Fund Raising
Page dedicated to our fantastic donors
Please email us details and photos of any fundraising events or companies who have donated to us. We would like to acknowledge all the generous donations and efforts made to keep our support group going.
Companies and Corporate Social Responsibility Schemes
MDS UK has received some donations via the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) scheme of some companies – for which we are very grateful.
We will be listing these companies on this Fundraising page and hope that many more will join this generous practice.
Here is also a brief description of what CSR usually entails:
Corporate social responsibility is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. CSR policy functions as a built-in, self-regulating mechanism whereby business monitors and ensures its active compliance with the spirit of the law, ethical standards, and international norms. The goal of CSR is to embrace responsibility for the company’s actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere. Furthermore, CSR-focused businesses would proactively promote the public interest (PI) by encouraging community growth and development, and voluntarily eliminating practices that harm the public sphere, regardless of legality. CSR is the deliberate inclusion of PI into corporate decision-making, that is the core business of the company or firm, and the honouring of a triple bottom line: people, planet, profit.
Through this scheme, MDS UK has received donations from :
Founded in 1937, Mishcon de Reya is a law firm with offices in London and New York offering both individuals and companies a range of legal services encompassing: corporate; employment; dispute resolution; family; private client; and real estate.
Georgina Yik told us:
“My role as Corporate Social Responsibility Executive is to oversee all the CSR activities for Mishcon de Reya, including charitable giving and the environment. We have a long history of charitable giving but last year we redefined and strengthened our CSR programme into one vehicle, Mishcommunity.
http://www.mishcon.com/about_us/mishcommunity/
Mishcommunity represents our charitable giving commitment for the next two years, mainly that we will support a local charity within our business community, an overseas charity and also support the fundraising efforts of our employees and the charities in which they have a personal connection. Each month we have a dedicated Discretionary Fund whereby members of staff can nominate a charity for consideration. The allocation of the fund is decided by a roving committee of staff, which changes each month. This committee decides how to allocate the fund, with 35 charities receiving our support in 2010.
Gloria Brady, a Senior Legal Cashier in our Accounts Department, nominated MDS for consideration in our January fund after her Aunt was diagnosed with MDS in August last year. This is typical of the type of charities which are nominated each month, where someone has personal experience of the invaluable assistance charities such as MDS UK offer.”
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John Lewis Partnership has kindly contributed towards the costs of our annual London Patient Forum – via their local Victoria office.
More details to be posted soon about their help – and how to contact our local John Lewis offices for future patient forum events.
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Helpful schemes that cost nothing
If you use the internet to buy goods, hotels, travel or services online, please consider using this scheme, which allows you to pick your favourite cause and allows you to raise funds at no cost to you. MDS UK is registered there and all you need to do is to register and download the application – then shop online as you would normally.
Please forward to you friends and family. Thank you for you on-going support.
MDS UK is a not-for-profit organisation – we continuously need funds to plan ahead and guarantee continuity of support to patients.
Here are some of the wonderful events and actions some people have organized or taken part in to support us.
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General donations and fundraisers
Laura’s Cycling Adventure – October 2012
In October Laura Dover is cycling from Lands End to John O’Groats in memory of her Mum, who loved cycling and passed her passion for 2 wheeled travel to her daughter. She will be carrying everything she needs with her on this adventure covering nearly 1000 miles.
Thank you so much Laura – and we wish you all the best on this challenging adventure. Please forward the link below to all your contacts to help Laura raise money to support the MDS UK Patient Support Group. Read more about Laura on her Fundraising page: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=LauraDover
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Charity Art Exhibition – 27th January 2012 – Tonbridge School, Kent
To celebrate the Year of the Dragon, Tonbridge School, in Tonbridge, Kent have agreed to host a Charity Art Exhibition on the 27th January, 2012 in their Tunnel Gallery at 6.30 – 8pm to help raise awareness and funds for MDS patients.
Chinese artists and parents from Hong Kong have kindly donated a wide range of Chinese art including photography and pottery. 20% of the proceeds of sale will be donated to MDS UK.
