Tartan Army Children’s Charity is a registered Scottish charity, no. SC038330. 

Our aim is to help disadvantaged children in Scotland and in countries that we visit whilst supporting Scotland’s national football team.

Away

Scotland fans are always made to feel very welcome in the countries we visit so with these donations we give something back. Support for disadvantaged children in these countries is generally tragically lacking, so we try to make a small difference.

Since 2006, TACC raised and donated over £40,000 to blind, disabled and street children in Ukraine, Georgia and Macedonia.

 We revisited a school for blind orphans in Kiev in February 2010, donating £5,000 towards recreational items such as paints, balls, play mats and day trips.

In 2009 we raised £60,000 for children in South Africa to be donated during the World Cup Finals in 2010. This included £30,000 for children orphaned by aids/hiv in a settlement called Orange Farm near Johannesburg, and £30,000 for a street children outreach programme in Durban.

In 2010 TACC donated £20,000 to an orphanage and homes for disabled children in Lithuania, and £15,000 to a school for autistic children in Czech Republic. The majority of these grants provided playgrounds and other  facilities to bring a bit of fun to the children's lives. 

On our trips abroad we make grants and other gifts to children's institutions (orphanages, hospitals, special needs schools) or individual children in those countries according to their needs. Grants are used to buy items such as clothes, shoes, blankets, beds, educational equipment, medical equipment etc, or help fund projects such as playgrounds.

We always make sure that the donations are used in a tangible way rather than swallowed up in admin costs. In Georgia for instance we donated an incubator which has already saved lives in a premature baby unit which had an appallingly high mortality rate. During our visit we found two desperately ill babies sharing an incubator.

We also like to throw a party for the children, with a pipe band and food and drink to make this a real treat. In fact the feedback we get is that the party can be more important than our donations, just the fact that we want to take the time to be with the children.

Home

We support disadvantaged children in Scotland with our “My First Scotland Match” programme – taking children to Hampden for their first experience of watching their national side. Such a treat is generally out of reach of the children invited and the project acknowledges that not every child is lucky enough to have someone who’ll take them to their first match.

We also organise a Christmas Present Appeal with Scotland supporters each year for Aberlour Child Car Trust, with £8,500 of presents donated in 2009.

In 2010 we will also be launching several local initiatives to help tackle child poverty and neglect in Scotland.  

In a venture with Spartans FC in Edinburgh, TACC will give children a game of football and a hot, healthy dinner on Friday evenings. Outwith school hours, some of these kids would not have a nutritional meal and this project promotes healthy eating while encouraging social inclusion in an area which is considered socially deprived.