Wolves Foundation: Reflections of a busy 2025
Wolves Foundation, the club’s official charity, are heading into 2026 off the back of a very busy 12 months delivering events and projects for people of all ages and abilities across the city.
In partnership with many different funders and organisations, the Foundation delivered over 20,000 hours of work on over 45 unique projects during the last year, engaging with over 100 community venues.
There were many highlights, including the launch of the new five-year strategy at a packed event in August, the biggest ever Gala Dinner honouring some inspirational people in front of almost 350 guests in November, and being crowned double winners at the Black Country Chamber of Commerce Awards in the same month.
As well as the showpiece gala dinner, many other events also took place designed to raise awareness and funds for the Foundation, including the influential Molineux Sleepout, in partnership with the Good Shepherd.
This year’s event, where singing superstar Beverley Knight joined almost 250 other participants in sleeping in the Stan Cullis Stand on a cold November night, raised over £50,000 to be split between the two charities.
The Foundation also linked up with Compton Care for the second Hiking Heroes back in June, an intrepid team including staff from both charities completing the challenge of traversing the Yorkshire Three Peaks.
The Molineux Abseil returned – Wolves legend Geoff Palmer among those making the journey to dry land from the top of the Billy Wright Stand, as well as the Foundation sending teams of runners to both the Wolverhampton 10k and Great Birmingham Run.
June is always a very busy month and, as well as hosting two days of a Premier League Primary Stars tournament for young people from across the country, the Foundation delivered several days of ‘Play on the Pitch’ activity offering participants of all ages and abilities the opportunity to grace the hallowed Molineux turf.
The day-to-day work of the Foundation continued at pace, including new funding secured for the Healthy Goals initiative for pre-school toddlers and their parents, and a new Kick Off project aimed at increasing access to free recreational football for adults across the city - and supporting grass roots clubs with their off-field operations. Meanwhile the Building Brighter Futures campaign continued to both help people get active and access various financial benefits, saving a total of £41,492.78 for 33 participants in October alone.
Junior tennis champion Henry Searle was named as a new Foundation ambassador during the summer, whilst Wolves legends and Vice-Presidents John Richards and Steve Bull joined the equally iconic Robert Plant in becoming honorary patrons of the charity, launched with a visit to the Head 4 Health Allotment in Heath Town on World Mental Health Day in October.
Visits to Foundation projects from Wolves players past and present was another vital part of the year’s activities, with Molineux Memories in particular providing some fantastic afternoons for people with dementia and their carers.
Happy New Year, from all at Wolves Foundation!