How to Fundraise in Midlands Air Ambulance

Transcription

1 Your Fundraising Pack 21 years Saving Lives by Saving Time 1991 TO 2012

2 About Midlands Air Ambulance Charity Saving Lives by Saving Time Midlands Air Ambulance is the only charity responsible for funding and operating three air ambulances serving the communities of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands. This constitutes the largest air ambulance operating region in the UK. Since 1991, the service has responded to over 40,000 missions averaging 2,000 per year, making it one of the longest established and busiest air ambulance organisations in the UK. If a patient reaches hospital within 60 minutes of injury (referred to as the Golden Hour ) their chances of survival are dramatically increased. That is why the rapid response of the Midlands Air Ambulance is so vital in an emergency situation. What is not widely known is that Midlands Air Ambulance receives no Government or National Lottery funding. Each air ambulance mission costs the Charity an average of 2,500 and in excess of 6.5 million is needed each year to keep the service operational which is donated entirely by the public and local businesses, with four in ten of those we help funded by Gift in a Will (See page 19). This is why we are extremely grateful for your support, your contribution, no matter how large or small, will make a valuable difference to our vital life saving service. You should find everything you need within the Fundraising Pack, but if you need any further support, please contact our team who will be only too pleased to assist. 2 3

3 We re all in it together Getting involved There are a wide variety of ways you can fundraise for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity. Whatever you decide to do, we will be there to support you every step of the way. Fundraising tips Once you ve decided what you want to do, be clear about how and why you are raising money. A clear and concise explanation will help persuade potential sponsors that you are committed to your cause. The information contained in this pack may be used as a guide. For example: I am running the Great Midlands Fun Run to raise vital funds for the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity. The Midlands Air Ambulance is a charity funded entirely by voluntary donations. It operates seven days a week and attends life-threatening incidents across six Midlands counties. I regularly travel on the motorways and feel safer knowing that should I be involved in an accident, help will arrive in the quickest possible time. Reach for the sky Don t be shy with your fundraising target and publicise it. The publicity will not only help to motivate you to come up with innovative ideas to raise money, but it often prompts sponsors to give more. Fundraising tools: Sponsor forms Collecting boxes and buckets T-shirts and other clothing and merchandise Banners Balloons Logos and images Leaflets, newsletter and posters 4 5

4 Quick and easy ways to boost your fundraising 1. Online fundraising page If you re undertaking an event or activity, set up a Midlands Air Ambulance online fundraising page at and follow the link to fundraising events. This easy to use web page will be a great way to publicise your event, gather sponsorship money and reclaim Gift Aid. Contact us if you would like some hints and tips on setting up your page. 2. Give it up Encourage friends and family to give up something for a week or a month, such as bought lunches or morning coffee, they could donate the savings to your cause. 3. Match giving Does your company offer a match-giving scheme? Many will match their employees fundraising total pound-for-pound. 4. Be a Smartie The new Smarties tube is hexagonal and still works as an excellent coin collector in fact it holds 35! Give a free tube to your friends, family and colleagues and challenge them to fill it (once they have emptied it!) while you prepare for your event. 5. Have a whip round Ask if you can hold a collection at work or when you re with friends. 6. Recycle Create space by holding a car boot or garage sale and add the proceeds to your Obtaining sponsorship There are many charities competing for donations and not everyone realises Midlands Air Ambulance is a charity. If you feel you need to convince friends and family to support your fundraising efforts for our service, why not tell them the following facts: It s a life-saving service. It receives no Government or National Lottery funding. It s entirely dependent on voluntary contributions. Each mission costs an average of 2,500. On average the service responds to six to eight incidents every day. The service is expected to fly more than 2,000 missions in the coming year. Extra information You may also want to tell people: What is your aim to raise money or awareness of our service, or both? What is your fundraising target? What do you want time, money, services, prizes...? Are you solo or part of a team? If money is being raised, what percentage will be donated and how much will be used to cover costs? This is important as people will want to know where their money is going. If you are covering your costs with funds that come in, please say the profits will be donated, if you are donating every penny you raise, you can say the proceeds are being donated. Acknowledgment Everybody likes to feel appreciated. Don t forget to follow up donations with a thank you. Letting your sponsors know how your event or activity went and how much you ultimately raised is not only courteous, but will also increase the chances of them supporting you in the future. Think about sending postcards, photographs and a story. Run for fun! It is the only air ambulance service that primarily serves the communities of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands. fundraising effort. 6 7

