Month: November 2016

As we quickly approach the end of 2016 we at Room to Read are not slowing down.

In fact, we are gaining some serious momentum and rallying our supporters, partners and community to create long-lasting change before the end of the year is up.

Globally Room to Read aims to change the stories of 100,000 children through our Literacy and Girls’ Educations Programmes by the end of 2016. In the United Kingdom, we have set an ambitious goal to change the stories (and future) of 20,000 children and we’re asking for you to join us!

#givingtuesday is a one-day annual movement focused just on charitable giving. It was brought to the UK two years ago and last year raised £6,000 a minute for UK charities and broke the world record for most amount of money donated online in 24 hours! It now runs in over 70 countries around the world including the US, Canada, Germany, Spain, Singapore, Australia and Brazil.

As a result, we are leveraging #givingtuesday to launch our end of year campaign and also give it an extra boost. Businesses – this is also an opportunity for your organisation to join in on all the good, promote your partnership and showcase your charitable giving. #givingtuesday will be taking place on Tuesday 29 November 2016.

Here are 3 ways for your business to get get involved:

#1. Support us through Payroll Giving.

Encourage employees in your organisation to sign up for payroll giving. We are offering employees the option to support our Literacy Programme or our Girls’ Education Programme at two different levels of giving:

• £3 per month can change a child’s story teaching them to read and write for one year
• £200 per year can change girl’s story and future by keeping her in school for another year

#2. Run an employee engagement campaign:

Rally employees around an end of year campaign, event or challenge. Igniting a ‘friendly competitive spirit’ amongst employees is an excellent way to increase employee participation and engagement for your activity.

#3. Help us amplify our message! 

Get on social media and help to raise awareness of our work by sharing Room to Read’s stories on your corporate and personal social media accounts.

Smile Train is celebrating this Christmas by helping even more children around the world smile and live happier, healthier lives.

In place of asking for presents this Christmas, Smile Train is asking people to #GiveSmiles instead.

Smile Train aims to raise enough funds to #GiveSmiles to an extra 2,017 children with clefts by the end of the year. This year we have a very special #givingtuesday-specific goal: we want to raise funds for 33 new smiles for the day.

“Through the campaign launching on #givingtuesday and our holiday initiatives, we hope to mobilize supporters, new and old, to help give new smiles to children in need all over the world,” said Susannah Schaefer, CEO, Smile Train.

In addition, as a part of the campaign, there will be a number of Smile Train celebrity ambassadors, corporate partners and community fundraisers participating in various fundraising activities around the world in honour of this very important day of giving back.

Help Smile Train raise awareness for children with clefts on #givingtuesday by checking out their social media posts. Follow Smile Train UK on Twitter and Instagram @SmileTrainUK and like them on Facebook at facebook.com/SmileTrainuk.

This #givingtuesday the Northumberland Wildlife Trust are launching a special appeal to help create a new workshop for volunteers and staff.

The 20ft workshop, built at St Nicholas Park, will be created from a second-hand storage container and will be insulated and fitted with electricity and mains water creating a warm, dry working space. All too often, volunteers and staff end up working in cramped, cold conditions outside in the cold and rain. This new, dedicated area will be perfect for all kinds of activities like making bird boxes to go out on our reserves or simply repairing tools. The space will also benefit from a drying room for washed boots and gloves as well as extra secure storage for tools and other equipment.

We’re hoping to raise the sum of £5,000 required to create the much needed workshop, appealing to everyone who may have a few pounds to spare after the chaos of Black Friday and Cyber Monday to give something back in support of our charity, and to help make our hard working volunteers more comfortable.

For more information about how to support the appeal please visit out website.

At NSPCC Scotland we help keep children safe from abuse and neglect every day.

We help children who’ve been abused to rebuild their lives, we protect children at risk, and when a child needs somewhere to turn, we are here with our vital Childine service.

