At Localgiving we like to highlight the inspirational challenges individual fundraisers carry out for our amazing charities and community groups. Every month I (Byron,Localgiving’s Membership Coordinator and helpline guy) will be picking out some of the very best active fundraisers on the platform. Here are some of the most inspiring causes and fundraising appeals we have seen this month: The Liberal Jewish Synagogue - 10,000 Steps commemorate Kindertransport Esta Charkham and Susannah Alexander walked a whopping 10,000 steps on the 2nd of Dec, more than deserving of a sequel Proclaimers song named after them. They achieved this feat to commemorates and celebrate the refugees who were welcomed into the UK in 1938. They have raised a massive £2,585 for  The Liberal Jewish Synagogue. Everyday throughout the year, the synagogue welcomes members and the broader community to a wide range of social, outreach, community care and educational services, activities and programmes for people of all ages. Somerset and Avon Rape and Sexual Abuse Support (SARSAS) - Little Vic Big Trek - Everest Base Camp for SARSAS This Christmas I've climbed a mountain novelty toblerone; Vic is climbing Everest! Vic’s challenge starts with 15 days in Nepal where she will have to acclimaise to the altitude. Best of luck from all of the Localgiving team! SARSAS provide free, confidential, trauma informed specialist support and counselling services to relieve the distress and rebuild the lives of survivors of rape and any kind of sexual abuse who are aged 13 and over. They specialise in working with women and girls. SARSAS raises awareness about rape and sexual abuse through informative campaigning, advocating for survivors voices to be heard and training for change.   Young People First- Skydive Challenge 2018 A big well done to every one of the 40 skydivers raising money for Young People First. Between them they have raised a sky-high £4,000! Young People First provides support to some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged young people living in Warwickshire and Coventry. The vision is to inspire young people to reach their fullest potential and support them in overcoming the personal barriers preventing them from achieving. The charity is committed to providing a long-term, holistic service which is centred on building positive relationships of trust with each young person.    

22 years ago the world changed forever. Nicola, a daughter, sister and one of my best friends sadly passed away. She was beautiful, so popular, funny, warm, and caring. We had so much fun growing up and I miss her very much. From that day I said to myself that I would try and live my life to the fullest because Nicola was no longer able to. Running the London Marathon was always on my ‘list’. When I entered the ballot this year I never really thought I would get in, but what happened? I got in first time and I am now entered to run 26.2 miles round London in April next year. I feel incredibly lucky to be given this opportunity and so I wanted to run for a charity that meant a lot to me. After doing some research I found a local charity called Solve It which is based in Northampton. Solve It was set up in 1988 by a woman who lost her son in the same way as Nicola. The charity works with teenagers, parents, carers and other organisations to educate people about the consequences of new psychotic substances (aka NPS or former legal highs) and in particular solvent abuse. Nicola is still missed and loved so very much. I am running in her memory and would love any support to help this small charity keep up the amazing work it does. Running a marathon is going to be a pretty big challenge for me as, although I ran the Oxford half last year, I have not run much since. I also have a slipped disc to contend with! However, knowing I am running for a wonderful charity that is reliant on fundraising is motivating me enormously. No one has run the marathon for Solve It before. I am so honoured to be the first. I will keep you updated on my training progress HERE and if you would consider sponsoring me that would be great. Thank you for reading; both myself and Solve It really appreciate your support.   

