Hamilton created Mission 44 in 2021 to improve diversity in F1 and the wider motorsport world following the Black Lives Matter protests he witnessed around the world in 2020 – at which stage he invested 2000 of his own money. million pounds.

Mission 44 aims to improve overall education and opportunities for black students in the UK and increase diversity and representation of socially underserved groups in motorsport and STEM industries.

It’s also backed by Hamilton’s Mercedes team, British broadcaster Sky and Swiss bank UBS, and Hamilton eventually wants it to expand to help people around the globe, rather than the current setup to fund organizations in his home country.

Mission 44 CEO Jason Arthur has now laid out the main goals the charity will focus on over the next 12 months, according to Arthur’s latest blog post on the Mission 44 website, from having “a beneficiary “Helping People” has grown to support “23 outstanding organizations” based in the country”.

Writing to provide an update at the start of the new financial year, Arthur said this year Mission 44 would be committed to “further focusing on our ‘bravery’ values” as “our partners, young people and funders have been Bold and disruptive in its approach to grantmaking, communications and advocacy”.

As such, the charity will “engage in participatory grantmaking with our newly recruited youth advisory board, (and) empower its members to shape and make decisions in our strategy”.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W14

Photography: Zak Mauger / motorsport pictures

Arthur continued: “[We will be]launching an innovation fund to support new models that reimagine the purpose and delivery of education, launching two new fellowships—one in education and one in youth activism— — Invest in emerging leaders from diverse backgrounds who can drive systemic change.

“(And) significantly expanding our campaigns and storytelling – particularly in preventing school exclusion and inspiring young people to explore opportunities in STEM and motorsports.”

Mission 44 will provide further strategic information in the upcoming 2023 mid-term.

It recently appointed two new board members – Ajaz Ahmed, founder of design firm AKQA, and Anne Mensah, vice-president of content at Netflix UK.

According to information provided, its latest grant provides £125,000 to support the Struggle for Strength initiative, which aims to end youth violence in London, “through the implementation and development of its Therapeutic Intervention Peace Program (TIP )” is a collaboration between Mission 44 and the 360Giving Open Data Platform.

Mission 44’s largest grant to date is £540,000 to Teach First, its first grant to be returned in June 2021.