Earlier this year, I uncovered a shocking fact. No, it wasn’t changes to Facebook (again) or the lack of iphone 5, it was how much money we had raised for charity last year. I was really surprised how small the amount was and my frustration at this has evolved into a rather ambitious financial target. Luckily, Jam is a company that loves a challenge.

We started raising money in March this year. So far, we have held quizzes, golf lessons, designed cards and hand-made and hand-delivered cakes to the entire Engine office. In 6 months the Jam team have proudly raised over £1,000.

We wanted to pick a small, local charity where we could see real, tangible results. It had to be an organisation that we were confident would ensure our donations went straight to those in need. After plenty of searching we found SOS Gangs, a St Giles Trust project that focuses on helping young people get out of the negative cycle of gang crime.

The creator of SOS Gangs project, the brilliantly affable Junior Smart came in to talk about his story and how the money is used, please take a look at the video below.

As you can imagine, the issue has become even more pertinent in view of recent events, so if you would like to donate to a cause that helps people get out of the reoffending cycle, please do get in touch. You can see more of their work here