At Localgiving we like to highlight the inspirational challenges individual fundraisers carry out for our amazing charities and community groups. Every month I (Byron,Localgiving’s Membership Coordinator and helpline guy) will be picking out some of the very best active fundraisers on the platform. Here are some of the most inspiring causes and fundraising appeals we have seen this month: Tonic Music for Mental Health - Wings of Dub Is it a bird? is it a plane? No, it's Barry (of Dub Pistols fame)!  Barry Ashworth  is strapping himself in, and walking the wing for Tonic Music for Mental Health. They'll be no 'winging it' though; Barry is aiming to raise £2000 for this life-changing cause. Best of luck from all of us at Localgiving! Tonic Music for Mental Health's goal is to challenge stigma and promote recovery through Music & Art. They are a passionate team that understand the problems people with mental illness face.   The Life Project (Bath) Dead Men Walking (South West Coastal Path) Andy, Bill, Steve are about to embark on quite the journey. They team are walking 629 & 3/4 miles - which is no mean feat for three men with a combined age of 246, as well as a heart op and a cancer op between them. Roll over Mo Farah!   The Life Project (Bath)’s aim is for people with learning disabilities to love life! They offer daytime activities and drop in days for parents at Southside Youth Centre, as well as days for adults at the Old Acorn Barn in Englishcombe. They also offer various social activities, two fellowship groups and retreat days for parent carers. Homes for life are part of their plans for the future.     Charlotte & Craig Saving Hearts Foundation A massive well done to all of the MMA fighters that took part in the Charity fight last month. They have raised thousands of pounds between them for the Charlotte & Craig Saving Hearts Foundation. Charlotte & Craig Saving Hearts Foundation works in helping sufferers of vascular EDS. Their aim is to provide access to defibrillators throughout the West Midlands. They have already saved four lives and with the money raised and are hoping to save more.  

It’s our birthday! Did you know Richard Branson created Help Counselling back in 1968? That means it’s our 50th birthday! We want to ensure we are here for our West London community for at least another 50 years. That is why we have launched our 50th Anniversary Appeal to raise vital funds for our small charity. Our aim is to create a community where adults suffering from a mental health problem can access the support they need to lead an independent, fulfilling life. Demand for our service is growing and people need our support more than ever. Our target of £10,000 will cover our core costs; which allows us to provide longer-term counselling (we can offer up to 55 sessions!) which is crucial for us to be responsive to the need of our clients. With your help, together we can provide more mental health support for even more adults in our community.  The first 25 £10 donations will be match funded by Localgiving. So, the first £250 raised by £10 donations will in fact generate £500 for Help Counselling. If we reach our target of £10,000, this will also be match funded, generating £20,000 for Help Counselling! Reaching our target would make an incredible difference.  We have an annual turnover of £160,000, and just 4 members of staff. We are so thankful for our trainee counsellors (we have 50 in total!) who really make Help Counselling possible and we highly value their contribution to the service. Core funding is not something that appeals to funders, and yet we cannot operate without it. Reaching the £10,000 target would be huge for our small charity and would ensure that we can exist for another 50 years. So please support us today, no gift is too small! Any donation, big or small, will make a vital difference to Help Counselling. We supported 551 people last year with counselling: 33% were from BAME (black, Asian & minority) communities, the youngest was 18, & the oldest was 74 & 42% had an annual income of £10,000 or less. We would really appreciate your support to ensure that we continue our vital service. If you would like to support us, please visit: https://localgiving.org/appeal/help50/ Please share the campaign with your family and friends, as well as on your social media where possible. Tag Help Counselling too if you can: Twitter (@HELPcc), Facebook (HelpCounsellingCentre) & Instagram (HelpCounselling).

 Local Hero 2018 has now come to an end and what a rollercoaster campaign it has been! Thank you to everyone who participated in the campaign and a huge congratulations to those fundraisers who made it onto our leaderboard. The race was hard fought with participants jostling for position right until clock struck midnight on the 30th of April. All 20 prizes have been awarded and £5,000 is on its way to charities across the United Kingdom. A full list of our prize winners can be found on our leaderboard here. Participants have been ranked according to the number of unique online donors from whom they secured sponsorship throughout the month. During the campaign 343 fundraisers raised £109k for 171 local charities and community groups. We are delighted to announce that the winner of this year’s campaign was Lamyaa Hanchaoui with 292 Local Hero Points. Lamyaa raised over £4,000 for Sufra NW London in addition to the £1,000 Local Hero winner’s prize! Lamyaa has previously written a blog for Localgiving which you can view here. Another £4,000 in prizes have been awarded to the causes supported by the other top 19 fundraisers. The runner up this year was Karen Layton who pledged to run 1000 kilometres in 2018 and won £500 for the Kimberley Institute! "We’ve just participated in the Localgiving competition which was an excellent vehicle to focus minds on our project.  It worked really well and the competition element for prizes gave an added edge to it. Overall with gift aid and prizes we raised £3,500 which has never been done before in our Club.  Can’t recommend it enough" - Geoff, Kimberley Institute Two standout heroes of the campaign, Dermot Ferguson and Adam Jones, ran the Liverpool to Manchester 50 Mile Run on 2nd April 2018 for Charlotte's Brightside CLC. Dermot won £500 in Local Hero by finishing in 4th position and Adam won £200 by coming in 7th! The Shared Earth Trust in Wales had 5 superstar supporters do a long distance walking event that coincided with the Local Hero Campaign. In addition to the £3000 they raised, the team won a £200 prize! “Without Local Hero we couldn't have imagine raising such a  good sum for our work” - Mara, Shared Earth Trust Runners again proved to be a popular challenge in Local Hero, including Ben’s first ever Marathon for the Young Hammersmith and Fulham Foundation. Ben won £100 by finishing 17th this year, and Gareth at the foundation credits Local Hero with kick starting his push for donations: "Local Hero as a campaign is timed well for marathon season. It's a great initiative. I like how it is dealing with any donations big or small, attracting new donors, and trying to convince people that small donations matter too. It really helps to widen your donor base. It's a ready made incentive for us to reach out to our donors. I love the way Localgiving gives more and how the Local Hero campaign looks and feels." - Gareth - Young Hammersmith and Fulham Foundation Thank you to everyone who took part! Send us your stories and sign up here for more news about Localgiving and future campaigns!   

