Community HEART STArters

In follow-up to the success of the Community STArters charity campaign in 2024, we are extending the initiative with a new ‘Heart’ theme for 2025, which will see STA donate lifesaving defibrillators to UK leisure / aquatics-based charities.

Community STArters was set-up in 2024 to help break down barriers in communities across the UK, and encourage new and innovative ways we can UNITE, and extend our support, in line with our charity objectives. Last year, the campaign saw a dozen different not-for-profit organisations benefit from STA’s £1000 charity grants; the projects have ranged from supporting families, and helping homeless-supported young people and adults who cannot afford vital learn-to-swim and water safety lessons, to organising free open water sessions to help people manage anxiety, depression and other illnesses, contributing to research into autistic swimming and facilitating events for disability swimming clubs.

In 2025, at the heart of our community-led charity campaign will be the importance of defibrillators, which have been proven to save lives. Each year in the UK, over 30,000 people experience out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, with emergency services attempting to resuscitate them. Unfortunately, the survival rate is just 1 in 10. However, if a defibrillator is used within the first three to five minutes, survival rates can rise dramatically, reaching as high as 50%–70%.

A defibrillator, often called a ‘defib,’ delivers a high-energy electric shock to the heart of someone in cardiac arrest. This process, known as defibrillation, is a critical step in attempting to save their life. Defibrillators may also be referred to as AEDs (automated external defibrillators) or PADs (public access defibrillators).

Although many leisure facilities already have a defibrillator on-site, which is fantastic, there are still some that do not, and there are many more aquatics-based organisations and groups who would also benefit from having access to a defibrillator.

The starting date for applications is today. You can apply more than once throughout 2025, but there will only be one application approved per organisation / group over the year to ensure a mix of communities across the UK gain maximum benefit from this lifesaving opportunity.

When applying, consider who will benefit the most from this and why, and what impact it could make in your community in the short and long-term. As part of our ‘uniting communities and saving lives’ theme, we will also be requiring all successful applicants to register the defibrillator on The Circuit, provided by the British Heart Foundation. The Circuit maps defibrillators across the UK, connecting them directly and automatically to ambulance services so that callers can be directed to use them until the ambulance arrives.

Apply to STA’s Community HEART STArters