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Delivering Impact: Brave Starts (2023–2024)
Over the past 18 months, Brave Starts has delivered measurable impact across three core areas: individual transformation, community empowerment, and systemic change.
1. Individual Transformation
Between November 2023 and April 2025, over 500 new members joined Brave Starts, bringing our total to just over 800. Members often arrive feeling “stuck, isolated and invisible.” Within months, they describe themselves as “energised, excited and focused.” Our goal isn’t just engagement it’s progression and impact. We invite people when they join to take a survey indicating their personal assessment across key metrics (their perceived value of their network, how clear they feel about their next steps, how optimistic they feel about the future, their thoughts about retirement and more). We follow up between 12-18 months later and ask people to complete a 'post' survey.
60 members have completed both the pre and post surveys. We used a paired sample T-Test to compare scores. We observed statistically significant improvements on all key metrics:
- Clarity on next steps: +1.04 points (p < 0.00001)
- Employability (with a strong emphasis on practivity/personal agency): +0.53 (p < 0.001)
- Strength of network: +0.50 (p < 0.001)
- Confidence in work prospects: +0.53 (p = 0.0015)
- Optimism about the future: +0.36 (p = 0.018)
These outcomes demonstrate credible causal impact across mindset, confidence, and clarity.
When we look at the unmatched data we also see strong directional improvements . Among 450 people who completed pre-surveys and 97 who completed post-surveys:
- Clarity: 2.31 → 3.49 (+1.18)
- Employability (personal agency): 3.17 → 3.72
- Network strength: 2.60 → 3.14
- Confidence: 2.93 → 3.27
- Optimism: 3.21 → 3.55
While we don’t claim causation here, the consistency and strength of change, especially in clarity reflect the wider influence of our environment, tools, and peer-based approach.
2. Community and Learning
We deliver around 16 live sessions each month,including structured workshops, peer networking, and expert-led masterclasses. Our average satisfaction rating is 4.7/5.
We also offer hands-on project experience through our partnership with The Fore, helping members build confidence, commercial skills, and CV-enhancing impact by contributing to strategic work in high-growth charities.
Membership remains accessible (£89 for the first year, £30 thereafter), and 100% of revenue is reinvested into the community. We operate lean, but with depth and integrity of support. In addition our Trust Pilot reviews are overwhelmingly positive. We have received 38 averaging 4.7/5
3. Systemic Change
Each month, we invite a recruiter and an employer to meet our members, not to fill vacancies, but to open dialogue. These honest conversations reshape perception on both sides. Members gain clarity whether it’s toward a career path or away from one.
In one case, a member was preparing to invest £1.2 million in a hotel. We arranged a two-day shadowing experience with a hotel owner. He realised it would have been a catastrophic mistake. How do you measure the value of a mistake not made?
We’re also working at the policy level. We’ve submitted evidence to UK Parliament, contributed to OECD work on longevity and labour markets, and in June 2025 we’ll convene 120 leaders (CEOs, HRDs, policymakers, media and academia) at Westminster to act on our research and co-create a roadmap for change.
We’ve done the research. Now we’re driving the response.
4. How can you help and be a part of the change?
As a nonprofit we rely on people to join us as members and for organisations to work with us to drive support and income. If you like our approach and commitment to integrity and if you know an organisation keen to take steps towards improving the career development provision for their employees or who are keen to explore how to prepare for an ageing workforce please facilitate an introduction. Our commitment: to never 'sell' what is not needed, but to provide a service which can be proven to have a positive impact.
We are constantly collecting data and as we approach 100+ matched pairs intend to publish for peer review.
Next steps - comparison against a control group!
We are happy to share our raw data with organisations who have a direct influence over government policy and workforce strategy.
