Catch us while you can! Spirit of 2012 will close at the end of this year

Spirit of 2012 was established as a spend-out trust and our intention from the get-go has always been to close. It is important to us, and the National Lottery, that the generous endowment they gave us in 2013 is used in a timeframe that benefits the people that played and contributed to the pot. When we announced our Strategy, ‘Happier People, Happier Places’ in January 2020 we set a firm intention to spend out and close by the end of 2026 at the latest.

Last year we set about developing the detailed plans for closure, and the Board agreed that we would close fully and finally by the end of January 2026. This means that 2025 is the last operational year for Spirit of 2012. We will be holding a final learning event in October and then seek to wind up the organisation by the end of the year.

It is bittersweet – we know that Spirit has had an impact in the sectors we have worked in and, arguably, could continue to do so. However, being time-limited has given us a freedom to operate that being pre-occupied by future planning and fundraising would not have. The end of this year is the right time to close and we go into the year feeling very positive about what this means for the organisation, and personally for the team.

What will live on is all the learning and insights we have collected over the last 10+ years which will form an archive of material that can be used by anyone interested in events, large and small, or how to use sports, arts and culture effectively for social impact. Our Legacy Learning Partners will also be developing products and insights from that knowledge bank for specific areas of interest.

But – we haven’t shut up shop yet! There are a number of actions we’d like you to do if you’re interested in Spirit’s work.

1. Download any documents from our website that you would like to hold a copy of. As mentioned above, we will leave a searchable knowledge bank and archive, but do download and store anything that you might find useful in future. If you want to publish any Spirit reports or documents on your website, please do speak to us. There will be more to come on the archive plans later in the New Year.
2. Give us feedback now on how you’d like to engage with our learning once we are not around. We’re keen that it’s easy to navigate, so do please tell us if there’s things you think we have and can’t find, or need some signposting.
3. We will spend a lot of this year sharing what we know in meetings, webinars and one to ones. If you would find it useful to have a conversation with us or invite us to share with you, please do get in touch with us early in the year so we can make sure we have it in the diary. If you think someone in your networks might find our learning useful do pass on our details.
4. If you are organising an event now we would especially love the opportunity to share what we’ve learnt with you.
5. Engage in learning events and the final summit that we will be running. We will be hosting a number of sharing events – large and small – and we would love to see as many people as possible. Sign up to our newsletter and keep an eye on LinkedIn for more, or email ([email protected]) and let us know you’d like to be on the list.
6. Help us celebrate everything we have achieved! Our final year is, of course, a time for serious collation and sharing and learning, but it’s also a time for celebration, and we will be investing in the happiness to the very end!