The dragon symbolises the emperor, wealth power and auspiciousness.
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Southend Choral Society
We are very grateful to the Southend Choral Society for their kind donation of £360 collected on the occasion of their 2011 annual Christmas concert. These were donations from the choir and the audience.
In particular – we would like to thank the choir member who initiated this donation – Chris Dugmore – one of our patient members. Chris has also recently started to assist with editing our newsletter – we thank her for that too. And she is the local contact for the MDS regional group in Essex. More on local and regional groups and contact details on our Events page.
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Dan Crowley Memorial Events – Brighton Marathon – and Golf Day
Thank you so much to all that took part in both events. Here is a photo of Dan and some pictures of the events – as well as a few words below from Dan’s wife Stella.
Brighton Marathon above – (left to right) Stella, Michelle who ran, Becky and Sally – Dan’s daughters.
Below – Dan’s friend Mitch – and organiser Terry. Thank you all very much.
On 26th August 2011, friends and family of my late husband Dan Crowley held a Golf Day in memory of him and to raise money for MDS.
It was a very successful day and we were all amazed at how much money was raised.
The golfers arrived early to a wet and miserable start, but were greeted with a welcoming coffee and bacon butties – just the way to get the party off with a swing, some friends making an extra special journey travelling from as far away as Devon and France. The weather didn’t improve for most of the day, in fact it poured most of the time but golfers being golfers are a hardy lot and certainly didn’t let it spoil the day!!!
Our daughters organized a bar on the 12th hole, where the golfers happily donated for whatever drink they fancied. There was even a ‘hole in one’ shot bar which at a £1 a go was very popular with both the golfers and some of the spectators. As you can imagine quite a lot was collected!!! This was also a good place to meet everyone that played before going back to the clubhouse and hearing how well or badly their game was going and just catching up with old and new friends. Some players even visited the bar again from the 14th hole.
Once the golf was over, it was back to the club house for a lovely dinner of ham, egg and chips which went down very well. After dinner came the raffle and auction, we had been exceptionally lucky and had been given some very generous prizes. Both the raffle and auction raised a lot more money than we had hoped. Everyone was very generous and really enjoyed themselves. It was lovely to see so many friends and family raising money for an illness that most of us had been lucky enough never to heard of before Dan was diagnosed and giving their time and money so freely.
MDS was something we had never heard of before Dan was diagnosed. He was amazing the way he coped with his illness – as are most cancer sufferers. Along with the illness came lots of restrictions on our social life this being due to the risks of infections. We had never considered how this type of illness could affect things we took for granted however Dan being Dan made sure we found different ways to enjoy life. Instead of going to crowded restaurants we went for picnics – even when visiting the hospitals!!! The crowded evening cinemas became replaced with lunch time trips which gave a huge choice of seats and no one rustling the sweet papers in your ears.
Walking in the local park was something we came to really enjoy. Friends and family were also very supportive and instead of going out for meals changed their evenings and invited us round for dinner. Simple things became so much more important.
Life can seem very bleak when you are diagnosed with a terrible illness but Dan always said he wanted to make the most of it and didn’t want people to ever feel sorry for him or awkward in his company. He enjoyed his life as best he could and I was so lucky to share it with him and am so proud of him for making it so much easier to cope with for myself and our daughters.
Let’s hope that by helping to raise some money it will go towards helping others with MDS.
Stella Crowley
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Ian Denton Memorial Golf Day
The HSBC Liverpool Golf Society has chosen MDS as their charity of the year in 2011. Golf matches are played every year in memory of Ian Denton, organised by family member Geoff Denton. Thank you for all your team efforts – and thank you to HSBC.
Geoff sent us a few words – we admire the team’s dedication (!!): ”Our charities this year were the MDS Foundation, in memory of our late member Ian Denton, and Zoe’s Place, a baby hospice in Liverpool, with all proceeds being split equally between each charity.
I decided to hold our captain’s charity golf day in July, expecting it to be warm, dry and sunny. Unfortunately we got the opposite. 24 of us played and the stiff breeze on the first tee very quickly turned into a gale with squally showers.
