St Matthew's Project joins Voucher Magpie: how your shopping can help young people in Brixton

St Matthew's Project has joined Voucher Magpie. From today, you can choose it as your cause, and whenever you shop through one of our codes or deals, we'll give 50% of the commission the shop pays us to the charity. You pay the same price and still get your discount.

St Matthew's Project, known locally as SMP, is a Brixton charity run by the community for the community. It uses free football and other sport to support young people in Lambeth, on football pitches, on estates and in schools, and stays with them right up to their mid-twenties.

At a glance

• Who: St Matthew's Project (SMP), registered charity 1140964, based in Brixton and working in Brockwell Park, on local estates and in schools.
• What it does: runs free football and multi-sports sessions, girls' football, football and food holiday schemes, wellbeing and family fitness programmes, league teams and a coaching pathway for over 350 young people a week.
• How to help through us: choose SMP on its page, then shop as normal.
• What it costs you: nothing. The money comes out of our commission, not your basket.

From a kick-about in Brockwell Park to a thriving youth project

SMP began as a kick-about in Brockwell Park 22 years ago. Today, in its own words, it is “a thriving youth project, which offers a growing array of programmes and services to over 350 young people each week, meeting the local need for accessible, free and credible sporting activities, employment, training and wellbeing programmes.”

Its coaches are recruited from the local community, and some came through the scheme themselves, so the young people taking part see role models from their own streets. SMP became a charitable company in 2009 and joined the Charity Commission register in March 2011.

What SMP does today

Many of the young people SMP works with face poverty, trauma, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), mental health issues and exposure to youth violence. SMP takes a trauma-informed, culturally competent approach, giving them a safe space for support and wellbeing and meeting them ‘where they are at’. It says that steady approach gives young people some stability in uncertain times, and has earned the trust of a community often sceptical of ‘projects’ after being let down by so many before.

Football is the hook that draws young people in. SMP's free Saturday Club offers coaching and games in Brockwell Park, its girls-only football has run since 2008 alongside the Lambeth Girls' Schools' Tournaments, and there are free football and multi-sports sessions on the Tulse Hill and St Matthew's estates. It also runs free football and food holiday schemes, the Fit 4 Life mental wellbeing programme, Family Fitness sessions and a volunteer and FA coaching pathway, and its St Matthew's FC league teams run from under-10s to under-16s, plus a seniors side and girls' under-15s.

As young people get older, SMP helps them move from playing sport to further sporting, educational or employment opportunities, and keeps supporting them right up to their mid-twenties. The Charity Commission register shows income of £338,860 for the year to 31 December 2025, with 7 trustees and 5 volunteers.

How your shopping helps: a worked example

Say you spend £50 a month on sports kit, clothes and everyday shopping at a shop that pays us 4% commission. That's £2.00 commission, and £1.00 of it goes to SMP. Over a year, £12 comes from shopping you were doing anyway.

If 100 supporters did the same, SMP would get £1,200 a year. Commission rates differ from shop to shop, and some shops pay more on certain products, so your own total may be higher or lower.

What you can do now

1. Choose SMP. Go to its page on Voucher Magpie and tap Choose. You don't need an account; we remember it on your device.
2. Buy sports kit through us. Decathlon has free standard Click & Collect. JD Sports has free Click & Collect, same day if you order by 2pm, and Umbro has free UK standard delivery on orders over £60.
3. Use it for everything else too. Clothes, holidays, broadband and gifts all count, so SMP gains whenever you shop through us.
4. Volunteer. SMP's volunteer scheme welcomes people from every background, on the community side or helping run a team. You start with an informal chat and a taster session, and every volunteer has an enhanced DBS check. After four months, volunteers can be put forward for FA coaching courses.
5. Donate. You can give to SMP through its Localgiving page.

Questions

Does choosing SMP cost me anything?

No. The shop pays us a commission for sending it your order, and we give half of it to SMP. Your price and your discount stay the same.

When does SMP get the money?

A shop confirms a sale, usually 30 to 90 days after the order, once the return period has passed. We pay each cause its confirmed commission every quarter.

Can my child join SMP's sessions?

Many of them are open to local young people. The free Saturday Club runs in Brockwell Park (Tulse Hill side) every Saturday except in the summer holidays, for Years 1 to 6 from 9.30am and Years 7 to 11 from 11am, and the girls-only sessions welcome players aged 11 to 16. Some estate sessions are only for residents of that estate. The contact page lists venues and how to get in touch.

Can I change my cause later?

Yes, any time, from any cause's page. Your future shopping then goes to the new cause.

Sources: St Matthew's Project, about SMP, Saturday Club, girls only, Fit 4 Life, volunteer scheme, Charity Commission: charity 1140964