Small Charity Week

FSI are proud to be hosting their latest Small Charity Week week from 11th – 15th June!

This Small Charity Week will be the biggest yet, with free opportunities for small charities across the UK raise their profile, gain knowledge, engage with policy makers, fundraise and celebrate their impact. Each day of Small Charity Week focuses on a different audience, giving opportunities for business, government, the media and the general public to support small charities and civil society organisations everywhere.

For more information or to get involved with Small Charity Week 2012 visit the website at www.smallcharityweek.com

The Big Give Christmas Challenge has raised over £30m for hundreds of charities over the last four years.  This would not have been possible without the generous involvement of our Charity Champions. These are the foundations, businesses and individuals who provide matching funds for the charities. Would you like to join this unique and exclusive group in the philanthropic world?

Why Should I Become a Charity Champion?

You can choose a group of charities to support and the amount you contribute will end up raising at least five times for your chosen organisations (around 6 times when Gift Aid is included).

Not only will you give your chosen charities the chance to access your funding, taking part in the Christmas Challenge also affords them the opportunity to engage with both new and lapsed donors, and to get regular donors giving more. You can click here to read how some charities have already been transformed by taking part in the Challenge.

Will it cost me anything?

Not a penny. The Reed Foundation fully fund the operations of the Big Give, allowing us to:

• Run online seminars for your chosen charities to guide them through the process and ensure they make the most of the fantastic opportunity
• Provide a dedicated account manager for each charity to answer any queries within the same day and share the knowledge that has been accumulated during the course of running four Christmas Challenges
• Maintain the platform on the Big Give that is able to facilitate the UK’s biggest Matched Funding Challenge

Sir Alec Reed, Chair of the Reed Foundation, founded the Big Give and developed the concept of leveraged matched funding that has had such a huge impact. The Reed Foundation distribute all of their funding through the Big Give Christmas Challenge and have given over £4.5m in this way to date. Sir Alec is keen to share this success with other like-minded philanthropists.

“The Christmas Challenge is the perfect antidote to the drop in donations that so many charities are experiencing right now.  The power of the Christmas Challenge is simply too good to keep to myself, and I would be delighted to share it with others looking to safeguard the future of the charities closest to their heart. “ Sir Alec Reed CBE

Testimonial – Candis Club (publishers of Candis Magazine)

Candis Club supported 55 health charities in the 2011 Christmas Challenge. Their initial contribution of £250,000 raised over £1.7million for their chosen charities through our unique model of Challenge Funding.

Christine Blackford, Joint Managing Director, said

“The Big Give Christmas Challenge was seen as an opporunity to increase the value of our donation by matching funds from other donors, thereby raising more funds for health charities.

Supporting health charities in the 2011 Big Give Christmas Challenge has been a ‘win win’ situation for both ourselves and the charities involved.”

This is the second year that Candis have supported the Challenge, and we are looking forward to welcoming them back for a third year!

Next Steps

We would be delighted to set up a meeting to explore how you could get involved in the UK’s largest matched funding event. Please contact Ashley Bowe, Managing Director of the Big Give, at ashley.bowe@theBigGive.org.uk, to arrange a time.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Thank you for submitting your answer

About the Big Give Quiz

The Big Give Quiz is a fantastic, new way for your charity to recruit new donors and raise additional funds.

At 7:30pm on Wednesday 20th June, teams of players across the UK will gather in friends’ houses to compete online, simultaneously, in the very first Big Give Quiz. In order to do so, they will first register online and pay a £10 registration fee to the Big Give and £10 for each member of their team. Each member will then receive a £10 Big Give donation voucher to give to your charity! This is your chance to promote the quiz to your donors and let us host an event that could bring in hundreds of new donors for your charity. To register a team, supporters need to visit: http://content.thebiggive.org.uk/big-give-quiz

To maximise your potential return from the Quiz, we would advise that you promote the quiz to your supporters and trustees. Those wishing to get involved can then invite their friends to form their team, which will be a fantastic way of introducing new donors to your charity. You will find a template letter/email below, which you can use to help you promote the Quiz to your supporters.

