Etch's Wildman Fund 2026 Update

The annual Wildman Fund Update is back. Here is what our charity partners shared this year. 

"It's such a joy to give. And it is such a joy for us." 

Those are the words of Etch co-founder and Managing Director Shelly Frame, spoken at the close of this year's Wildman Fund Update. And they set the tone for everything that came before them. 

Every year, Etch hosts the Wildman Fund Update: a chance to hear directly from the charities we support, celebrate what they have achieved, and look honestly at the challenges still ahead. This year's session was hosted, as ever, by Sally Bundock, BBC News presenter and Wildman Fund patron. 

For anyone new to the Etch family, the Wildman Fund is our charitable initiative named in memory of Paul Wildman, the brother of Etch co-founder Shelly Frame. Each year, Etch donates a portion of its profits and the expertise of its team to a group of carefully chosen partner charities, all aligned to UN Sustainable Development Goals covering poverty, education and gender equality. 

This year we heard from three long-standing partners, Musana in Uganda, NC Kibera in Kenya, and Jeevan Asha in India. We were able to give two one-off donations alongside our usual charities, The Dignity Campaign and New Day United. New Day United were also able to join us on the call and share the great work that they’re doing in Cape Town, South Africa.

In the last financial year, Etch gave away £125,000. For a company of our size, that is no small thing. 

Musana, Uganda

Musana is a community development organisation working in Uganda to break the cycle of poverty and dependency through sustainable social enterprises. The name means sunshine in Luganda. Their model funds education, healthcare and local businesses, with all profits cycled back into the community. 

Paul Smith, Musana's UK Director, joined the call alongside co-founder Haril Kazindra, who had travelled from Uganda to Oxford for the Skoll World Forum, one of the world's leading gatherings on social entrepreneurship. It was one of several major global stages where Musana has been sharing its story this year, alongside the UN General Assembly and the Clinton Global Initiative. 

The numbers tell a story of steady, meaningful growth. At the close of 2025, Musana operated 19 social enterprises across Uganda. That number now stands at 21. Over 2,068 children were supported through Musana's scholarship programme last year, with more than 5,000 students attending their affordable schools. In 2026, enrollment has already climbed to nearly 6,000. 

Like much of the charity sector, Musana has felt the impact of USAID funding cuts, which saw the United States withdraw significant foreign aid from African countries. For an organisation built on reducing dependency on external funding, it was a moment that proved the model. "The community is starting to realise that this can end," Haril said. "How do we build more long-lasting, sustainable changes?" Models like Musana, he added, become more relevant than ever in that environment. 

The year ahead brings a significant milestone: an international merger with a large Australian NGO that will extend Musana's reach into Kenya and Tanzania, with a new fundraising office opening in Australia. Etch has been working with Paul and Haril throughout, supporting brand strategy, audience development and communications that carry Musana's story across different markets and donor cultures. "It's been far more of a working together partnership," Paul reflected. 

NC Kibera, Kenya

NC Kibera is a partnership between local Kenyan and UK volunteers, funding and resourcing projects in Kibera, one of the largest urban slums in Africa, on the edge of Nairobi. The charity focuses on sustainable, community-led change: a football academy, business development programmes, drug rehabilitation and practical skills training.

David Boniface and Neil Moore, the UK co-leads who have been driving the charity's work for many years, joined us with the calm steadiness of people who have learned to take a breath before opening a WhatsApp message. Because it can change your whole day. 

This year's call came just days after 70 young people from Kibera made a trip to Mombasa and, for many of them, saw the sea for the first time. The logistics alone were staggering. A promised fuel contribution from a local MP disappeared on the morning of departure, leaving 70 children, bags packed, coaches going nowhere. Safeguarding for children who had never been near open water needed careful thought and planning. The enormous task of moving a group of young lives off a slum for a few days. But it happened. And the photographs of a bus full of exhausted, happy children on the journey home said everything.

Back in Kibera, the community hub, a small concrete building with a training tent capable of holding 50 to 60 people, is now a genuine focal point for the area. Laptops donated by Etch are in regular use there, and local team members who had never touched a keyboard are now building proposals in spreadsheets. "They can pick it up so quickly," said James Gillard, Etch Account Director and lead on the NC Kibera relationship. "Getting those photos back was just incredible."