By the sixth hole using umbrellas’ became a waste of time as the gales were now blowing very heavy and continual rain in sideways.
By the ninth hole it went very dark with the rain incessant.
Waterproofs became waterlogged and all 24 players came off the course completely soaked with water dripping from everywhere, water squelching out of golf shoes, and golf bags with water sloshing round in them. But everyone completed their round knowing it was for two very worthwhile causes.
In November we held a charity races night and charity auction in Liverpool.
A fun night was had by all, with lots of very generous donations for the auction and lots of digging deep on the night.
In total the members raised £5,295 and HSBC Bank kindly added £5,000, so each charity has received £5,147
Geoff Denton
To find out more about HSBC Golf Society – please click here: http://www.hsbc-golf-society-liverpool.co.uk/captains_charity2011.php
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Celgene’s Berlin Marathon – Celgene has performed amazingly at the Berlin Marathon – with an entire team of runners – and managed to raise a very impressive amount of funds – for both Myeloma UK and MDS UK – details and photos coming soon. Thank you all who took part – and helped.
The Celgene staff who ran the Berlin marathon raised an amazing £5,000 for MDS UK – which the Celgene company then matched – donating a further £5,000. Photo of our treasurer – Sharon Berger – and fundraiser – Jan Buchanan – gratefully accepting the £10,000 cheque handed over by Celgene UK manager Samantha Pearce.
Thank you so much to all the staff that ran – and all the supporters and donors. We are extremely impressed by the team spirit!!
And here is the list of the formidable runners – and fundraisers: Tom Mills, Sam Pearce, Louise Mercer, Sarah Henderson, Caroline Daintree, Gemma Brookes, Kevin Loth, Liam Quinn, Tracey Davidson, Tim Paget, Rachael Foggo, Ian Russell, Gavin Collins, Martin Ellis, Judy Willits – big thank you to each one of you!!
And this was the Virgin Money Giving webpage set up for the occasion: My page: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/CelgeneUKIRe
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Judy Woolfenden – Cotswold 100 mile Ultramarathon – Our amazing Judy Woolfenden – MDS patient extraordinaire – has set a new record in taking part in a the Cotswold 100mile Ultra Marathon: “First pushed wheelchair athlete”. This may even be the first time someone has been pushed for such a distance.
Weather was absolutely awful – but Judy and her team of pushers persisted and finished 31st out of 35 – which is an amazing achievement, considering that 80 runners started – but less than half of them crossed the finishing line! Judy and team completed it in 29 hours 5 min. http://www.ultrarace.co.uk/
Part of the funds Judy raises through her activities goes to MDS UK – for which we are very grateful. Thank you and all your team.
If you wish to contact Judy, please get in touch with us.
Judy’s dog-sledding expedition in Sweden – 2012 - In February – March 2012, Judy Woolfenden will be taking part in an amazing sponsored dog sledding expedition in Sweden. Several individuals and companies are making it possible for Judy to organise and take part in this event – we’d like to thank them for their assistance: Adrian Flux Insurance http://www.adrianflux.co.uk/ Warwick Sports – and Andrea Beever who will be assisting Judy http://www.warwicksportsshop.co.uk/ Rayburn Plastics – Allen and Annette Griffiths http://www.rayburn.co.uk/ Heidi – who will also be assisting Judy on the trip. Craighoppers and Regatta Ltd are sponsoring with clothes, http://www.craghoppers.com/, http://www.regatta.com/
Judy will also be connecting the UK with Sweden via the Rotary Club Kenilworth. Should you wish to support Judy, sponsor her, or have fundraise on her behalf – please contact us. We look forward to photos and a feedback from the expedition.
