The invisible field
Why we need to have a conversation about funding for boys and young men
Home » Resource hub »
About this report
Funders have a real opportunity to make a bigger difference for boys and young men. This report shows that while important support already exists, it is not yet recognised or backed as a coherent field of work.
Key findings:
- Only 1.09% of youth funding analysed went to organisations specifically focused on boys and young men. These organisations received just £28.5 million of the £2.62 billion in youth funding analysed from 2020 to 2025.
- This funding gap sits within a wider pattern of limited recognition. Of 71,812 youth-focused organisations analysed, only 1,426 explicitly focus on boys and young men, equivalent to 1.99% of the youth sector.
- Boys and young men are present across youth provision, but rarely recognised as a distinct group. Many organisations work with boys and young men, but fewer identify them as having specific needs, experiences and barriers to support.
This means support can be hard to see, hard to connect, and harder still to strengthen through funding. This report, in partnership with Movember, makes the case for clearer focus, stronger coordination, and more intentional investment in a field with real potential to improve lives.
It also highlights a practical truth: support designed with boys and young men in mind can be more effective. Boys and young men experience many of the same challenges as other young people, but they do not always experience them in the same way. Gender can shape how they understand those challenges, how they seek help, and whether support feels accessible or relevant. With clearer recognition and stronger shared infrastructure, funders can help turn scattered activity into a stronger, more visible field.
What can funders do?
- Increase specific funding for boys and young men
- Strengthen coordination across the sector
- Recognise boys and young men as a distinct area of need
- Join us to take coordinated action now
The missing field
Published: 15 July 2026
Size: 1.05 MB
By: Alex Hayes Jen Tomkins Kaan Yilmazturk Sabrina Bengtzen
DownloadHelp turn insight into action.
Learn more about the opportunities for collaboration, investment and shared learning. Register your interest here:
At a glance
Boys and young men in the UK are facing a set of serious and interconnected challenges across education, employment, mental health, safety, social connection, and physical wellbeing. While these issues are increasingly visible in public debate, the systems of support and funding around them have not kept pace.
Key findings
- Boys and young men are present across youth provision, but they are rarely recognised as a distinct group with specific needs, experiences, and barriers to support.
- Of 71,812 youth-focused organisations analysed, only 1,426 explicitly focus on boys and young men, equivalent to 1.99% of the youth sector.
- Funding follows the same pattern: of £2.62 billion in youth funding analysed from 2020 to 2025, only £28.5 million, or 1.09%, went to organisations specifically focused on boys and young men.
Because it is difficult to quantify, it is harder to advocate for. Because it is harder to advocate for, it is less likely to grow.
Universal youth provision matters, but it is not always enough. Many of the challenges facing boys and young men are shaped by gendered norms around masculinity, vulnerability, risk, help-seeking, and belonging. Without a specific boys and young men lens, support can miss how needs present, when boys engage, where they feel safe, and what forms of provision are most likely to reach them.
Supporting boys and young men is not about taking attention or funding away from others. It is about recognising a real and under-addressed issue: boys and young men are facing significant challenges, and people want to respond. But funding is still not targeted, scaled or sustained in a way that reflects the specific needs they face. That matters. When funding is not clearly identified, it is less likely to be prioritised. By naming this as a distinct field and directing funding, evidence and learning more intentionally, we can build a stronger response.
Alex Hayes
Director of Philanthropy, NPC
The challenge is not simply that funding is limited, but that boys and young men are not clearly defined as a priority group. As a result, funders are less likely to develop dedicated strategies, allocate specific budgets, or build long-term portfolios to provide the services boys and young men need. Because funding is not explicitly labelled or tracked, it remains difficult to quantify.
Because it is difficult to quantify, it is harder to advocate for. Because it is harder to advocate for, it is less likely to grow.
What can funders do?
Funders have a critical role to play in improving outcomes for boys and young men and making this field more visible, coherent, and effective. Funders can improve outcomes
by:
- Increasing funding for boys and young men
- Strengthening coordination across the sector
- Improving data and classification to make funding more visible
With clearer recognition, stronger coordination, and more intentional investment, funders can help build a field that reaches boys and young men earlier in life, responds to their diverse experiences, and strengthens the evidence needed to scale what works.
We will be convening funders and prospective funders in autumn 2026 to explore further action and investment.
For more information on how we’re bringing stakeholders together, please contact us.
Related items
Blog
Whataboutery
By Alex Hayes .
On 15 July 2026.
Boys and young men are an overlooked and underfunded group whose needs deserve greater recognition and investment alongside—not instead of—other important social causes.
Resources
The invisible field methodology
On 14 July 2026.
This methodology explains how we analysed the UK organisational and funding landscape, with a focus on support for boys and young men.
Effective philanthropy and grant-making
On 25 November 2024.
