NEWSBOYS FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT 2017 9 HANDS ON LEARNING AND SOCIAL VENTURE PARTNERS Newsboys partnership with Hands On Learning and Social Venture Partners successfully concludes The partnership between Newsboys Foundation, Social Venture Partners and Hands On Learning that was designed to keep young people engaged with their education has concluded successfully. The aim of the partnership was to provide Hands On Learning with the capability it needs to expand its practical building programs that impart skills and build the confidence of young people. The partnership between Hands On Learning, Newsboys and Social Venture Partners (SVP) was formed to help extend HOL’s reach in Victoria and produce a financially sustainable model that would result in revenue generation. Hands On Learning has enjoyed considerable success since the partnership was initiated in 2016, with two successful outcomes. The first successful result saw Social Venture Partners working closely with HOL to explore revenue generating opportunities. A number of potential programs were considered and reviewed. A consulting strategy was developed to leverage the unique HOL model to schools. HOL said success was immediate, with profitable revenues generated. A second, more impactful outcome was a proposal from Save the Children to merge with Hands On Learning. The partnership with HOL, Newsboys and SVP helped the proposal, as SVP partners made available a variety of professional skills that were useful in helping HOL consider all aspects of the merger, such as due diligence, financial forecasts and people management. The result was a successful merger between Save the Children and HOL in April 2017. This is an exciting outcome for all parties, with the opportunities provided by the reach of Save the Children unparalleled. Newsboys Foundation CEO Sandy Shaw said: “As a consequence of such early success, the partnership between Newsboys, HOL and SVP has successfully concluded. We are proud to have supported HOL since 2010 and we will continue to observe its progress with interest.” It’s also great to see HOL honoured in the 2017 Global list of inspiring education innovations by Finnish not-for-profit HundrED. Researchers examined 1000 education innovations from 41 countries. Hands on Learning is among six from Australia – to read more please visit hundred.org/en