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Kala Natakavedi – A Cultural Evening @ Oakwood Theatre - We are grateful to one of our members Jyoti and her husband Gopal for another wonderful fundraiser – a play written by Gopal and performed in Reading in 2nd July 2011. Jyoti told us: “My husband has written and is directing two plays on the 2nd of July at Reading. It is an evening of cultural programmes with music and dance as well. The tickets have already been sold and the proceeds are being donated to the MDS charity. I will be compereing and my children have put together an act as well. There may not be a lot left over after overheads but it will be a start anyway. This is under the umbrella of a group Called KALA. KALA is made up of professionals : medical and others who are interested in the Art and Literary side of things. It was very generous and heartwarming of them to make this donation. “The MP for Reading will be present at the performance, as well as local press.On behalf of all of the MDS Committee – many thanks to all involved for this great opportunity to raise awareness of MDS and for the fundraising.
Jyoti has been a volunteer for another charity The Redbridge Education and Social Welfare Support Group (Awaaz Group) for a number of years and has been involved, with writing bids and supporting ESOL among other things.
This year the group won The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. This is the highest award given to volunteer groups across the UK for outstanding work done in their local communities. As a part of this she has been invited to attend a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace on 29th June 2011.
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Southborough School of Dance – A charity dance concert
We are delighted to announce that the Southborough School of Dance has nominated MDS UK as their nominated charity for their Annual Concert to be held at the Royal Victoria Theatre, Southborough.
The event is supported by the Rotary Club of Southborough and Pembury on behalf of their chosen charity “Shelter Box” and profits will be donated to the chosen charities.
The ballet school specialises in classical ballet and is proud to be a member of the Russian Ballet Society. Dance pupils are able to study ballet, tap and modern. The two performances, will involve approximately 100 dancers aged between 4 and 19 demonstrating a variety of styles and from various grades. The pupils are encouraged to perform and audition for pantomimes, children’s youth ballets and professional dance schools, including the Royal School of Ballet.
We are honoured and very grateful that the school has chosen to help raise awareness for MDS patients and hope you will be able to support them by enjoying what will be a truly fantastic event, performance time approximately 2 hours with a 20 minute intermission.
Tickets are now on sale – £8 for adults, Children under (16 years) £4 – Family Tickets (2 adults /2 children) £20 (Please contact via email jean_snow@yahoo.com or by mobile 07765 884770 Jean Snow for tickets and further information (Theatre capacity 300 -seating plan available)
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David Bayliss – Arctic Trip in a Mini – Dec 2010
MDS UK is extremely grateful to David and Vikki and to all the people that made this extraordinary adventure possible:
David’s Mum Jayne, David’s grand-father John, sister Elaine, staff at Mini UK, Bracknell and Jan Buchanan.
Here’s the story from David’s point of view: I love road trips and in 2008 I thought I’d do a long distance drive to raise money for charity. I wanted it to be the most challenging drive possible so came up with the idea of driving as far North as you can – driving through France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland & Norway to the Arctic and back. In 2008 we did the trip in the Autumn – in 2010 I decided to do the same trip but make it even more difficult – by making it longer and in the depths of winter.
On December 22nd 2010 we completed our 25 day trip that took us to the Arctic (in temperatures as low as -30oC) and back as well as raising over £3,000 for the MDS UK Patient Support Group and over £3,000 for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.
My sister Elaine had Leukaemia when she was a child so the charities have always been close to our hearts, if it wasn’t for the treatment she received Elaine wouldn’t be here now. Elaine is now 28 and has just had her first baby. Sadly my best friend Andy, who was at the beginning and end of our journey, passed away in January having suffered Leukaemia three times in his short 24 year life.
During 25 days we covered over 7,000 miles – most of which were spent driving on ice roads. Once inside the Arctic Circle we didn’t see sunlight for around 11 days – it’s not until you lose the sun that you realise how much it’s taken for granted. The main effect it had on us was feeling the days were very short and making us tired all the time. It gave us a new level of respect for the people that live in the Arctic who endure it for so long. 11 days was enough for us and we couldn’t wait to see The Sun again.
Neither of us had any experience of driving in icy conditions so we took lots of advice from people that had. When we reached the first iced over roads we took things slowly until we got a feel for how the car handled on it and until our confidence built.
