Company No. NI 660774 Charity No: NIC 107658
Madlug Foundation Trustees Report For the Year Ended 30 April 2025
The Directors present their report and financial statements for the period ended 30/04/24
Principal activity
The Madlug Foundation is an independent registered charity at the heart of the Madlug™ movement. Dave Linton is a former youth worker turned entrepreneur who founded the Madlug movement in 2015 after discovering that most children in care move their belongings in black bin bags. Madlug, standing for Make A Difference Luggage, retails bags & backpacks and with every bag sold, we give a pack-away travel bag to a child or young person in care. It has seen substantial growth as an organisation, funding and has given thousands of pack-away travel bags to children and young people in care. In 2020, the registered charity, Madlug Foundation Ltd was launched, to deliver the social impact of the movement.
The Charitable purposes of the Madlug Foundation are:
(i) To support children and young people in care in the UK & Ireland to travel with dignify by supplying them with luggage
(ii) To raise awareness of the value, worth and dignity of children in care through promotional campaigns
(iii) To train, support and fund employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for care experienced young people.
(iv) To carry out any other activity which fulfils and which further or can conveniently be carried on ancillary or in conjunction with any of the above objectives.
The beneficiaries of Madlug Foundation Limited are children and young adults in care in the UK and Ireland. Madlug Foundation Limited supplies bags and luggage to children and young people in care in the UK and Ireland to allow them to live and travel with dignity. The movement’s mission was to give 125,000 pack-away travel bags to children in care across the UK and Ireland by April 2025, and we were delighted to have been able to achieve this. We will also empower care-experienced young people with job training and entrepreneurial opportunities. The benefits of the charitable purposes are
demonstrated and evidenced through the increasing number of people using the Foundation’s services; providing bags to children and adults in care - improving the quality of their life and ensuring they live with dignity and do not carry their belongings in a plastic bag. All donations of bags are assessed prior to being supplied, to ensure the purposes are fulfilled, and also to ensure that the benefits outweigh any potential harm.
In the 2024/2025 financial year, through partnerships with local authorities, Health Trusts, private care organisations and individual foster carers, 23,271 pack away travel bags were given to children in care, across 127 locations in England, 8 locations in Scotland, 7 locations in Wales, 12 locations in Northern and Southern Ireland, and 2 in the Islands, a total to date of 125,000 pack-away travel bags given to children in care.
The highlights of 2024/2025 have been:
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The growth in the number of individual foster carers requesting bags with 4405 bags given this year - an increase of 1674 on last year, and representing 18.93% of bags given in the 2024/25 financial year.
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Attending and supporting the NYAS event focusing on the ‘My Things Matter’ Campaign at the Senedd in Wales, where existing relationships with local authorities were strengthened and new connections were made. In 2024/2025, 1860 giving bags were distributed through the ‘My Things Matter’ Campaign.
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Deepening relationships with Local Health Trusts in Northern Ireland, especially the South Eastern Trust, where opportunities were created to have strategic conversations with the Head of Service for Leaving Care and an initial order for 240 bags.
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Achieving the ambitious target to give 125,000 bags to children in the care system by April 2025 and work towards eliminating the use of binbags by children in care.
Directors:
The Directors who served during the period are as stated below:
Dave Linton (acting Chairperson) Leigh Brown Paul Gardner Dearbhla Holohan Dave Linton Sarah Jane Mowbray
Structure, Governance and Management
The organisation is a charity and is governed under its constitution.
The Directors are also the charity trustees for the purposes of charity law.
All Directors give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity. Our financial performance has been positive. At this stage we have few overheads,
and all income has been or will be directed towards the charitable aims of the charity.