STAR SCHEME
How a charity fundraising film raised £500,000 for grassroots rugby
The star scheme* (Support, Transform and Achieve through Rugby) is a UK charity that helps young people facing adversity – such as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), poverty, or mental health issues – access grassroots rugby. The charity needed a fundraising film to bring that mission to life.
Why Adverse Childhood Expriences need a voice
The problem is visibility. Adverse Childhood Experiences are largely hidden, and so is their impact. Star Scheme needed a charity fundraising film that made donors feel that hidden weight and understand why it matters. The funding for the following year’s work depended on it.
Our approach to charity fundraising film
Sport can do something most people don’t expect of it. It can address deep social trauma and transform entire communities, not just the children who turn up to play on a Saturday morning.
The film let the atmosphere speak. A safe space, built from grassroots effort, with the ripple effect on families made visible. The film let the atmosphere speak, a safe space built from grassroots effort, with the ripple effect on families and clubs made visible.
That central message, that community transforms communities, ran through every edit decision. Real people, honest stories, no script. A movement for social change that happens to use rugby as its vehicle.
The results
The results speak for themselves – and so does the client. Shown at Star Scheme’s annual fundraising dinner, the film raised £60,000 in a single evening. Across multiple years working together, Skylark’s films have raised over £500,000 for the charity, helped secure sponsorship from a Premiership rugby club. It has also supported expansion into new regions and partnerships with the England, Wales and Irish Rugby Football Unions.
