<div>A year ago, the company I’d built over two decades went into administration. I expected the hardest part to be financial.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Instead, it was the isolation - the quiet shame, the stress, and the feeling that when everything collapses, most people don’t know how to come close.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>That experience changed me. It forced me to rebuild from zero: my confidence, my identity, and my plan for what comes next.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>And it made one thing painfully clear: founder crisis is far more common than we admit - and most support is either too vague (“mindset”) or arrives too late (“after the damage”).
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>That’s why I’m setting up the Fortitude Foundation.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>When entrepreneurship gets brutal, we help founders get back on their feet.</strong>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Fortitude helps entrepreneurs in crisis stabilise, recover, and rebuild - through fast, practical triage, founder-led community, and a pathway back to income, confidence, and momentum.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I’m raising funds to cover the costs of charity setup and the initial launch promotion, so we can reach founders who are struggling in silence and start helping them earlier - when it matters most.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>What the funding will be used for</strong>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>1) Charity setup, governance &amp; compliance — £10,000
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<ul>
<li>Legal/formation support and charity registration process
</li>
<li>Trustee onboarding + governance framework (conflicts policy, controls, approvals)
</li>
<li>Core policies (safeguarding, data protection, complaints, risk)
</li>
<li>Accounting setup and compliance readiness
</li>
</ul>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>2) Website, systems &amp; supporter database - £2,500 
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<ul>
<li>Basic one-page launch site + hosting + email domain
</li>
<li>Secure registration form with segmentation (donors / volunteers / partners / founders)
</li>
<li>Lightweight CRM pipeline + automated confirmations (keep it simple/lean)
</li>
</ul>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>3) Launch promotion &amp; distribution — £15,000
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<ul>
<li>High-quality launch assets (video edits, design, landing content)
</li>
<li>PR + outreach support to founder communities, accelerators, and media
</li>
<li>Targeted paid promotion tests to reach founders who won’t publicly ask for help
</li>
<li>Community partnerships and distribution (sponsorships/placements where appropriate)
</li>
</ul>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>4) Pilot support delivery + partnership engine (first 6 months) — £20,000
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>This is the “make it real” budget: deliver real support early, and build the rails for scale.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><em>Peer-led triage + founder support</em>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<ul>
<li>Subsidised triage calls / sessions for founders in acute stress
</li>
<li>Training + playbooks for peer-led triage (so founders can support founders safely and consistently)
</li>
<li>Facilitated small-group circles (structured peer support with accountability)
</li>
<li>Triage tooling + intake flows (routing, urgency flags, follow-up cadence)
</li>
</ul>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><em>Referrals network (credible, fast, and safe)</em>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<ul>
<li>Build and manage a vetted referral panel: insolvency practitioners, restructuring advisors, tax, legal, employment, mental health signposting
</li>
<li>Standard referral packs: “what to expect”, decision trees, scripts, and checklists
</li>
<li>Case coordination/admin support so founders aren’t bounced around
</li>
</ul>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><em>Long-term corporate sponsorship opportunities</em>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<ul>
<li>Create a sponsor proposition + tiered packages (Founding Partner / Supporter / Event Sponsor)
</li>
<li>Outreach and relationship-building with relevant firms: corporate finance, restructuring/advisory, insolvency, accounting, legal, banks, insurers, EAP/mental health providers
</li>
<li>Sponsor benefits that stay ethical: underwriting triage sessions, funding founder circles, supporting resources/events (no “lead selling”, no exploitation)
</li>
<li>Produce basic sponsor reporting: impact metrics, anonymised case studies, and annual impact updates
</li>
</ul>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><em>Resource development</em>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<ul>
<li>Practical crisis toolkit (templates, scripts, “first 72 hours / 30 days” guides)
</li>
<li>Light facilitation costs and materials for pilots
</li>
</ul>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>5) Operating costs &amp; contingency — £2,500
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<ul>
<li>Essential tools, admin, and unavoidable setup costs
</li>
<li>Contingency buffer so we don’t stall mid-launch
</li>
</ul>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>Transparency Commitment</strong>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I’ll publish regular updates showing exactly what’s been delivered with the funds and how they’ve been used. That will include: charity setup milestones (registration/governance/policies), website and registration funnel live with the number of supporters registered, launch/distribution activity and outcomes, and - most importantly - pilot delivery results: number of founders supported through triage, peer-led circles run, referrals made (by category), and anonymised learnings on what helped most. As we build corporate sponsorship, I’ll also report on partner conversations secured, sponsorship commitments (where agreed), and how sponsor funding is being used - always in a way that protects founder dignity and avoids any form of exploitation.
</div>

Roger Wiggett

Mark White

Tim Blair

Tim Waygood

Simon La Fosse

Jo Smith

Nicholas Cowell

Jamie Waller

Matt Winn

Oleksandra Naumenko

Debra Searle

Kate Jillings

Rob Hamilton

George williams

Colum Lyons

Brendan OBrien

Fortitude Foundation Launch

Support urgent earthquake relief and past recovery in Venezuela.

Apoya la ayuda urgente tras el terremoto y los esfuerzos de recuperación en Venezuela.

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

Eligible for Profile Share Badge

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

Support Comments Allowlist

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

checkout headers audience

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

isEligibleForProfileBadge

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

categoryGroup

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.3.0 and above

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Fortitude Foundation Launch

Still £4,790 to go. Help us build momentum.