The challenge... Deborah Meaden, Dragons Den investor and successful entrepreneur

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1 The challenge... Your team s challenge is to use your business skills and innovation to generate as much money as possible for Children s Hospice South West with the 50 start-up investment you have been provided with. It s now over to you to put your business brain and money making acumen to the test by growing this 50 as much as legally and ethically possible over the next three months. The team/ company that raises the most each calendar year will be honoured with The 50 Challenge Trophy. Deborah Meaden, Dragons Den investor and successful entrepreneur To be successful in this challenge you ll have to be innovative and have the confidence to re-invest. Get into the minds of your target audience and give them what they want. Start off small and grow your investment to turn a profit that will really make a difference to local life-limited children. It is easy when times get hard to just worry about business on a day to day basis and look inward. Engaging with the community is so important for companies to look outward and do some real good - and you will feel great about the business as a result. Deborah Meaden Dragons Den investor and successful entrepreneur See what other businesses are doing: #The50PoundChallenge

2 Rules You must adhere to the terms in The 50 Challenge Agreement. You must use The 50 Challenge profit and loss sheet attaching receipts where possible for auditing purposes and submit this with your final amount raised at the end of your three month period. Raise as much money as you can and enjoy the challenge! Some do s and don ts Do ensure that all written communications with the public (including letters, s, posters, etc.) include the words in aid of Children s Hospice South West (Registered Charity Number ). Do try and come up with something innovative! Do your research risk assessment, legal requirements, licences, insurance etc. Do ensure that you have the necessary licence or consent from the relevant local authority before you undertake street collections or collections in public areas. You do not require a permit to collect in private areas e.g. your workplace but you should get the permission of your employer. Do get in touch with your local Corporate Partnerships Fundraiser for help and advice. Do be enthusiastic your enthusiasm will be infectious. Don t get too despondent not everyone you ask will help or get involved. Don t forget to ask for gifts in kind that you can sell on - it s not all about cold hard cash! Don t forget to use the profit/loss sheet. Don t forget to check the legal requirements if you re holding a raffle, as you may need a license! Call your local Corporate Partnerships Fundraiser who can help. Don t be afraid to tell anyone and everyone about what you are doing, you never know when someone may be able to help by donating funds or coming up with a good idea! Connect with Don t forget to use #The50PoundChallenge to share your news and keep up to date with the progress of other businesses taking part in The 50 Challenge. Who knows, if you capture her might tweet you too! Making the most of short and precious lives across the South West

3 Fundraising tips Fundraising ideas can be as simple or as complex as you wish - it could be a one day event or a series of money-spinning activities. Start now! The sooner you start to think about and plan your fundraising activities the better. Get your team together to develop a plan of what you re going to do, including how and when. Promote your The 50 Challenge activities through your company newsletter or intranet, send s to all your contacts and post it on Twitter or Facebook. Does your employer offer a matched giving scheme? Many companies will match what you raise pound for pound! However matched funds will not be included in your total amount raised for award purposes. If you decide to hold a sponsored event raise sponsorship online and save yourself the hassle of collecting the money! Create your page now at Put up The 50 Challenge posters to promote your participation to your colleagues and customers. Use our The 50 Challenge footer on the bottom of your s; ask us to send it to you so you can promote your team s participation to everyone! Set your team a target - keep track and display your fundraising progress - there s nothing like the buzz of reaching a goal! We had a fantastic time raising money for The 50 Challenge. As a team we re really up for anything so it was great to be involved and a perfect opportunity for us all to put our entrepreneurial skills to the test! We did a range of different activities for our challenge, including lucky dips, raffles, quizzes, name the bear competitions, and even selling hugs to customers and staff. The hugs alone raised more than 500! We managed to raise a total of 2,745! We are extremely proud about the money we have managed to raise - we have had lots of smiles and laughs along the way and we feel that that is what it s all about. Amy Stanworth Manager - Edmondson Food Ltd

4 Ideas We hope that you will come up with your own ideas and innovative ways to raise funds. Remember that often the best ideas are the simple ones! Here is an example to get you started: Spend the 50 on ingredients and hold a cake sale - raise 200 TOTAL RAISED 2,000! Reinvest 150 on room hire, refreshments and printing for a quiz night - raise 1,000 Hold a family fun day (no expenditure - all supplies donated) - raise 500 Reinvest 50 on materials for a car wash - raise 500 A word from our event sponsor The 50 Challenge is a real opportunity to develop business skills, encourage teamwork and foster creative thinking. Ashfords is proud to be the sponsor of this initiative in support of Children s Hospice South West. Our team is up for this challenge, is yours? Stuart Mathews, Partner Ashfords Ashfords LLP, a top 100 law firm, is recognised as a leading provider of legal and related professional services, we deliver responsive, commercial, and sound advice to our clients across a range of industries and sectors. Our aim is straightforward. To help our clients get the results they want. Making the most of short and precious lives across the South West

5 Gift Aid We can claim an extra 25p on every pound donated by an individual UK tax payer. We encourage you to use Gift Aid on all applicable activities. However, Gift Aid will not be included in your total amount raised for judging and awards. Types of donations which can be gift aided: A personal donation made by an individual, backed up with a valid Gift Aid declaration and where we have details of when the gift was made. The donation must be made using either a cheque, direct debit/standing order, credit/debit card from their own account, (a joint account cheque is acceptable) or in cash. Sponsorship money where the sponsor has selected to Gift Aid their contribution with a tick in the box and given their full name and home address on the sponsorship form. Gift Aid does not apply where: We are not sure who the donor is or when and how the money was received. Monies collected from the general public in collecting devices/buckets, or church collections unless accompanied by a valid Gift Aid envelope/declaration from each donor. Donations of money from a business, or donations made using a business cheque. Donations from a club/group/organisation, or donations made using a club or society cheque. Donations from fundraising activities for example coffee mornings, cake sales, jumble sales. Payments received in return for goods or services - as these are not gifts, for example payment for admission to a concert, payment for a raffle ticket, payment for Christmas cards, an entrance fee for an adventure challenge event or a registration fee to take part in a sponsored event etc. Donations already receiving tax relief for example charity vouchers or payroll giving. A minimum donation where there is no choice about payment - this is simply a fee for goods or services, it is not a gift. Please contact your local Corporate Partnerships Fundraiser if you require more information on this.