Lamyaa Hanchaoui is taking part in this year's Local Hero campaign, raising funds for Sufra NW London. To donate to Lamyaa follow this Link. Everyone who donates will recieve a link to Lamyaa's spoken word poetry.  As the Syrian conflict reaches its eighth year, so has the refugee crisis. Refugees have risked their lives to reach stability and safety here in the UK. They are also one of the most misunderstood and neglected people of our time. Due to fear-inducing media narratives and general lack of knowledge, a common belief is that refugees spontaneously decide to pack their bags, leave their homeland - the country they have spent their entire lives - and cross dangerous borders to settle in western nations for the “good life”. This is a long way from reality. From speaking with Syrian refugees in Jordan and witnessing families torn apart from the war, I learned that many who fled violence just about take the clothes they wore during that moment of escape. Crossing borders is not a walk in the park either. It is a dangerous journey, filled with unpredictable risks and complications which has taken the lives of thousands who have attempted to reach safety via sea. As distasteful as it to explain to those who assume that refugees are uneducated, it is crucial to note that Syrians are indeed very much educated, skilled and creative. Before the Syrian conflict, refugees came from all kind of professional backgrounds. Now they find themselves in positions in which they are refused to practice their skills and talents. Imagine this: you are a professional who provides income and takes care of your family. You are happy, stable and maintain close ties with your family and neighbours. Overnight, you discover that family members and neighbours have been killed or injured by drones, tortured to death or have lost everything. Every day, you hear someone new has been killed or severely injured. You are being treated in a hospital which cannot facilitate your care and is at risk of being targeted by an airstrike. The same school you had met your closest friends during your childhood years has been crushed to the ground, along with all its memories. What would you do? The reality is that refugees do not just decide to leave. They have no choice. Another assumption is that refugees who have resettled in the UK no longer need our help. This is perhaps the root source of their neglect. Many refugees who have resettled in London have not really resettled at all. Despite fleeing a war zone with violence, severe human right violations, and even death, refugees remain struggling to survive and lack access to crucial facilities and services. These include access to food, housing, employment, psychotherapy, English language support, and schooling. Psychological trauma and PTSD is widely common but is not properly addressed or supported. Sufra NW London is dedicated to helping refugees gain access to these urgent services via their Refugee Resettlement Programme. As a spoken word artist and activist, I use my platform to raise awareness for voices who are often neglected, silenced and misinterpreted. Together, we must advocate for basic human rights for refugees, who deserve so much more. To take find out more, or take part in this year's Local hero competition visit our campaign page.

