Aquaterra is delighted to announce it has received a donation in excess of £16,000 from the Macquarie Group Foundation to help support the hugely popular Saturday Night Project.

 The Saturday Night Project® is one of the initiatives supported through Macquarie's COmmunity Resourcing (CoRe) programme and was selected by Macquarie's charity advisory committee to receive these funds, alongside the contribution the organisation also makes through its staff volunteers.

 On the last Saturday of each month hundreds of teens descend on the Sobell Leisure Centre, eager to get stuck into the wide range of exciting sports and non sports activities on offer. The Saturday Night Project® was established to create more activities in the London borough of Islington for 13 -19 year olds. The success of this high profile project is exceeding all expectations as it continues to engage with young people in a positive and inspiring way. 

 A rebate from the disposal of old IT equipment meant that Macquarie's technology business was able to donate £8, 000 to the Saturday Night Project® and the Macquarie Group Foundation supported this initiative by matching the donation with a further £8, 000.

 The Saturday Night Project® also benefitted from three Macquarie volunteers who worked for six months sharing their skills and knowledge to develop and scale up its business model. The support provided by the volunteers included project management training, mentoring the Project Director and assisting with strategic bid writing.

 Ivan Power, Senior Managing Director of Macquarie Group said:  "Macquarie's European headquarters are based in Islington, and we are delighted that our staff are able to contribute to Islington through such an innovative local initiative as the Saturday Night Project.   Both Macquarie and our employees are pleased to contribute time, expertise and money to help Aquaterra's team at Sobell continue to develop the fantastic Saturday Night Project."

 Damien Swan, General Manager of Sobell Leisure Centre said: "We're absolutely delighted with the generous donation from Macquarie. We intend to start a youth programming group that will help make decisions about the project and the direction the event takes in the future. We are proud that the Saturday Night Project has been recognised as a worthy recipient of Macquarie's support."