10 great snippets of corporate fundraising news
Melanie May | 26 May 2021 | News
From West Way Nissan’s donation of two vehicles to WellChild, Principality’s milestone of £1m raised for Welsh charities, and ARRAN Sense of Scotland’s support of Alzheimer Scotland, here’s a round up of corporate fundraising and partnership news.
WellChild is delighted to have 2 new vehicles thanks to @westwaynissan.
A key use for the vehicles will be supporting WellChild’s Helping Hands Team which delivers life-changing home improvement projects across the UK for seriously ill children.https://t.co/NxUyEU1Cym pic.twitter.com/shxbIzmboUAdvertisement
— WellChild (@WellChild) May 13, 2021
West Way Nissan & WellChild
West Way Nissan, the UK’s largest Nissan dealer group, is providing transport assistance to Cheltenham-based WellChild as part of a new partnership. West Way has handed over two vehicles, an NV400 van and a Qashqai crossover, which will be used mainly by the charity’s Helping Hands team, who recruit volunteers to deliver practical and life-changing home and garden transformation projects, such as making outside spaces safe, sensory and accessible for youngsters living at home with serious and complex health conditions. Until now, the charity has never had a van at its disposal, having to pay hire charges instead.
Principality & Welsh charities
Wales’s largest building society Principality has hit a milestone, by raising £1 million for charities in the country since 2014. The fundraising has supported seven different charities in the past seven years, including Mind Cymru, Cancer Research Wales, School of Hard Knocks, MS Society, Llamau and since 2019, the Society’s current charity partners Teenage Cancer Trust Cymru and Alzheimer’s Society Cymru. Over the years, colleagues have taken part in a variety of fundraising events, including half marathons, treks, cake sales, bucket collections and step challenges to raise vital funds, with the Society’s members donating across its 53 branches. During the pandemic, fundraising was adapted to become virtual, including zoom spinathons and garden basketball marathons.
Hachette UK’s Accessibility Network & Mencap
Hachette UK’s Accessibility Network has announced a partnership with Mencap to deliver talks, fundraiser activities and awareness-raising events starting from this month. The partnership aims to raise awareness and improve understanding of learning disability, and forms a key part of the Accessibility Network’s outreach agenda for this year. Its aim is to increase awareness of learning disability within the company and host at least five fundraiser activities, encouraging network members and other Hachette UK employees to engage with Mencap’s work. The activities planned include a virtual cocktail class and cook-along on 17 June with Hachette UK authors, Dan Whiteside and Sam Gates, which will be ticketed, with all funds raised going directly to Mencap. Members of the network have also committed to taking part in the Royal Parks Half Marathon in October.
PlayMoreGolf & Prostate Cancer UK
PlayMoreGolf, the flexible golf membership offering, has announced a partnership with Prostate Cancer UK. The partnership will look to support and inform PlayMoreGolf’s member community, whose core demographic includes those most frequently affected by the disease (men over the age of 50, black men over 45 and those with a family history of the illness), as well as help raise money to beat the disease. This relationship with PlayMoreGolf will also aim to further Prostate Cancer UK’s work with golf clubs across the UK, and make its logo known in golf, building on the charity’s work with the PGA and their members, elite player Danny Willett, golf YouTubers, and club captains across the UK.
Soccerex & Cure Leukaemia
Global football networking platform Soccerex has chosen Cure Leukaemia as its official charity partner for the upcoming Soccerex Connected 100 event, which runs from 24 May to 31 August. The virtual event will involve delegates from over 150 countries, feature over 15 expert speakers and provide more than 2,400 hours of networking opportunities to connect businesses with football’s key stakeholders. Cure Leukaemia will have the opportunity to communicate the charity’s message with a global audience through Soccerex’s online platform over three months to highlight how football has the power to affect real change in the treatment of blood cancer worldwide. It will also give Cure Leukaemia the chance to drive fundraising opportunities this summer after the Covid-19 pandemic left the charity with a £1,700,000 fundraising shortfall.
ARRAN Sense of Scotland & Alzheimer Scotland
Scottish soap, home and body care brand ARRAN Sense of Scotland has chosen Alzheimer Scotland as its official charity partner for 2021. The partnership will raise funds for the charity over the next 12 months, and raise awareness of its work. The company and charity will collaborate on some key events during this time which include the charity’s annual Memory Walk series and a ‘summer of challenges’ for staff, who will also take part in training to become Dementia Friends, as ARRAN Sense of Scotland works to become a more Dementia Friendly business. Part of the partnership will also explore how ARRAN Sense of Scotland can support some of Alzheimer Scotland’s existing outdoor initiatives, including its Tipi Project (main image) – a woodland therapy project which enables groups of people with dementia to come together in a woodland tipi and take part in activities, learn new skills and discover the therapeutic benefits of nature.
Computershare Loan Services, The Deposit Protection Service, & Depaul UK
Computershare Loan Services and The Deposit Protection Service (The DPS) have awarded £40,000 to national charity Depaul UK to help tackle the root causes of homelessness and improve financial stability among young people. The organisations said the donation would fund financial literacy workshop programmes across the country, particularly for those aged 16 to 25 who are without a home or who are at risk of becoming homeless. The DPS and Computershare Loan Services have together provided just under half a million pounds to charities in their respective fields since 2014. The DPS and Computershare Loan Services Charity Fund is also set to make donations to local charities near the organisations’ Derry, North and West Yorkshire, Sunderland, Doxford and Bristol offices later this year.
Miller Homes & charities
Miller Homes has raised over £24,000 for its nominated charities across the UK in just one month as part of its ‘Miller Miles Charity Challenge’. The challenge involved employees ‘Marching for March’ and recording the number of miles they walked and ran. Miller Homes matched every mile collectively covered pound for pound to raise money for a number of regional charities. In total, the team covered 15,708 miles – smashing its 10,000 mile target. A further £7,595 was raised from individual fundraising efforts, contributing towards the total pledge along with a £1,000 bonus awarded to the first team to reach 1,000 miles. The funds will go towards supporting nine good causes close to the hearts of Miller Homes employees. This includes Tiny Changes, St Oswald’s Hospice, Fresh Start, the Great North Air Ambulance, Room at the Inn, Wakefield Hospice, Children First Derby, Birmingham’s Children Hospital Charity and Two Saints.
Gala Bingo & 52 Lives
Gala Bingo has raised almost £450,000 for its charity partner 52 Lives, after four years of donations and special charity bingo games. Through its series of fundraising events, Gala Bingo with its customers, has now raised £448,841, which has helped the charity in its work to improve the lives of people across the UK. Last year it hosted 52 special bingo games, where 100% of the proceeds went straight to 52 Lives. On top of this, Gala Bingo donated an additional £52,000 to the cause to help 52 Lives reach more people in need. The money raised has allowed the charity to increase its support of individuals and local communities, from elderly care homes to people struggling with self-isolation.
WaterBear & Resilient Foundation
Streaming platform WaterBear has partnered with the Resilient Foundation, a non-profit organisation which funds storytelling around the world across short form, feature documentaries, journalism, live and news telling stories that may otherwise go unreported. WaterBear’s ‘Resilient Collection’ will see documentary films to rent land on the platform, with revenue providing funds for the Resilient Foundation.
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.