Portsmouth Football Club has created a new charitable trust to offer a more diverse and extensive outreach programme in the local community.
The Pompey Sports & Education Foundation (PSEF) replaces the club’s existing Pompey in the Community department.
It allows the club’s community team to bid for funding streams available to charities.
The Foundation will continue to offer all the existing activities currently delivered by Pompey in the Community, with the addition of initiatives aimed at people of all ages, from children to senior citizens.
“The formation of the charitable trust shows how rapidly the club’s community programme has developed over the last couple of years,” said Gary Owers, head of Pompey Sports & Education Foundation.
“The club has invested in the development of the community team to make sure we deliver a high quality service, which will now be able to offer something for everyone."
Lucius Peart, Pompey’s head of operations, said: “We pride ourselves on being a club at the heart of the local community and this means striving to reflect the aspirations and meet the needs of all its members.
“The creation of the Pompey Sports And Education Foundation is the latest step in the club’s commitment towards achieving that.”
The Foundation will be working in close co-operation with the internationally recognised Pompey Study Centre to maximise opportunities around the club’s Community Football Development Programme.
The Pompey Study Centre also runs the Pompey Double Club, an education programme delivered in local secondary schools using a Pompey-themed literacy and numeracy curriculum to motivate, inspire and encourage under-achieving pupils.