Once a supporter, or one of their team, donates a Quiz voucher to you, this will appear in your online donations spreadsheet in your account home (the previous page). It will be classed as a ‘voucher’ and will start with the code BGQ – if the donor’s contact details are provided then you are free to contact them, and add them to your mailing list.

Promotion

To read a template letter/email for supporters, please click here.

When you are promoting the Quiz, please promote this link: http://content.thebiggive.org.uk/big-give-quiz which is where supporters will be able to register their teams.

Don’t forget that social networks can also be a fantastic way to promote events! You can follow the Big Give on Twitter: http://twitter.com/BigGive or like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/theBigGive.org.uk and spread the word to your followers.

Questions

If you have any questions on the Quiz, please email quiz@thebiggive.org.uk.

Discounted Venue Hire at Reed Business School

Reed Business School was established in 1972 and is a residential centre of excellence offering post graduate professional accountancy training.  The venue is situated in the Cotswolds, approximately 25 miles North of Oxford and 40 miles South of Birmingham.  Our nearest town is Moreton in Marsh (4 miles from the Business School) which has a main intercity line to London Paddington.

The unique facilities compromise of a 15^th Century Jacobean Manor house set in 10 acres of formal grounds, 9 additional residential properties accommodating up to 90 delegates and an in-house catering team who can provide a range of meals to suit your needs.  The Manor house has 7 lecture rooms, all with overhead projection units and a fully equipped computer suite with 18 networked PCs.

Reed Business School is pleased to offer charities registered on the Big Give the opportunity to hiring facilities at a discounted rate.  Facilities can be booked for both day and residential requirements for meetings and/or training facilities.

In addition to the venue hire, the School could also help fulfil your training requirements from either their professional accountancy tutors or with their sister Company, Reed Learning, who provide a wide range of training courses.

Hire fees are substantially lower than corporate conference hire facilities and the environment is perfect for learning and getting away from the distractions of work.

To find out how you can make the most of this unique offer please go to your Big Give charity account area or register for free here.

Terms and Conditions

1.By redeeming this voucher, the Client is deemed to have accepted Reed Educational Trust’s (“REED”) standard terms of business and these voucher terms and conditions. All definitions contained in REED’s standard terms of business shall apply to these voucher terms and conditions.

2. This voucher can only be redeemed in respect of hiring the venue facilities at Reed Business School.

4. A quotation detailing the charges will be provided upon a booking enquiry

5. The standard terms of business include the following cancellation policy:
Less than 7 days notice – full charge
Between 7-14 days notice – 50% charge
Greater than 14 days – no charge

6. This voucher will be valid only for hiring the facilities up to 30 September 2012.

7. Vouchers cannot be (i) used retrospectively or (ii) refunded or exchanged for cash.

8. REED and/or Reed Business School reserve the right to amend, withdraw or cancel this promotion at any time

The Opera Group is one of the leading creators of opera in the country. They are a young, dynamic organisation and are an essential part of the UK’s opera ecology, broadening the definition of what opera is and who it involves.  Their campaign for The Big Give’s Christmas Challenge was conducted entirely electronically, which meant that administrative costs were kept to a minimum.

Marketing the Challenge

The Opera Group regularly send electronic mailings as part of their communications strategy to keep in touch with their audience, supporters and friends.  The Christmas Challenge is the only occasion on which they have used emails specifically to ask for donations towards their work.

After raising pledges from a Trust, they emailed 130 existing or prospective supporters and 1,000 people on their mailing list with information about how to support one of their projects by giving online donations during the Christmas Challenge.  This resulted in 11 donations totalling £7,031. Furthermore, as a result of this mailing, a charitable trust which was already committed to supporting the project said they also wanted to pay their grant through The Big Give.  This raised an additional £5,000 towards the project in matched funds.

The Opera Group also made 9 personal asks for online donations during the Challenge Week.  Out of these 7 were successful, resulting in donations of £19,250.

Donations from Trustees and New Donors

Five of The Opera Group’s trustees contributed towards their online donations – two for the first time.  The Christmas Challenge also helped The Opera Group to recruit eight new donors and to re-engage with ten donors who donated to their 2010 Challenge, but had not given in the twelve months between campaigns.