6 Staff really enjoyed taking part in the challenge, everyone really got behind it. We kicked off our 3 months of fundraising with an Easter Raffle, spending the initial 50 on raffle prizes. The funds raised from the raffle were re-invested and further fundraising over the 3 months included a quiz night, ladies pamper evening and selling home-made curries to colleagues! We were delighted to raise 4, with our initial 50. Lizeta Fellows Store Manager- Wilkinson s St Austell Ethical guidelines All fundraising activities undertaken must be done ethically. To comply with the CHSW ethical policy please ensure that any donations received do not come from any of the following sources: Crime or fraudulent activity. Armaments (however you can accept funds from this sector, eg. the Armed Forces (MOD)). Tobacco & alcohol (it is however acceptable to receive donations of alcoholic drinks for events). Pornography Child labour Gambling including scratch cards (raffles are permitted in compliance with guidelines set out in this information pack). If you are unsure whether a donation/activity may be deemed as unethical please get in touch with your local Corporate Partnerships Fundraiser in the first instance. Making the most of short and precious lives across the South West

7 Amy s Family Story Your support in The 50 Challenge can help us continue to support families like Amy s. When Amy was born she was taken away immediately to the special baby care unit. The first few weeks of Amy s life we were unsure whether she was going to survive or not, she was very, very poorly, requiring a huge amount of medical intervention. We went home when Amy was about eight weeks old and very shortly after that it became apparent that something was not quite right and she was eventually diagnosed with cerebral palsy when she was about five months old. It became apparent that Amy was going to be profoundly disabled and affected quite acutely. The first time we went to Little Bridge House I felt very happy and was quite excited about the prospect of going there and the services that they may be able to offer us. My husband found it much more difficult and it actually took me eighteen months to get him up there and just have a visit. I think he perceived Little Bridge House and a children s hospice as somewhere you come when your child was dying and didn t realise the wonderful services they can offer to children that have life-limiting conditions but that are not at their life s end, and that you can come here for some respite and a short break. It was absolutely amazing to see the transformation as soon as he walked through the doors of Little Bridge House, met the staff, and looked around. He felt very much at ease and we left after that initial visit with Michael actually saying that s great, let s look at the diary and see when we can come up here so that just reflects upon the staff there and the atmosphere that is there within Little Bridge House. Staying at Little Bridge House enables us to completely unwind and recharge our batteries. Caring for children like Amy, and all of the children that come to Little Bridge House, is both physically and mentally draining and exhausting. It s a twenty four hour perpetual care regime. Going to Little Bridge House enables us to have some really quality time for ourselves when we can spend as little or as much time as we want with Amy with the help of the staff assisting us in caring for her. It lets you just sort of switch off for a while and know that your child is being looked after and is safe and you know you don t even have to think about cooking or cleaning. Amy loves it at Little Bridge House, there s loads of things for her to do and the staff are absolutely wonderful. They re very welcoming and they re obviously very skilled at looking after children with very complex disabilities and conditions. She can go in the sensory room which she likes with all the music and the lights. There are loads of lovely toys here for her. There s a beautiful garden and Narnia, the sensory garden. Amy is unable to verbally tell us that she likes it but her body language and the smiles and the noises that she makes, show us how much she enjoys it here.

8 Rob Law, Bristol based Entrepreneur and Creator of Trunki As an entrepreneur who started with a simple idea on a piece of paper to the owner of an international product design company, I love the concept of The 50 Challenge. My advice to those taking part is to think outside of the box. Ensure everyone around you is as excited about your idea as you are. It s not for the faint hearted! Running your own business is a roller coaster of highs and lows. The lows help define your character and shape you into a wiser and more mature person. The highs are the most rewarding experiences and are a joy to share. It s a lot of work and you ll have to sacrifice a great deal, but if you didn t then everyone would be doing it. How we can help... We are available to help in any way we can. We can supply materials to help with your fundraising including: CHSW T-shirts Banners Balloons Leaflets Stickers Collection tins / buckets We can also attend your The 50 Challenge planning meeting and are available to offer advice on promoting any events you may be holding. Please get in touch with your local Corporate Partnerships Fundraiser for assistance: Naomi Dymond, naomi.dymond@chsw.org.uk / Little Bridge House, Redlands Road, Fremington, Barnstaple, Devon EX31 2PZ Janey Hellmen/Kate Fisher, janey.hellmen@chsw.org.uk/kate.fisher@chsw.org.uk / Charlton Farm, Charlton Drive, Wraxall, North Somerset BS48 1PE Bernadette Chambers, bernadette.chambers@chsw.org.uk / Little Harbour, Porthpean Road, Porthpean, St Austell, Cornwall PL26 6AZ See what other businesses are doing: #The50PoundChallenge Making the most of short and precious lives across the South West