With the Bath Half Marathon 2018 less than two weeks away, I’m delighted that over 80 runners are fundraising through Localgiving for 14 local charities. With increased demand for charities services and less time for stretched staff to focus on individual giving it makes participation events like half marathons an ideal way to maximise limited fundraising resource. For example, the average value of a Bath Half Marathon page on Localgiving is nearly £500 and most runners are comfortable setting up their own fundraising pages, sending out emails to their family or friends and generally taking responsibility for their online fundraising. One of this years participants is Michelle Smith who has been running for many years, but never for an official half marathon. When she saw that First Steps had a team she thought that it was the ideal opportunity to say thanks for their hard work. First Steps provide amazing support for disadvantaged families and children and the money raised this year will help them to enhance the outdoor learning area at the Twerton nursery in Bath with new areas for water play, a new mound, plants and trees, an area for bugs and new outdoor music play equipment. You can read more about Michelle’s story and donate to her Localgiving page here The beauty of using Localgiving for your fundraising is that you can piggyback on one of our campaigns. For example I worked with Wessex MS Therapy Centre ahead of Localgiving’s Grow Your Tenner (GYT) campaign in October 2017 and suggested they encourage their fundraisers to raise money during GYT to access the match funding. This proved to be hugely successful with seven people choosing to run the Bath Half Marathon in March 2018 in aid of the charity. The total raised by the charity during this campaign was £2,760, which will be a big help towards the cost of a new extension and renewal of physio equipment at the centre. “Grow Your Tenner (GYT) was excellent for us because all our fundraiser’s hit their targets in just one day! Many of the fundraisers were concerned about how they would raise £200 but the success of GYT has taken the pressure of the runners and reduced the administration time for us. It’s enabled us to be very proactive with our fundraising rather than chasing the runners and waiting for the money to trickle in over a few months.” Tori Allison, Community Fundraiser, Wessex Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre I also produced a simple poster that the charity sent to their runners ahead of GYT to explain how the process works. Although the next Grow Your Tenner is some way off you could try something similar with our Local Hero 2018 campaign which will launch on 1st April 2018 and run until 30th April. Local Hero highlights the incredible ideas and feats of local charity fundraisers - with a £1000 top prize to be won. Now is the time to turn those budding athletes, artists, runners or acrobats into online fundraisers for your cause!     

By the time you read this, I will have left Localgiving after a very happy year and a half as North Wales Development Manager. Though I’m sad to go, I have many brilliant memories to take with me. Since July 2016 I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside nearly 90 community groups across North Wales. In that time, I’ve witnessed some incredible fundraising. Over £50,0000 has been raised so far by 59 organisations; ranging from tiny volunteer led community groups, to registered charities working across the whole region - with a few Community Interest Companies thrown in for good measure. Throughout 2017, Wales was celebrating its folklore and heritage in a festival called “The Year of Legends”. The fundraising in North Wales this year has been nothing short of legendary, so let me introduce you to just one of the brilliant groups I’ve met that will surely go down in history. Cadair Idris Cadair Idris, which literally translates to Idris’ Chair, is a mountain in the southern part of Snowdonia. It stands at 893m high and overlooks Dolgellau. So who’s this Idris guy anyway? Depends who you ask - but he’s got to be pretty big to warrant a 2,929ft tall chair. Needless to say, Idris often appears in Welsh folklore as a giant. Ever walked along a mountain trail and got some annoying pieces of grit in your boot? Idris was no different - only giant feet need giant boots, and that can only mean one thing. Giant grit. Yes, legend has it that one day Idris sat down in his massive seat to extract the pesky pebbles from his shoe. He cast them down the mountainside, and there they still lie today - three humongous boulders embedded in the landscape. Other tales of Cadair Idris say that anyone who sleeps on the mountain will have one of three things happen to them.   One: They’ll awaken as a poet. Two: They’ll awaken as a madman. Three: They’ll never wake up again. Like, ever. Wales is known as the paradise of the bard, but I don’t like those odds!   One group that is very familiar with Cadair Idris (and the other 170 or so other peaks in Snowdonia National Park) is Cymdeithas Eryri. The Snowdonia Society is a conservation charity working to protect, enhance and celebrate Snowdonia. There’s a lot to protect, too - the park has 1,479 miles (2,380 km) of public footpaths, 164 miles (264 km) of public bridleways, and 46 miles (74 km) of other public rights of way. The Snowdonia Society hosted one of the most innovative fundraising challenges I saw whilst working at Localgiving. In a bid to illustrate the sheer breadth of their work, and the mounting challenge posed by heavy footfall and the resulting environmental impact, a volunteer with the charity decided to do a sponsored litter pick over a two day period. But this wasn’t any old litter pick. Conservation Volunteer Bob Smith scaled 15 of Snowdonia’s tallest peaks - all the ones that are over 3,000ft tall - whilst collecting litter on his way up (or down)! Of his challenge, Bob said: “I started at Pen-Y-Pass and set off up the Pyg track (up Snowdon) and took about 10 steps before finding my first piece of litter! Not surprisingly there was plenty of rubbish on the summit and after a quick visit in the mist to Garnedd Ugain I headed down the Llanberis path collecting plenty of litter. I then headed to Nant Peris to walk back up again. The bulk of the litter was plastic bottles and sweet wrappers collected on Snowdon (2 bags full) with the rest of the peaks relatively clear of rubbish, but still filling 1 bag.” So Bob’s Legendary challenge cleared 15 beautiful peaks of 3 bags of litter, and managed to raise £404 at the same time! Match funding from the Big Lottery-funded Wales Development Programme brought his total to a fantastic £604, which will go towards the Snowdonia Society’s 50 Years Future Fund - set up to celebrate the charity’s 50th anniversary. What a shame Cadair Idris wasn’t on Bob’s hitlist, standing just shy of 3,000ft. On second thoughts, perhaps it was for the best. Who knows what might have happened if he’d have stopped for a well-earned snooze in Idris’ spooky seat?! I may be leaving Localgiving, but the fundraising frolics will continue - with the central Localgiving team providing support for groups and Lauren Swain (based in South Wales) on hand to help as well. Any North Wales group that would like support should call 0300 111 2340 or email help@localgiving.org Found this blog post useful? You may also like:     Chandos House are giving someone vulnerable a home and a future Tractor Aid: Get Well Tilly  