Communication during the Challenge Week

The Opera Group used Facebook and Twitter to promote the Challenge.  This was useful to update supporters on the amount raised and to let them know when the match funding ran out for the day and when they should next try to make their donation to secure the matched funding.

Challenges and Successes

Although getting supporters to give on the day, before the sponsor fund ran out, was the hardest part of the Challenge, the Opera Group benefitted greatly from its participation – raising in excess of £33,225.

The Christmas Challenge enabled them to recruit 9 new members into their Friends scheme and to renew 9 lapsed memberships.  They brought together their major donors from the Challenge to form a Production Syndicate around their opera ‘Babur in London.’  This will both enable the donors to have closer involvement in the project and allow The Opera Group to get to know the donors better and build on these relationships.  The Opera Group plan on using this model in the future to engage further individual support.

Long Term Impact

Rebecca Redclift – Development Manager at the Opera Group – has said;

“The Challenge has encouraged us to focus on our long-term individual giving strategy and how we can give donors a greater engagement in our work.  We are now looking at implementing a new tiered membership structure to expand our donor base and bring people into the organisation at the appropriate level.  We are also looking at ways that we can move much of our giving online.”

Their Christmas Challenge Project, “The Butterfly Tree Orphan Support” helps young children who have been orphaned through the HIV/AIDS pandemic to remain in education. They ran an online campaign, with no overhead costs, to meet their Christmas Challenge target. This raised over £18,000 for their project.

Marketing and Results

During the Christmas Challenge, the Butterfly Tree built on their past success rate in fundraising for orphan support through e-newsletters.  Over the past two years, emails seeking financial support for orphans in Zambia have generated several thousand pounds annually – on average £110 per orphan.

As 2011 was the first year that the Butterfly Tree participated in the Christmas Challenge, they chose to take it steadily, without aiming too high. They emailed a letter to seven warm donors, asking them if they would make a pledge towards their Christmas Challenge campaign. They all agreed to participate, raising £3000 in pledges.

At the end of October, the Butterfly Tree emailed all donors who do not make regular payments and have not set up a standing order. They explained that if the donors saved their donations until the first week in December they could be doubled. In addition, they publicised their campaign through posts and updates on their website, with links to theBigGive.org.uk. Facebook and Twitter were utilised to further promote this opportunity.

The Butterfly Tree managed to secure £6095 in online donations from 14 donations – exceeding their online donations target.

Donations from Trustees and New Donors

All three of the Butterfly Tree’s trustees contributed towards their Christmas Challenge campaign, by giving both money and time. One trustee made a pledge and the others participated in the online donations phase. The Butterfly Tree is run entirely by volunteers and the hard work of the trustees was also instrumental in ensuring the Christmas Challenge success. They also received donations from five new donors over the course of the Christmas Challenge.

Communication and Social Media

The Christmas Challenge was promoted entirely through the Butterfly Tree’s website, which attracts many visitors, emails and good use of social media.

The Butterfly Tree has a community page on Facebook, this feed is publicised to the 670 people who joined their community. They also have a second Facebook page with an additional 100 followers. Their Facebook campaign was successful in encouraging Facebook “fans” to become donors during the Christmas Challenge Week. The Butterfly Tree also tweeted regularly about their campaign to increase publicity.

Challenges and Successes

The Butterfly Tree team found the first morning of the Challenge incredibly nerve wracking, with everyone working extremely hard and the Chairman on standby providing do0nors with regular updates.

In the end, everyone’s effort and time were well worth it, with the Butterfly Tree exceeding their online donations target and receiving £6,000 in matched funding. All in all, the Butterfly Tree raised £12, 095.14, excluding Gift Aid. The Christmas Challenge also engaged many of their donors who were delighted by the prospect that their donations would yield double the amount. One of the Butterfly Tree’s volunteers had been trying to raise £10,000 and was extremely happy that after donating some of his funds, and having them matched, he had almost reached his target.

Long Term Impact

As the Butterfly Tree incurred no costs, the total money raised has gone directly into their grass roots projects in Zambia.

