Charities fundraising at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2015
Howard Lake | 22 June 2015 | News
Many charities have created or benefited from gardens on display at the popular RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Here are just some of the charities that used the event this year to promote their work and attract new supporters.
1. Breakthrough Breast Cancer
[youtube height=”450″ width=”800″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWYPWN5FsqQ[/youtube]
Garden designer Ruth Willmott is fundraising for the charity by selling plants online and with via a tribute fund to her sister-in-law, Angela Willmott, with the aim of raising £10,000.
2. The Haven
Julian Fellowes and Esther Rantzen at The Haven garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2015
National breast cancer support charity, The Haven, exhibited at Chelsea for the first time this year. With support from Leeds-based communications agency Clearsilver, the charity secured considerable publicity. Thanks to the 70 national and regional features secured, and five slots on BBC TV, The Haven saw their web traffic increase by 194%.
The Breast Cancer Haven Garden won Gold for Best Artisan Garden, as well as the People’s Choice Award as voted for by the general public.
Hannah Dawes, Fundraising and Communications Director for The Haven, said:
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“We received an unprecedented amount of media coverage for RHS Chelsea across the whole spectrum of categories, and as a result, more people know about our charity than ever before.”
3. Macmillan Cancer Support
Macmillan Cancer Support benefited from Homebase’s presence at RHS Chelsea this year. Homebase is part of Home Retail Group, which in March this year committed to a two year partnership with the cancer charity with the aim of raising £3 million by March 2017.
4. Sentebale
Sentebale, the charity founded by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso, created a show garden entitled Sentebale – Hope in Vulnerability. Designed by Matt Keightley, it was intended to raise awareness of Sentebale’s work in providing healthcare and education to Lesotho’s most vulnerable children.
It was sponsored by the David Brownlow Charitable Foundation. Alexander Barfield, Chief Executive of the Foundation said:
“The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is a perfect platform to represent the challenges facing these children every day of their lives and how the public can generously donate to help them, and the garden that we are creating will do a fantastic job reflecting that work.”
Other charities that exhibited at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2015 included World Vision, the Motor Neurone Disease Association, the Forest Stewardship Council, many flower clubs, and other flora-related charities.
Charities that have exhibited in the past include Charities Aid Foundation with its Giving Garden in 2007, Alzheimer’s Society in 2014, and NSPCC with its Legacy Garden also in 2014.
The Royal Horticultural Society itself is a registered charity. It held a fundraising gala preview of the 2016 show at the end of this year’s show, and it showcased its National Gardens Scheme with a stand at the event.
• Has your charity exhibited at Chelsea Flower Show? How did you make the most of the opportunity for fundraising and marketing what you do?
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.