Off Road Kids
About: Off Road Kids provides nationwide support and counselling to aid the social reintegration of young homeless people (up to the age of 27). They are driven by the ambition of ensuring the best possible housing, education and work opportunities for children and young people to enable them to flourish.
The Challenge: Off Road Kids’ vision for Germany is a society relieved of street children and young homeless scenes. As the only aid organization or authority in Germany that provides independent and neutral advice to street children and homeless, the charity has been on a scaling journey for some years. However, its impact has traditionally been limited by the caseload capacity of their social workers.
Permira Foundation’s investment thesis: In 2017, Joerg Rockenhauser and Florian Kreuzer began serving on the Board, guiding the charity’s growth from five centers to a nationwide force supporting vulnerable children across Germany. Felix Braun led the team around shaping organisational strategy and leveraging the Permira network to connect the Off-Road Kids CEO with new supporters in the finance industry. The Permira team also drove digital transformation efforts, opening fresh perspectives on tackling youth homelessness and redefining the role Off Road Kids could play in creating lasting solutions.
Impact: As a result, Off Road Kids have significantly expanded their footprint levelling up from a regional charity to having nationwide coverage in all major German cities. They have also been able to expand their network of corporate sponsors and donors, including high profile names such as Deutsche Bahn, strengthening their longevity and capabilities as a non-profit. The digital input has accelerated the evolution of the product offering from a pure “on premise” brick and mortar support service, towards introducing a digitally enabled offer, set to significantly extend their reach and impact.
What’s next - our shared ambition going forward: OffRoad Kids are now focused on expanding its support network from helping 7,500 young people today to reaching 10,000 next year and 20,000 within two years. This is another step towards their overarching ambition of connecting with the 40,000 young people on the streets in urgent need of help, according to recent research.
To drive this expansion, OffRoad Kids is embracing AI-driven technology, to develop a revolutionary system set to launch by the end of 2025. This AI-powered platform will streamline connections and intelligently matching young people to the specific services they need at OffRoad Kids faster and more effectively. Permira Foundation will continue working alongside the team to help them achieve this across the next year.