Stormzy has donated £500,000 to fund further or higher education for young people from underprivileged backgrounds. This follows the commitment he made in June to donate £10 million – half of the grime artist’s net worth – over the next decade to combat racism in the UK. This is the first of these donations, and it goes to the Black Heart Foundation’s ‘Each Day. Every Day.’ campaign. He made the donation through his registered charity, #Merky Foundation.

The Black Heart Foundation launched the campaign at the beginning of July in response to the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement. They intended to raise £500,000 from public donations. This money will be used to support twice as many young people through its Black Heart Scholarship Programme, raising the number of scholars from 100 to 200. Thanks to Stormzy’s support, the Black Heart Foundation say they’ve “smashed through”  their fundraising target with a total of £1.45 million, including match funding. This will enable the charity to fund an additional 50 scholars.

Ric Lewis, Founder and Chairman of the Board of the Black Heart Foundation, said: “We are grateful to #Merky Foundation and invigorated by their generosity. Their contribution is an amazing testament to their vision and commitment to higher and further education for ambitious, hard-working young people from the most under-resourced and under-represented communities in our society.”

“I want to thank everyone that has donated money so far. The response we have had has been incredible. I know there are others who still want to help us hit our original £500,000 crowdfunding target on Just Giving and so we are issuing one final invitation to everyone to get involved, give whatever they can, and be the change we want to see in our world.”

The donation is a grant to be put towards any educational activity, not just university degrees. Current recipients of the scholarship are being supported through undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, but also qualifications ranging from iGCSEs to pilot training. With the scholarship, they don’t have to worry about their financial situations at the same time. Anyone from an under-sourced and under-represented background is eligible to apply for the grant.

A spokesperson for the #Merky Foundation said: “The Black Heart Foundation is an incredible charity and we are proud to make them the first beneficiary to receive funding from our £10 million-pound pledge, announced earlier this year. Their ‘Each Day. Every Day’ campaign is a brilliant initiative and we are elated that our £500,000 donation has played a key part in helping them achieve their target. We encourage others to donate whatever they can to help change a young person’s life.”

The grime star initially declared his plan to donate half his net worth to organisations actively fighting racial inequality, in June of this year. This followed the global Black Lives Matter protests that were sparked by the death of George Floyd. He also established the ‘Stormzy scholarships’, to financially support two Black students through Cambridge every year.