The Umoja association of small traders, a collective of independent stall-holders and micro-businesses that form the economic backbone of life in and around the slum, continues to grow. As one local partner put it: "You'd think they're just here for the food, but nope, they're hungry for more." A parenting and young mothers' group has also been launched by women volunteers from within the community, people who already had more than enough to do and chose to do more anyway.

The football shirts worn by the NC Kibera Saints Academy now carry the Etch logo. It was not Etch's idea. It came from the players themselves. "Having Etch on their shirts is a matter of pride," said Neil. "It is an indication that somebody, somewhere, believes in them.".

Looking ahead, David and Neil were honest about the challenge of succession. They have given years to this work and would love to hear from people who might want to get involved and carry it forward. If that sounds like you, please do get in touch. 

Jeevan Asha, India 

Jeevan Asha is a community development charity based in Thane, near Mumbai, running twelve integrated projects across education, healthcare, adult literacy and nutrition. Their vision is to bring hope to many lives by serving the community.

Carol Sylas, Jeevan Asha's project lead who oversees all twelve programmes, joined us from Thane after a year that has been one of genuine expansion.

Government primary health centres, which serve clusters of slums across the area, have begun reaching out to Jeevan Asha to host eye camps, rather than the other way around. One camp can serve an entire cluster of communities. In total this year, Jeevan Asha reached 5,008 beneficiaries across all their programmes.

Adult literacy classes, paused during COVID, are back and picking up well. The moment that stayed with everyone on the call: a fifty-year-old woman taking part in the programme walked into a bank and asked for a pen. The cashier handed it over to humour her. She signed her name. He was shocked. She was not. "That was just such a statement of dignity and transformation," Carol said. 

Pre-school attendance has reached 85 to 90 percent, significantly higher than schools in the surrounding area. Admissions opened two months ago, and the cohort is already more than half full. A woman who first came through Jeevan Asha's daycare centre as a child in 2002, went on to gain three degrees, and has now returned as a teacher and head of the organisation. She spends her time mentoring teenage girls in schools across the region. 

Looking ahead, Carol is focused on reviving Joy Clubs, weekly community gatherings for children built around values-based activities that reached over 500 children per week before COVID. Teacher training is also on the agenda, bringing Jeevan Asha's play-based methods into schools where traditional blackboard teaching has always been the only approach.

James Gillard and Ben Thornton from the Etch team have been supporting Carol with website optimisation and Google Ads, using Google's non-profit programme to help more people find and connect with the charity's work. 

New Day United, Cape Town 

New Day United is a community development organisation based in Manenberg, Cape Town, a township created through apartheid-era spatial marginalisation where unemployment runs above 77% and school dropout sits at 76%. Gang violence and drug use have long been defining features of daily life there.

This year, the Wildman Fund made a one-off donation to New Day United, and we were pleased to welcome Lynn Swart, New Day's UK-based co-director, and Annemarie Barnard, who leads operations on the ground in Cape Town.

When New Day started in Manenberg ten years ago, other organisations warned them it was the graveyard for NGOs. They stayed. And they are still there.

Their programmes include a thirteen-day job readiness course that addresses identity, self-worth and aspiration alongside practical skills, a three-month computer literacy course, a sewing enterprise run by local women, and a foodscaping garden on land provided by a local school that supplies produce to soup kitchens and the wider community. Two computer labs now operate inside Manenberg Primary School. A pupil there recently earned a bronze medal at a regional robotics championship. Another is a Western Province chess player.

Following an armed robbery at their building some years ago, New Day now has a weekly counsellor and trauma specialist on site, provided through the Khalisi Foundation, whose patron is Siya Kolisi, captain of the South African national rugby team.

Lynn and Annemarie carry an enormous amount with real energy and warmth. It was a genuine pleasure to have them join the session. 

Sally closed the call with a line that felt fitting: "This is one of my favourite hours in my working year. It's packed with good news, which is something I don't see much of in my job at the BBC."

If you would like to find out more about the Wildman Fund, or how you can support any of our partner charities with your time or expertise, please get in touch.