/Getty Images

LFC Foundation has also been a direct funder of a range of projects for children and young people delivered through trusted partner charities and community groups, as well as making direct donations.

Almost 90,000 gifts have been donated to 17,500 individuals experiencing significant disadvantage, mainly via Red Neighbours in the last 12 months, with a total recorded value of £1.4million, an increase of 84% year-on-year.

Matt Parish, LFC Foundation chief executive, added:

“Each season we aim to improve and deliver the best possible outcomes for the young people and families that need our support the most, ensuring that we are making a positive impact to their lives.

“We started these official impact reports three years ago to ensure that we continue to define, monitor, asses and report on our impact to help us to continue to grow and be a leader in the sector. Key to this is transparent and accurate reporting, which ensures that we remain authentic, credible and true to the values of our football club.

“The Foundation continues to be humbled by the outstanding support we receive from across the LFC Family – our players, fans and valued partners – we simply could not reach so many without their support. And as the need for support unfortunately continues to grow, we need this support more than ever.”