BFSS changes name to Educational Opportunity Foundation

We made the change to reflect changes in our work and inclusive practice: BFSS was initially a society that ran schools, but we now predominantly meet our charitable objectives by awarding grants to not-for-profit organisations to support educational projects, aiming to maximise educational opportunity for all.

This is the second time that BFSS has changed its name in its 216-year history. It was Joseph Lancaster who transformed the life chances of millions of children with an innovative system to bring learning to more children by having older pupils teach the younger. The idea spread around the world and greatly contributed to improvements in literacy. As the number of teachers grew, the charity pioneered teacher training colleges.

To ensure we keep a prominent link with that proud history, we have added the strapline ‘Improving life chances worldwide since 1808’ to our new name, and created a new logo that points to the global nature of our work. We thank all our Members and Grant Partners who contributed to consultations as we developed the name: more than half took an active part in the process.

“The Educational Opportunity Foundation will continue to support work which aims to transform young lives by addressing educational inequalities in the UK and internationally,” said Chair Jane Creasy. “We will share learning from initiatives which represent the best of teaching or professional development and hold fast to our vision for a world where more equal educational opportunity is a reality.”

What it means in practice

• If you are a Grant Partner your grant will continue uninterrupted and you do not have to do anything different. Please feel free to download and use our new logo when talking about projects we support. You could use the phrase ‘funded by Educational Opportunity Foundation (formerly BFSS)’.
• Grant applicants who are awaiting a decision do not have to reapply. Your application will be carefully considered by our Grants Committee in our usual way. And you will be advised of the outcome.
• If you are a BFSS Member you will continue to be a Member of Educational Opportunity Foundation.
• If you gave us permission to retain your personal details we will assume this permission continues to apply under our new name unless you let us know otherwise by unsubscribing here.

You can contact us on the new email [email protected]. Emails sent to our old address will be redirected for a while.