Argos chooses charity of the year
Howard Lake | 14 May 2003 | News
Retailer Argos has chosen children’s charity Whizz-Kidz as its Charity of the Year for 2003-4.
The partnership launched on 2 May 2003 and kicks off with Argos staff and customers across the UK participating in a Big Blue and Yellow Weekend to raise money for disabled children and young people.
‘Mobility for Disabled Kids’ is the core message of the year-long campaign and together with a unique new logo it will help to increase awareness of the importance of mobility for children. Argos aims to raise £400,000.
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Six year-old ‘whizz kid’ Brendan Gladwin, who received a ‘Bobcat’ powered wheelchair from Whizz-Kidz will be the face and inspiration of the partnership.
The Big Blue and Yellow Weekend encouragd staff staff to organise a Fun Day over the May Bank Holiday which involved making, wearing, eating or doing any manner of blue and yellow fundraising activities. These included undertaking a ‘Whizz Wash’ car wash, organising a Great Argos Treasure Hunt, a Blue and Yellow cake bake, and donning Whizz-Kidz ‘bunny-eared’ baseball caps.
Argos has started the year with a £100,000 donation together with a powered wheelchair from Argos in lieu of car parking fees at its main office in Milton Keynes.
Fundraising activities will continue with a six-month charity pin badge campaign featuring the popular children’s character Noddy. From 29 July a range of badges will be sold exclusively in 520 Argos stores for the recommended customer donation of £1.00.
A cause related marketing campaign is also being planned, as well as in-store branding on items such as carrier bags and payment kiosks.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.