Cancer Research UK makes the most of that extra hour
Howard Lake | 21 October 2003 | News
Many of Cancer Research UK’s Stride for Life fundraising events are taking place on 26 October when British Summer time ends and the nation benefits from a 25-hour day; so the charity is encouraging people to make good use of that extra hour.
The seasons and festivals offer very handy opportunities for fundraising appeals – Christmas, Valentine’s Day, the New Year, and so on. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to stand out from the crowd if you peg a fundraising appeal on these dates. Hence the move by some charities to grab the less common days and dates.
We’ve had appeals suggesting you donate your salary for the last hour of the last Millennium, and a football match’s 90 minutes. New Year’s Day has been used, as has the longest day of the year. Most other days of the year also have their related charity appeal or campaign.
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The latest calendrical event to be acquired by inventive fundraisers is the extra hour available to us as British Summer time ends and the clocks “go back.”
Cancer Research UK, which is running a series of fundraising events around that date, has asked the public what they would do with this extra hour. The NOP poll found that 60% of people would choose to spend an extra hour in their day with either family (30%), friends (15%) or romancing with their partner (15%).
The next most popular way to spend the extra hour was in bed sleeping. Remarkably 4% of all men questioned in the poll said they would wish to spend the extra hour at work, while just 1% of women chose this option.
Frances Milner, Head of Community Fundraising (Southern Region) at Cancer Research UK, said: “Stride for Life really is the perfect way to make the most of your extra hour on 26 October. Spending an hour or so walking through beautiful countryside with your friends and family whilst raising vital funds for Cancer Research UK’s breast cancer research is a perfect way to spend an extra long Sunday.”
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.