5 Read all about it! Go for it! Publicising your activities not only helps to boost your fundraising total, but also helps build awareness of our charitable status. It can also be a great way to motivate you! To help publicise your event or activity, think about creating flyers and posters. We can supply our logo (subject to approval of the activity), and our charity number ( ) must appear on all publicity material. If it s an event you want people to attend, once you ve designed your poster, send it to our press office press@midlandsairambulance.com and we will ensure your event appears on our website to help encourage further support. Local press The local press are always on the hunt for local interest stories and are keen supporters of Midlands Air Ambulance Charity. A bit of self-promotion on behalf of a good cause is welcomed by the press; so don t be shy. Press releases You could send a press release out prior to your fundraising activity and then follow it up with a further release once the event has happened, including a photo if possible. Send it to all local and weekly papers within your catchment area and make sure it is sent to the news desk. On average news desks receive over 500 press releases every day, so yours really has to stand out for it to be considered for the newspaper. Therefore think about the following criteria: Is your story relevant to the publication? Is it newsworthy? Is it topical? Does it have an element of human interest? Is your activity original? Obviously, not every news release is going to cover all criteria, but it must always contain a mix of some of them if it is going to achieve publication. And bear in mind that it s a human angle editors like most of all: reaction and emotions. Press release content Every press release should cover the following five Ws: Who is doing it? What are they doing? When are they doing it? Where are they doing it? Why are they doing it? Concise: Keep it punchy don t use unnecessary flowery language. Content: Ensure that the release is grammatically correct and doesn t contain any spelling errors. To find a list of local papers and their contact details, try 8 9

6 Hitting the headlines This is an example of how a press release should be laid out advertising your activity: DATE the date the release is being sent. TITLE make it short and catchy try using a pun to make it stand out. FIRST PARAGRAPH shouldn t be longer than three lines and should give a brief overview of the event who, what, when, where and why. SECOND PARAGRAPH give further detail about the event start times, why it s in support of Midlands Air Ambulance Charity. QUOTE add in a quote from the organiser, don t repeat any details from the first two paragraphs make sure it s different to ensure it gets used. Perhaps give details of why people should come to your event or support your activity. REMAINING PARAGRAPHS any further detail about the event. CALL TO ACTION how people can get in touch to register or find our more provide a website address, phone number and/or address. Remember, if published these details will be available to all, so only share details you re happy for the general public to use. ENDS -This signify the end of your press release, put ENDS after your copy. CONTACT - Your name and contact details and details of our press office: Midlands Air Ambulance Charity press office: press@midlandsairambulance.com Social media Don t forget to use social media to help publicise your event. If you are on Facebook, remember to like our Midlands Air Ambulance page, and find us on Twitter (@MAA_Charity). Mention us every time you talk about your fundraising activity and we will re-tweet and share your posts with our online community too. Taking photographs for local papers Good quality photography is vital for any story to stand out from the crowd, having a good image to accompany a press release can determine whether the story is used or not. Think about lighting it s often far easier to take a picture outside, otherwise a picture could look too dark. Remember some images will appear in the paper in black and white, so the better quality of picture, the more likely it is that it will be used. The backdrop is equally important, don t have anything too distracting in the background. With regards to the number of people in each image, less is more! Take close up images with a maximum of three or four people and make sure you caption the pictures with names from left to right. Ensure that any image take is at least 300dpi (pixels per inch) and 1MB in size maximum. If children are being photographed, ensure you have parental permission for their picture, name and age to be used in local press. If you require any help writing a press release or taking a good photo, please get in touch with our press office at charity HQ

7 Every penny counts A little bit of planning for collecting your sponsorship money can save you a huge amount of time and effort, and undoubtedly raise your fundraising total. Where possible, try to collect the money as you go along. Also, try to do it before you undertake your challenge. If you are collecting cash from individuals, please send a cheque made payable to the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity. Don t forget you can create your own unique fundraising page on our Midlands Air Ambulance Charity website to collect sponsorship easily. Where do I send my sponsorship forms? Please post your sponsorship forms along with cheques or credit card payment to our office: Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, Hawthorn House, Dudley Road, Stourbridge, DY9 8BQ How do I get more sponsorship forms? If you need additional forms, please photocopy the enclosed forms. Alternatively, we can send you further copies via , get in touch via info@midlandsairambulance.com Don t forget Gift Aid Wherever possible, make use of the Gift Aid scheme to boost your fundraising by up 25% at no cost to you or your donors. If you re using a sponsorship form for your activity, to enable us to claim Gift Aid the donor is required to include their full name, home address and postcode, tick the Gift Aid box and sign in order for us to claim back the tax. The donor needs to be a UK taxpayer, paying more in tax in a given financial year than they are Gift Aiding to you. For more information on tax-effective giving, get in touch with the team at charity HQ or visit:

