Jewish two-time cancer survivor’s charity wins UK Charity of the Year award
Joshua Pelled’s Bright Futures UK helps thousands of young people rebuild their education after illness
When Bright Futures UK was named Charity of the Year 2025 at the Charity Times Awards, founder Joshua Pelled described it as a “pinch-me moment” – and a powerful endorsement of a mission born from his own experience of surviving cancer twice.
“It’s recognition for the team, not just me,” he told Jewish News. “I’ve built a fantastic group of people who work incredibly hard and care deeply about what we do. This award is real validation for them – for their dedication and belief in our cause.”
Pelled founded Bright Futures UK in 2017, after realising how little support existed for young people who miss school because of long-term illness. His own education was interrupted first by Wilms’ tumour, a rare form of kidney cancer at age five, and later osteosarcoma, a bone cancer diagnosed at sixteen.
“When you’re going through treatment, your only thought is, ‘I have to get better,’” he said. “You forget about all the fallout – the lessons you’ve missed, the friendships that drift, the sense of normality that disappears. I wanted to create something that helped young people rebuild that.”
The charity now provides tailored tutoring, mentoring, and befriending programmes for young people aged 5-24 who are recovering from or living with serious illness. Its one-to-one tutoring covers every educational level and subject, while mentoring helps older participants focus on career or personal goals.
One of its most distinctive programmes is befriending, launched during the pandemic to combat isolation. Volunteers are matched with young people through shared interests, from art to gaming to music. “It’s completely led by the young person,” said Pelled. “Some of those bonds last years – we still hear from volunteers who are in touch with the same young people they met three years ago.”
The charity also runs workshops in hospitals that combine creativity and skills development – from mocktail-making and henna art to jewellery design and virtual-reality sessions. “We always make sure there’s a real learning objective behind it,” said Pelled. “It’s about having fun but also giving young people a skill they could take forward into a career.”
Since its registration, Bright Futures UK has supported more than 800 children and young adults, with 2,000 expected to benefit this year alone. It now works with over 200 volunteers and receives referrals through NHS partners.
Pelled says the award will help the organisation expand its reach. “It puts us on the map,” he said. “People give to causes they trust, and this kind of recognition will hopefully raise more funds, attract more volunteers and reach more of the 200,000 young people who miss school every year due to illness.”
He added that educating the public about the issue remains one of the biggest challenges. “For me, it’s second nature that illness affects more than health – it disrupts everything. But when you explain that to people and you see the penny drop, they say, ‘Of course. Why hasn’t this been done before?’”
Pelled previously received a Prime Minister’s Points of Light Award, in which Boris Johnson praised him for “creating a community that tackles loneliness and helps young people catch up on schooling during the most vulnerable time in their lives.”
Reflecting on the charity’s growth, Pelled said the recognition “feels like the beginning of something bigger.”
“We’ve had to fight hard to get to this point,” he said. “We’re proud of what we’ve achieved – but we’re even more excited about what’s still to come.”
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