Donate your leap day to charity, says easyfundraising
Howard Lake | 24 February 2012 | News
Charity shopping site easyfundraising.org.uk is urging bosses to make the most of this leap year by giving workers the day off on 29 February in order to get involved in charity volunteer work.
The Leap Day campaign is already being supportered by Punch Taverns, which leases out 5000 pubs, which is giving all their staff a day off to back the Give Away Your Leap Day.
Punch Taverns employees are volunteering for a range of activities, including revamping the garden at St Giles Hospice in Lichfield. Some of the 250 staff members at the Burton-on-Trent headquarters will bank their day off so they can help the hospice with projects throughout the year.
Advertisement
Managing Director of easyfundraising.org.uk, Gary Thompson, said: “We want to generate awareness for businesses to support good causes in their local area. This day is going to make a real difference to the community.”
Easyfundraising, which has generated over £3 million for good causes, say that there are an estimated 30 million workers in Britain who earn on average £100 per day. They suggest that employers don’t have to free up their workers for the whole day. They could invite them to volunteer for an hour, or even bank the time for another day if 29 February is not suitable.
How will you use Leap Day?
How will your charity make use of this extra day?
Back in 2004 a similar idea was proposed by The Giving Campaign. As UK Fundraising reported in January 2004 in Donate your leap year day to charity, urges Giving Campaign, the national campaign urged “people to pledge just two hours of time or money each month to charity”.
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.