This year we are celebrating 30 years of Childline, and we are using #givingtuesday to say a huge THANK YOU to all of our supporters and volunteers who have helped make this happen, and to raise awareness so that we can ensure we are here for another 30 years.

Childline is our free, 24-hour helpline for children and young people, operated from our bases in Glasgow and Aberdeen. Children call, e-mail or instant message our volunteer counsellors for a multitude of reasons, ranging from bullying and self-esteem issues, to self-harm and sexual abuse.

For these children, Childline (0800 1111 or www.childline.org.uk), provides the only safe space to talk about the issues affecting their lives.

If you want to learn more about the work of NSPCC Scotland you can visit our website here: www.nspcc.org.uk.

This year for #givingtuesday Accomplish Children’s Trust is launching an appeal to help build a special needs secondary school in Kasese, Uganda.

Accomplish has already built a successful special needs primary school, run by our partner the Rwenzori Association of Children with Disabilities (RAPCD). However, once pupils graduate, there are no local special needs secondary schools to cater adequately for students with disabilities. Therefore, RAPCD is building a new secondary school to continue the high standards of its adjacent primary school.

Thanks to our supporters, we have already completed Phase I – foundation works, but we now need an additional £40,000 to complete Phase II – completion of classrooms, building a dormitory and utilities block, irrigation system for school farmland, furnishing and school supplies.

Accomplish and RAPCD will put your goodwill gift to the very best use – their primary school recently received high praise from government inspectors and is renowned in the region for its excellent teaching.

The secondary school will allow children to complete their education in a safe, happy and empowering environment – changing not only their lives, but also allowing them to change the attitudes of their local communities.

Help us do something amazing on this #givingtuesday and show that children with disabilities are incredible, and worth investing in, to the people of Uganda and the world.

Following the fantastic success of Team GB in the Rio Olympics and Paralympics – we invite our supporters to share in the Youth Sport Trust’s #givingtuesday campaign – #MyGoldMedal.

In a celebration of the nation’s sporting talents – from juggling, skipping, handstands to ‘keepy uppy’ – recognise your individual talents or take part in a mass participation celebration in your local community.

Once you have registered, you will be entered into a national competition, and you will be invited to submit a video or photo of your talents via social media – tell us about how many people participated and the fun talents you showed off. Youth Sport Trust will then send a virtual ‘gold medal’ to you for participating!

For every gold medal that you receive you will move up the medal table. The top three entries in the medal table will be entered into a prize draw to win a prize from a Team GB Athlete.

As part of the #givingtuesday national fundraising campaign – you will be invited to make a £2 donation to Youth Sport Trust to participate in the event. As a national charity, your donation will help support more young people to benefit from engagement in PE and school sport; creating a brighter future for all young people.

Barnabus is a Christian Homeless Charity, providing a lifeline to the homeless in Manchester for 25 years.

Barnabus provides hope and opportunities for transformation. Our aim is to release people from poverty, fear and oppression, empowering the homeless and vulnerable to improve and rebuild their lives sustainably.

We offer a wide range of support through our city centre drop-in which has its own health and well-being suite, and our support office which offers one to one support and street outreach. This Autumn we launched a new scheme to help homeless people gain the life skills needed to live independently, and we already have 4 people supported into their own homes.

This #givingtuesday we’re asking people to help with our sleeping bag appeal. During Autumn and Winter we have an urgent need for sleeping bags to help rough sleepers with critical short term support.

#givingtuesday also falls right before Christmas, which is an incredibly busy time in our city. The men and women we support become acutely aware of their own circumstances at this time of the year, which are in deep contrast to the passing shoppers and party goers in Manchester. It’s not surprising then that we do our best to provide a welcoming and festive environment at our drop-in and put on special events throughout the month including a Christmas meal with entertainment, carols and presents for over 100 people.

To support our vital Christmas Appeal you can donate £5 by texting “BDRM52 £5” to 70070.

We hope you will choose to support us this #givingtuesday as we celebrate our 25th anniversary, and help bring some joy to those in need this winter time.