8 Useful fundraising information Fundraising safely and legally We are extremely grateful for your support of Midlands Air Ambulance Charity and want to ensure your fundraising activity is safe and legal. If you re unsure about anything please get in touch with our charity HQ, or consult the Institute of Fundraising website at Using our logo Contact us for a copy of our logo, which will be released once you have completed and returned our logo permission form, which is available from charity HQ. Charity registration number Please remember to use the charity registration number on any documents, posters or leaflets you are producing. The number is Selling goods If you are a business and you are fundraising by selling goods, you will require a fundraising agreement with us. If you are selling food and/or drinks, you will need a separate licence. Public collections If you wish to collect money, ensure that you have all relevant permissions and licences. If you are collecting on private premises you will need the permission of the owner. If you are collecting in any public area such as a street or going from pub to pub, you will need a licence from the local authority. Insurance Midlands Air Ambulance Charity has public liability insurance for 5 million. However, this will not cover your event in aid of Midlands Air Ambulance, so if applicable you will need to ensure you are insured adequately. Some of the issues involved may be: public liability cover; damage to property owned, hired or borrowed; event cancellation or bad weather cover. If your fundraising is being undertaken by a group or is part of a work event, you should check you have sufficient cover for a staff or customer charitable event. What can you raise? Millions of people successfully undertake activities and run events each year and raise considerable sums of money for charity, so enjoy yourself and have fun! 14 15

9 Competitions, lotteries and raffles If you are planning your own public lottery there are laws about what you can and can t do. Please check these carefully at Please note that if you are running a raffle or tombola as part of an event, you don t need a licence, BUT you will need a licence if the raffle or tombola extends beyond your one day event. Keep our heroes in the sky Special licences Check that you don t need any special licences in relation to your event. These might include a public entertainment licence or a licence to sell alcohol. Event fundraising Ensure that your event is organised efficiently and safely. We cannot accept any responsibility for your event nor for anyone who participates in it. You should conduct a risk assessment to ensure that you have proper plans for the safety of participants. For further information go to the Health and Safety Executive website at Ensure that participants are fully briefed about the event, including (where relevant) any risks, fitness requirements, special equipment or clothing required, and standards of behavior expected. Ensure that your event is properly and adequately supervised. Where children under 16 are involved this includes providing proper adult supervision; checking that the child s parents/guardians have given their permission for the child to take part; and carrying out appropriate background checks if adults have unsupervised access to children. Plus children are not allowed to collect money at public collections

10 Further ways to support us Donations to our charity shops We currently have two charity shops in the region, Wellington in Shropshire and Newcastle Under Lyme in Staffordshire. We are always on the look out for good quality donations of unwanted goods, including furniture, clothing, bric-a-brac, electrical items, books and games, this list goes on! If you have something you d like to donate, do get in touch as we can arrange to collect your items at a time convenient to you, it s as simple as that. Recycling One important source of income helping to keep our three helicopters flying comes from recycling everyday items such as mobile phones, clothing and even shoes. Thanks to our partnership with Bag It Up, who export collected items to help people in developing countries, we receive the proceeds of this hugely worthwhile operation. Did you know we each throw away 30kg of textiles a year, most of which goes to landfill? The message is clear. Don t bin it, recycle it and directly help the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity. We benefit from donations of... Good quality clothing, shoes and handbags. Stamps. Books. Laptop computers. Ink cartridges (we can supply you with large cardboard boxes which can be collected from your workplace; we can also supply envelopes for single cartridges which can be posted direct for recycling). Regular giving Making an ongoing donation is a great way of supporting the vital work we do and keeping us in the air. Regular donations are vital to our work, allowing to forward plan and safeguard the future of the service. For donors, a monthly gift is often a good option because it is convenient and it spreads the load - a small monthly gift taken out of your bank account each month is an easy way to give. As a member of our regular giving scheme you will receive a copy of our Take Off magazine each quarter, updating you on the work of the charity, amazing tales of real rescues, insight into operational challenges and news on fundraising events and activities. Giving through your bank via our Direct Debit system could not be easier to set up, so get in touch to find out more. Gift in a Will During your fundraising campaign, you may well meet people who would consider leaving a legacy to Midlands Air Ambulance Charity. In the last 12 months, four out of ten incidents we have responded to were funded by Gifts in a Will. No matter how large or small the legacy, remembering Midlands Air Ambulance Charity in a Will can make a huge difference, it may even save a life. Wills and legacies can often be a daunting subject but it s actually much simpler than you may think. Should you or any one of your fundraising contacts require more information about Gift in a Will, please get in touch with us

11 Thank You Thank you once again for your incredible support, and for taking the time to read our Fundraising Pack. With your help we can continue to provide the life saving service that makes a difference on a daily basis to people in your area. We hope that your fundraising goes well. Please don t hesitate to contact us if you require any further help or guidance. Call or visit Hawthorn House, Dudley Road, Stourbridge, West Midlands, DY9 8BQ Registered Charity Number , (formerly ) MidlandsAirAmbulance MAA_Charity