New model of sponsorship continues as Kindred deepens partnership with Rangers FC mental health charity

Kindred Group PLC has announced its renewed investment in ‘Team Talk’, which will see a significant investment as Rangers Charity Foundation continues to develop the programme.

Team Talk is said to have already helped numerous men across Glasgow to seek advice, help and encouragement to discuss their mental health, thanks to initial funding received from Kindred last year.

Alongside this renewal and to mark an “exciting week” for Rangers FC, Kindred Group also announced a donation of its front-of-shirt sponsorship to the ‘Team Talk’ project’s logo. The shirts will be worn for the semi-final at RB Leipzig on April 28, and if Rangers progress to the final they will be worn again in May.

Neil Banbury, general manager UK, Kindred Group, commented: “The investment we are announcing today means Rangers Charity Foundation can continue the fantastic progress it made during the first year of the project.

“Using the unique relationship supporters have with their local club, we hope to reach hundreds more men with the expanded mental health support services who would otherwise be suffering in silence.”

Connal Cochrane, director at the Rangers Foundation, added: “The investment from Kindred Group has already been fantastic for our Team Talk project. It is the first time one of the Club’s main sponsors has made such a significant and targeted investment in the local community.

“We know talking can save lives and we can now extend the programme for another year, building on the success it had last year.

“This will allow existing and new participants to attend our weekly programme which has already had tangible benefit for their mental health and wellbeing and allowed the group to start forming connections with each other as well as be supported by our staff in a safe space.”

‘Team Talk’ uses the local club as a mechanism to engage with men about their mental health. The renewed year-long investment from Kindred is the core part of its ongoing commitment to become a sponsor of choice for football clubs and their communities and reinvent football sponsorship so that it “benefits the whole community”.

Kindred also sponsors Middlesbrough FC and Derby County and invests in Team Talk schemes at each club, with both recently winning Community Club of the Year in their respective regional EFL Awards.