The car we took to the Arctic was a MINI Countryman. I’ve driven a MINI since I passed my driving test and once my family saw it they all wanted MINIs too. We then went on to set up Kent And East Sussex MINI Club and due to our enthusiasm for the car MINI UK lent us their newly released MINI Countryman 4×4 Cooper D. We knew the ALL4 Countryman was the logical choice as we’d be driving through snow and ice and the Cooper D made perfect sense for fuel economy as we’d be traveling such huge distances. The only thing that was done to the car was to have studded tyres fitted and screen wash that wouldn’t freeze in the possible -40oC conditions. We took survival gear and a snow shovel just in case we got stuck somewhere and needed to spend a night in the car.
The coldest temperature we experienced was in Northern Norway when temperatures dropped to -30oC – when we got out the car our nose hairs froze instantly!
Our goal was always to reach the most Northern point drivable in Europe, Nordkapp which sits at over 71 degrees north and is marked by a globe monument. Despite the epic challenges on day 14 we achieved this. Of course we had to consider our safety as the final road to the point was said to be very dangerous, 4x4s were allowed to go but only in convoy with a bus and snowplough at a certain time each day. We discussed it at length and decided we had to give it a go in our MINI Countryman.
It was a scary drive up the mountains with a several thousand foot drop either side of the tiny, twisty iced over roads but we made it. Getting both us and the Countryman to the globe was a huge achievement to us, it had made all the months of planning and the stress of driving worthwhile. Not only was it a great personal achievement as we’d done what we set out to do but it was also an amazing achievement for the new Countryman – it proved itself to be a proper 4×4 that could deal with the Arctic conditions and come through them.
Our favourite moment of the trip was in a Husky farm in Karasjok, Norway – we stayed in a beautiful wooden lodge and got to meet the dogs, including 15 Husky puppies, before an amazing sled ride through stunning scenery.
On day 25 of our epic journey we returned to the UK to see our families and get some much needed home comforts! We’d achieved all the goals we had set out and it had been a privilege to raise money for the charities that mean so much to us. Due to the driving conditions the trip had been more stressful than we could ever of imagined but it had been worth it for the amazing sights we saw along the way.
The journey was shared with people across the globe via our blog which was updated daily and can still be accessed at baylissracing.com We will soon be posting a video of the trip which perhaps explains the trip better than words ever could. Also you might be interested to know we are discussing our next trip that may happen in 2012 – either MINI to the Arctic 3 (in the summer next time!) or MINI to South Africa!
Thanks for everyone who donated helping us reach far above our donation targets with a current total of over £7,000…
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MDS UK is extremely grateful for the kind donation of £236.53 handed over at Judy’s annual luncheon at the Stoneleigh Deer Park Golf Club in Warwickshire.
Our company secretary Fiona Pirilla attended the luncheon and accepted the cheque on behalf of MDS UK.
Judy is an amazing lady and we are very lucky to have her support. For some of her next marathon challenges, Judy is looking for some energetic and willing pushers to help push her wheelchair. If you are interested in helping out – please contact our main office on mds-uk@mds-foundation.org or 020 7733 7558 and we will forward to Judy.
Judy Woolfenden, MBE has agreed to add MDS UK Patient Support Group to her list of 11 charities she supports.
Judy is an amazing lady who has undertaken numerous personal challenges, despite suffering from Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a progressive muscle wasting disorder, as well as several other serious medical conditions. She was expected not to live past 40, due to her condition, but recently celebrated her 60th birthday!
She was also recently diagnosed with MDS, which prompted her to contact us.
Judy is not a professional fund-raiser, but here is a very brief list of some of her achievements so far – judge for yourself (From 1998 to 2010):
- a Harley Davidson motorcycle ride for 1000miles on her 50th birthday
- several marathons – New-York City, Great North Run, Nationwide Swindon, Tromso in Norway, ultra marathons – pushed in her wheelchair
- trekking with husky dogs in the Arctic Circle
- 54 hot air balloon flights
- indoor rowing championships
- several Disabled Sportswoman of the year awards
- an MBE award presented by the Queen
- many more marathons and other challenges are lined up for 2011 and 2012 already
You can find out much more about the Judy Woolfenden Challenge by googling her on the internet.