Jane Kaye-Bailey, Chairman of the Butterfly Tree, has said “All of the funds raised will go towards providing educational opportunities for children who have been orphaned by AIDS. All of this will have a long term impact on several rural communities in Zambia, will aid in the effort to reduce the number of HIV cases and help to alleviate poverty and related issues in the region.

Additionally, I am sure that our donors would be happy to participate in the Christmas Challenge again – as it has been such a fantastic opportunity for us to increase our contribution to the needs this region.”

Orangutan Foundation

Founded in 1990, Orangutan Foundation is the foremost orangutan conservation organisation working actively across the entire range of the orangutan species. Their overall mission is to conserve the orangutan and the biodiversity of their habitat through the protection of the tropical forests of Borneo and Sumatra.

They ran a combined email and traditional mailing campaign that enabled them to reach all of their Christmas Challenge Targets and successfully raised over £44,337 during the 2011 Christmas Challenge.

Marketing and Results

The Orangutan Foundation is no stranger to online giving and social media marketing. Their regular monthly email update was sent out to 4,000 contacts at the end of October with a “Save the Date.” This was followed by an additional email on 25th November with more information.  They sent another reminder email on the morning of the first day of the Challenge. They then updated their donors with 2 further emails that day and sent a final reminder email on the second morning of the Challenge, Tuesday December 6^th.

The Orangutan Foundation also featured the Challenge in their bi-annual printed newsletter which was posted out at the end of October to over 1,200  members.

The Orangutan Foundation sent 95 letters to past major donors and supporters (whose email addresses were not held by the Orangutan Foundation) asking them to donate online during the Challenge Week. Of these, 6 people donated via the online challenge raising £560.

The direct mail and email marketing campaign cost the Orangutan Foundation £212.36, on top of their regular monthly payments to their email providers.

The Orangutan Foundation also sent 10 personal letters to major donors, which were followed up with a phone call. This resulted in three positive responses, one of the respondents made a pledge and two others committed to making an online donation during the Christmas Challenge Week.

Donations from Trustees and New Donors

The Orangutan Foundation received donations from four out of their eight trustees during the Christmas Challenge. Thirty-one of the donations that they received over the course of the Challenge Week were from first time donors. These new donors accounted for just over 30% of all those who made a donation online to the Orangutan Foundation as part of their campaign. The Christmas Challenge also gave the Orangutan Foundation the opportunity to re-engage with a few of their lapsed donors.

Communication and Social Media

At the beginning of November, The Orangutan Foundation Team set up a special home screen on their website where people could register for an email reminding them to donate during the Challenge Week.  Over the course of the Challenge Week, the homepage screen held a “double your donation” message with a link to the Orangutan Foundation’s Christmas Challenge project page on theBigGive.org.uk.

They also promoted the Challenge on Facebook, Twitter, and via their Blog. In mid-October, they asked corporate partners and other organisations to circulate details of the Christmas Challenge to their networks through email lists, Facebook, Twitter and websites. Details of their Christmas Challenge campaign were also added to all staff email signatures from November onwards.

Over the course of the Challenge Week, the Orangutan Foundation received donations from 99 individual donors.  Of these 31 were new donors of which 19 passed on their contact details to the Orangutan Foundation.   Because the Orangutan Foundation did not send out any cold mailings, or advertise their participation in the Challenge, they believe that social networking helped attract many of these new donors.

Challenges and Successes

The greatest challenges faced by the Orangutan Foundation over the course of the campaign were securing their pledges and making sure that donors would donate online in time to have their contribution matched. The Orangutan Foundation staff also found liaising with the many donors during the Challenge Week to be a quite a task – but one which ultimately paid off, once they had exceeded their £40,000 target at the end of the week!

The Orangutan Foundation team worked incredibly hard to ensure that their Challenge was a success. Overall they have dedicated approximately 120 staff hours to attending online seminars, uploading their project details, sending letters, designing their website and corresponding with donors. All the hard work was worth it in the end, with the Christmas Challenge not only raising a considerable amount, but also helping to attract new donors to the Orangutan Foundation’s work.

Long Term Impact

Cathy Smith, UK Project and Development Manager  at the Orangutan Foundation, has said “Our greatest success during the Christmas Challenge was reaching all our targets and securing £10,000 from the Big Givers’ funds – vital income that we would not have received otherwise.

