About Our Foundation
The Lorna Young Foundation (LYF) is a UK registered charity that works towards the eradication of poverty.
We focus on two major programmes. Both aim to generate greater interconnectedness between producers and consumers and educate people about fairness, greater equality and ethical trade.

INTERNATIONALLY:
The LYF assists smallholder farmers and producer communities by helping them to gain access to better information in relation to their crops, environment, markets and agribusiness. This approach adds value to their produce, educates and supports farmers as individuals, and also works towards improving communities’ livelihoods.
Visit Farmers’ Voice Radio for more information on how and why we have chosen and are continually developing the use of radio as a medium for sharing our unique approach with farming communities.
IN THE UK:
We support people from different backgrounds to come together to learn ETHICAL trading skills, to create local, social enterprises and to foster greater understanding between diverse groups of people.
We do this through our Not Just Us programme. NJU is comprised of unusual and ground-breaking work, training and business opportunities. It leads to the building of much needed life skills, to a growth in confidence for its participants and it results in the creation of community-owned ethical enterprises.

Lorna Young

Lorna was an extraordinary and determined Scotswoman whose passion lay in justice and improving opportunities for the marginalised. She played a pivotal role in convincing supermarket chains to stock fairly traded coffee for the first time.
As a prominent figure in the cooperative movement, she worked with Equal Exchange and was a founding member of Cafédirect, serving as their inaugural Marketing Manager. Although Lorna passed away in 1996 – at the young age of 44 – her remarkable dedication endures.
Those of us engaged in the work of the LYF are committed to perpetuating her vision and values.