The MDS UK Patient Support Group is very grateful to Judy for adding us to her list of charities and wish her and her dedicated team of pushers many more successes in future. We have a few photos of some of her achievements and look forward to putting up more very soon.
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Graham Young – Kilimanjaro climb – February 2011
Graham says: ‘Finally, the summit! Thanks to everyone that sponsored me…
I managed to raise £3320. Don’t let the smile in this pic deceive you- It was hard work!’
In February this year Graham Young did climb Mount Kilimanjaro! This is no small feat, as it stands at 5,895 metres above sea level, making it the highest free standing mountain! Congratulations to Graham for this achievement.
He said: I did this to raise money for MDS. My mother-in-law, Julie, was diagnosed with MDS in 2007 and I wanted to do something to raise money for the support of those with MDS as well as the research into both preventing and finding a cure for the illness.
Graham paid for his own climb in full, so all donations did go fully and direct to the charities, MDS UK and LLR and were split equally.
The total amount raised was £3,320 which was a huge success. Many many thanks to Graham and all the fantastic donors that made this possible.
He suffered terribly with altitude sickness and said it was much harder than ever imagined it would be but is very glad he did it, especially for such a good cause!
Following the summit night on the way back down the mountain they were not allowed to stop at the usual camp as they were all too sick with altitude sickness so they had to keep walking to the next camp further down the mountain so by the time they had stopped they had been walking for 36 hours! They took the Rongai route and did it over 6 days.
Please forward this all your contacts.
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Mini 2 The Arctic
As soon as we crossed the Arctic Circle on Day 8 we realised that the journey had taken on a new dimension. Some days have been simply terrifying. Zero visibility, snow storms, roaming Reindeer, roads completely covered with ice with barely a tyre track to follow, but the most amazing scenery. Highlights have been an overnight stop in a converted Jumbo Jet , visiting a Husky Farm and staying in an Igloo.
An extract from Day 14
“We climbed and climbed, no crash barriers to save you from certain death if you plummeted down the thousand foot drop on the left. The road continued in the same manner for 12 miles. Finally we reached the sign that said Nordkapp 500 metres and we knew that we had made it. Months of planning had come together, thousands of miles and a long way from the comfort of home”
David and Vikki are passionate about raising funds for MDS please help them to hit their target, by circulating their donation page as widely a you can.
They are trying to get back in time to spend Christmas at home.
Any donation will make a difference – Virgin Money Giving donations.
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Run to the beat
Our fantastic Run to the Beat runner Rachael Foggo has completed the 13 miles half-marathon last Sunday, 26th September 2010. Well done Rachael!!
This is what she said: “I am happy to be able to report that I completed the very hilly 13.1 miles in arctic conditions yesterday in 2 hours 4 minutes and 32 seconds. Despite having nearly frozen to death on the start line (they ended up giving out the silver space blankets at the start!) I managed to get round the course without incident. I didn’t beat my personal best, but put this down to my sub-two hour time being run on the flat – not the lack of training while on my two-week holiday.”
Furthermore – we now just heard from Rachael that the pharma company she works for – Celgene – have very generously offered to double whatever Rachael manages to fundraise. So if you have not yet donated to her Virgin Giving website – it is not too late: please do so via the Virgin Money Giving page Rachael has created..
Please forward the link to friends, family, colleagues, neighbours – this will not only help us financially but also continue raising awareness of MDS everywhere!!!
Rachael added “I still have donations coming in, and Celgene having agreed to double the final amount, I can’t yet tell you yet the exact amount I raised.” Again – very well done and thank you very much to both Rachael and Celgene. And of course should you wish to help raise funds in future – like Rachael – please let us know in advance so we can advertise it on our website!!
Visit the ‘Run to the beat’ website.
