Street Child named London Book Fair charity of the year, & other partnership news
Melanie May | 13 February 2023 | News
Street Child is 2023’s London Book Fair charity of the year, while the Crafts Council and Hobbycraft have teamed up to get crafting packs to children in need across the country. More on these and other fundraising and corporate partnerships below.
We are proud to be a #LetsCraft2023 partner.
In partnership with @CraftsCouncilUK and @Hobbycraft, we aim to distribute up to 20,000 Let’s Craft packs to children throughout the country.
Find out more about Let's Craft here: https://t.co/nfDYD3K9Fz🎨 pic.twitter.com/zdMvvglYbtAdvertisement
— Festival Connect & Create (@NNFestCC) February 9, 2023
Crafts Council & Hobbycraft announce new initiative
The Crafts Council and Hobbycraft have announced a UK-wide initiative, Let’s Craft, aimed at providing 15,000 craft kits to children in need. With many families unable to afford the most basic of art and craft materials at home, the kits will be distributed via a cohort of nationwide community partners, to ensure those most in need can access the mental health benefits that crafting brings. To identify and reach children in need across the UK, Hobbycraft and Crafts Council are working with nine UK-wide regional community partners, each of whom has a direct route to families most in need within their respective areas. These include Artswork (South East), Arts Connect (Birmingham), Culture Bridge (North East), Curious Minds (Wigan), and Festival Bridge (Norwich).
Dancing Leopard partners with Salvation Army
People can now send their donations of any pre-loved clothes, accessories and shoes directly to The Salvation Army through the Dancing Leopard website. The allows users to generate a free shipping label, choose a courier and a convenient place to drop off their donation. And, when the donation is received, they will get a 10% off Dancing Leopard discount code to say thank you. The full details on how to donate clothes via Dancing Leopard are on its customer help section.
Sodexo raises £6K for Healing Little Hearts
Sodexo’s team at Nuffield Health Leicester Hospital raised £6,000 to fund a life-saving mission organised by Leicester charity Healing Little Hearts. This funded a team of medical professionals travel to the An-Najah University Hospital in Nablus to perform free heart surgery on five seriously ill children. Over the course of 2022 Sodexo’s team, led by catering manager Belinda Smith, organised a series of fundraising activities for the Healing Little Hearts charity.
On 10 December its founder Dr Nichani and a team including surgeon Professor Massimo Caputo from Bristol Royal Hospital for Children travelled to An-Najah University Hospital in Nablus to carry out life-saving heart surgery on five Palestinian children aged between 19 months and 10 years over five days.
Street Child announced as The London Book Fair Charity of the Year 2023
Street Child has been announced as The London Book Fair (LBF) Charity of the Year 2023. As such, Street Child will be given an exhibition space and seminar session at LBF in April, in addition to receiving marketing support including promotion across social channels, before and during the event. The charity will also receive a year-long promotion on LBF’s website, and online opportunities for fundraising and awareness. In 2022, The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) was named LBF Charity of the Year. Other recent Charity of the Year recipients include Royal Voluntary Service in 2020-21, BAFTA Kids charity Place To Be in 2019, the Kitiwake Trust in 2018, and Worldreader in 2017.
Vanish supports Oxfam with gaming campaign
UK stain remover Vanish is on a mission to get people rewearing clothes and recently took this into the gaming world recently in a partnership with gaming influencers that raised funds for Oxfam. For every reshare of a clip of someone playing a game wearing their default skin (which is a gaming no-no), using the hashtag #ReSkinChallenge on Twitter, Instagram or Twitch, Vanish gave £20 to Oxfam between 27 January & 3 February.
Point A Hotels Christmas giving campaign raises £1,300 for charities
Point A Hotels has matched donations made by guests to London charity, The Felix Project, and the Scotland-based branch of FareShare as part of its Christmas giving campaign. Guests were able to donate to the charities through QR codes printed on life-size cut-outs of festive characters, with all donations matched by Point A Hotels. From soldiers to polar bears, the Christmas-themed mascots placed in lobbies around the UK were part of a festive campaign with donations amounting to £1,300. Point A committed to matching donations up to the value of £500 per hotel. The independent hoteliers have long been supporters of the charities and encouraged guests to share in their commitment.
London school pupils raise £478 for The Felix Project
Pupils from four London schools sold their soup creations at Borough Market’s Young Marketeers Winter Soup Sale recently raising funds to provide meals for people across the capital. Food critic, author and sustainability champion Melissa Hemsley and columnist, chef and food writer Xanthe Clay visited Lilian Baylis Technology School in Kennington along with the Market’s new CEO Jane Swift, to sample and judge some of the pupils’ recipes. The sale saw four schools set up stalls in London’s food market and sell their creations to the public, raising money for The Felix Project. The sale raised £478, and every £1 provides enough food for six meals for vulnerable people across the capital. The Winter Soup Sale is an annual event and forms part of the Young Marketeers Programme, now in its 11th year.
More corporate fundraising news
- McDonalds raises £1.2 million for BBC Children in Need and other corporate partnership news (24 October 2022)
- Corporate NGO partnerships will play a key role in addressing the cost of living crisis’ impact (28 September 2022)
- Curry’s picks Digital Poverty Alliance is its in-store donation partner and other corporate partnership news (16 May 2022)
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.