The Christmas Challenge has also given us the opportunity to take a closer look at our Major Donor structures and strategy. We hope that this will have a great long term impact on our future fundraising efforts.”

The Big Give is pleased to be able to offer you the following range of exclusive offers:

reed.co.uk

Offer
At reed.co.uk you are entitled to 50% off all online Job Advertisements to help you to find new employees with the UK’s #1 Job site.

How to redeem
To redeem this offer please use the promo-code BIGGIVE50 when purchasing job advertisement packages online at reed.co.uk.

Terms & Conditions
To view the terms & conditions of this offer, please click here.

Reed Specialist Recruitment

Offer
You can enjoy 25% discount off standard terms on permanent placements with any Reed Specialist Recruitment Branch in the UK.

How to redeem
Please use the code BGC001 when purchasing online

Terms & Conditions
To view the terms & conditions of this offer, please click here.

Reed Learning

Offer
Enjoy 50% off short courses and 25% off full qualifications with Reed Learning.

How to redeem
When booking Reed Learning courses please simply quote your charity name and association with the Big Give.

Terms & Conditions
To view the terms & conditions of this offer, please click here.

Reed Business School Bursaries

Offer
Reed Business School have offered to fund bursaries for staff members of charities registered with the Big Give.

How to redeem
To find out more about the Reed Business School Bursary Scheme or to book a place please email rbs.reed@reed.co.uk and quote your charity name and association with the Big Give.

Terms & Conditions
To view the terms & conditions of this offer, please click here.

Reed Business School Venue Hire

Offer
Reed Business School are offering discounted venue hire for charities registered on the Big Give.

How to redeem
To find out more and discuss your requirements and fees, please email rbs.reed@reed.co.uk or call 01608 674224, quoting your charity name and association with the Big Give.

Terms & Conditions
To view the terms & conditions of this offer, please click here.

To find out out more about any of these offers, please click here.

Reed Business School Bursary Scheme

The Big Give has always believed that partnerships between corporate organisations and charities can be productive, innovative and mutually beneficial. With this in mind, we are delighted to announce a new partnership between the Big Give and the Reed Educational Trust.

The Reed Educational Trust has generously offered to fund bursaries for staff members of charities registered with the Big Give to attend accountancy courses held at the Reed Business School. This will provide an opportunity for your talented staff to gain ACCA or CIMA qualifications. Not only will this enhance their own personal development but it will also make a significant contribution towards your organisation’s administration, finance and management procedures.

The bursary scheme is funded through Reed Business School and represents a grant towards fees for ACCA or CIMA accountancy courses attended at Reed Business School. Bursary funds, which are limited, are not intended to fund the total cost of a student’s course and will be awarded up to a maximum of 50% of fees. Where a bursary is awarded, the remaining course fees must be funded by the employing charity.

The goal of the Reed Educational Trust bursary scheme is to fund students employed by a UK registered charity, thereby encouraging and supporting the personal and professional development of charitable workers.

To find out more about the Reed Bursary Scheme and how it can benefit your charity please visit your Big Give account area or register for free here.

Terms and Conditions

1. By redeeming this voucher, the Client is deemed to have accepted Reed
Educational Trust’s (“REED”) standard terms of business and these voucher terms and conditions. All definitions contained in REED’s standard terms of business shall apply to these voucher terms and conditions.

2. This voucher can only be redeemed in respect of ACCA or CIMA qualification courses.

3. This voucher can only be redeemed subject to Reed Business School’s standard rates as set out in Reed Business School’s standard terms of business. It cannot be used in conjunction with any other vouchers or discounts. Bursary funds, which are limited and discretionary, are not intended to fund the total cost of a student’s course and will be awarded up to a maximum of 50% of fees. Where a bursary is awarded, the remaining course fees must be funded by the employing charity.

4. This voucher will be valid only for courses starting on or before 30 September 2012.

5. Vouchers cannot be (i) used retrospectively or (ii) refunded or exchanged for cash.

6. REED and/or Reed Business School reserve the right to amend, withdraw or cancel this promotion at any time.