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Fund-raising Ideas
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Bethan Maguire – My Fundraising Experience
My involvement with MDS started in April 2008. My Mum Shirley was suffering from terrible nosebleeds and eventually after a 3 week hospital stay she was diagnosed with MDS. I had no idea what MDS was. I did a bit of reading up but to be honest it was medical jargon and I didn’t really understand. My Mum’s condition progressed quickly. She had been told that it was too advanced and they could do nothing more for her, but bravely chose not to tell anybody. She passed away in hospital September 2008 aged just 52.
After her death I had a huge need for as much information about MDS as possible. I was desperate to understand what had happened to my mum. The hospital was very good after her passing and fully disclosed the information she had so wanted to protect us all from. When I began searching online I found very few sites that were directly connected to MDS within the UK but was eventually directed to MDS UK Patient Support Group via the website for The Aplastic Anemia Trust.
I decided to fundraise during a flight to Turkey approximately 8 weeks after my mum had died. I lived in Turkey for many years, we had shared some wonderful family holidays there and my fiancé is Turkish. My idea snowballed from a small party into hosting a charity night – I wanted to raise awareness and money.
We used the local cricket club’s facilities (kindly offered for free). I decided on a Turkish theme with a belly dancer, disco and a buffet, with a raffle. I knew I had to ensure that the ticket prices were pitched appropriately and then budget carefully for the costs involved. I decided on £6 per ticket with free entry for children with a ticket holder. I was able to organise the disco easily through family contacts (at a reduced rate due to it being a charity event), and a nurse at our local hospital offered to do the belly dancing for free due to the cause. The buffet was less straightforward as catering companies were quoting £5-£6 per head. I decided instead to provide food myself and by asking friends and family to help. Although this was effective, it made the run up to the actual evening very stressful and exhausting.
I offered a free tombola entry with every ticket purchased. I had items bought in Turkey for prizes (Turkish Delight, key rings, mugs etc) and also sought donations, with mixed success. I phoned, wrote and emailed both locally and nationally. I had many negative responses. Chain stores tended to point me to their head offices or turn me down. Many places had nominated charities so were unable to help. I had the most success from approaching local facilities and places of interest, attracting free day passes for a family of four, local hairdresser and gym vouchers/day passes, first class train tickets to London and local theatre tickets. I made up a huge hamper with family members buying the items over time. I put together inexpensive games aimed at the kids (guess the name of the bear, how many sweets in the jar or the weight of the cake for 25p a try, closest or matching answers won the prizes), which worked well. On the night the belly dancer and some of her students raised extra money through bids for dances.
On the night we raised just over £500. Unfortunately another charity night was held the previous evening for a local teenage girl who had been involved in a car accident. It was organised at late notice but I did not learn about it until it was too late and I’m sure it affected the support for my event.
I learned a lot through organising the event and am next planning a sponsored walk. The key points were:
- Decide on your event and how it will raise money. If selling tickets, be realistic in your pricing and ensure that you put together a budget and stick to it.
- Don’t incur costs where it isn’t necessary – I was fortunate to be able to use the venue free of charge and kept decorations low key; I also got the disco at a reduced cost through family contacts and the belly dancing services were donated.
- Get as much help as you can – whether it is through help on the night, making stuff for the event, getting donations etc. Make a list of all that needs to be done and divide tasks out, taking into account the strengths of others. Family members helped out with making food for the night and contributions for the hamper and a good friend designed and printed both the posters and tickets.
- Seek donations for the cause – I sought donations from businesses for the raffle prizes. I started off by drawing up a letter explaining what I was doing, gave a brief outline of MDS and how it had affected me personally. It’s important not to get disheartened by the rejections you will receive, as you will also see remarkable generosity. Local businesses may be more prepared to help you out. Keep track of your efforts and who has donated so you can thank them.
- Don’t underestimate the work involved – give yourself plenty of time for planning, and for selling tickets in advance.
- Be aware of other events or fundraisers occurring locally and avoid date clashes.
- Advertise and monitor the effectiveness of your efforts – one local newspaper I contacted got the location wrong and then had to print a correction in another edition. I also found that posters I put up in the local area (shops, supermarkets, community centres etc) disappeared quickly.
- Lastly but most importantly enjoy the event and remember why you are holding it in the first place!