1999
The journey begins with a
rugby ball and children on
the street, Matthew Spacie
inaugurates Magic Bus.
2000
400 children hop
onto the journey.
2001
Magic Bus registers as a
Non-Profit Organisation.
The journey begins with a rugby ball and children on the street, Matthew Spacie inaugurates Magic Bus.
2002
Our first feat –
winning the Ashoka Fellowship.
We set the foundation of our
Magic Bus Centre for Learning &
Development at Karjat.
2004
Our first award –
World Bank Development Marketplace.
We start Magic Bus UK.
2,000 children are riding with Magic Bus.
2005
We ride to
United Nations.
2006
We partner with Sterling University and UK Sport on Monitoring and Evaluation.
We present our programme approach to the United Nations, Switzerland.
Host the first residential camp at the Magic Bus
Centre for Learning & Development in Karjat
3,500 children are riding with Magic Bus.
2007
We partner with Premiership Football,
FIFA, and Royal Dutch Football Association.
Magic Bus football team launched.
We launch first Livelihoods programme
pilot called Connect.
The first corporate and private school
programmes are held at our Magic Bus Centre
for Learning & Development, in Karjat.
Matthew Spacie awarded Most Excellent
Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services
to children to the Commonwealth.
2008
We create Magic with UNICEF’s
International Inspiration Programme.
Our first batch of
Community Youth Leaders
are trained.
We talk to the
Parliament of India.
2009
Appointed as technical advisor to
UNICEF on a programme with the
UK Government(UK Sport), Ministry
for Youth Affairs and Sport (MYAS),
Government of India(GoI) to take
Sports for Development (S4D) to
communities across India.
2010
We organise the Maidan Summit – first
international Sport for Development meet in India.
MYAS, GoI selects us as the Knowledge and
Implementing Partners to develop model.
Panchayat Yuva Krida Khel Abhiyan Centres
in two districts of Maharashtra (Sangli) and
Andhra Pradesh (Medak).
20,000 children hop onto our journey.
We start Magic Bus USA.
2011
2nd Maidan Summit organised.
39,000 children are riding with us.
2012
We present at the UN Organisation
for Sport Development and Peace
meeting in Geneva.
A historic moment – Matthew Spacie
is an Olympic torchbearer
at the London Olympics 2012.
2,00,000 children hop onto our journey.
2013
We present at the International
Olympics Council Meet at Lima, Peru,
on the uses of sport for development
2,72,000 children are riding with us.
2014
We win Laureus Sport for Good Award and the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Award.
We host Next Step, India’s first-ever Conference mandated by the UN, with 95 Speakers and 450 participants.
2015
Our Magician, Matthew Spacie wins the Beyond Sport Leadership Award.
We are featured in Stanford’s Social Innovation Review.
1st Livelihood Centre inaugurated.
2,94,000 children are riding with Magic Bus.
2016
We win Charity of the Year Award at Asian Voice Charity Awards, UK, and UEFA.
Foundation for Children Award We begin work in Nepal and Myanmar.
3,94,000 children are riding with us.
2017
Harvard Business School does a case study about Magic Bus.
Our training function receives ISO accreditation.
We receive the Millennium Alliance Award, Round IV, for innovative practices in the Livelihoods space.
We begin work in Bangladesh.
2018
Our Livelihood Programme is restructured to make it market-driven.
We sign an MoU with Government of Maharashtra to implement our programme with 1.5 Lakh children.
We win the ET Now Leadership Award for Education and Learning.
Matthew Spacie wins Social Entrepreneur of the Year by Business Standard.
We receive Second scale-up grant from Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives.
2019
We sign an MoU with Chandrapur,
Bhandara and Aurangabad District
Collectors to implement a further
scaled-up programme with
3.5 Lakh children.