Hi, I am Maz, one of the Co-managers of a very unique social enterprise, The Prospects Trust at Snakehall Farm. I am just one of many who make up a team of talented support workers, volunteers, trustees and of course our Co-workers (adults with additional needs) here on our 18 acre organic care farm in rural Cambridgeshire.   The Prospects Trust at Snakehall Farm was established in 1989 to provide work placements and supported training for people with disabilities (our Co-workers) on a County Farms estate in Reach, Cambridgeshire. Run as a social enterprise, the charity supports over 50 individuals per week. In addition we host visiting school groups, provide seasonal respite placements and create lots of valuable volunteering opportunities. As a social enterprise, all income generated from the sale of organic produce and our off-site gardening contracts is ploughed back into the running of the Trust. We are a real farm proudly growing differently! All of our produce is sown, grown, harvested and graded by our Co-workers, sold in our farm shop and through a reliable wholesale customer supply chain. We are a real working farm with real produce lines and real customers. Our Co-workers (adults with additional needs) attend the farm as part of a supportive placement programme and we endeavour to always offer a taste of the real world of work. We support, cajole, encourage and develop skills every day in every way. We place our Co-worker's at the heart of the operations and find ways to break down any disability that normally stops them taking part in an active life. We harvest lots of smiles along with the organic tomatoes, potatoes and carrots of course. We have 10 produce popping polytunnels, 3 large fields, a heritage planted orchard, nature trails, coppice, an accessible product kitchen, free ranging chickens, a Farm Shop, a woodwork workshop and even a social media tweeting Tractor - follow Tilly Tractor on Facebook All busy activity has taken its toll on Tilly! Our farm figurehead is rather poorly.  She has been booked into the Tractor Hospital (I must point out Farmer Mark states this should be called the agricultural mechanics) for some much needed TLC (Tractor Loving Care).  Tilly captures the heart of every Co-worker who comes through our farm gates, she is the tractor everyone wants to learn to drive but currently is too "tyred" to farm! Tilly Tractor was supported by ITV People's Millions Lottery funding, with the regional Anglia news viewers voting in shed loads for our amazing project and helping us secure a much needed tractor.  She has been used daily in all seasons and in all weathers and driven by everyone! She is now having a head to plough service, repairs to her hydraulics and we are facing a tractor sized repair bill.  We are hoping that the general public will get behind our Tractor Aid appeal and donate to our Get Well Tilly pot.  Find out more and donate to the Tractor Aid Appeal     

Tennis2Be is a London based charity dedicated to making tennis an accessible and inclusive sport. Their annual flagship, the ‘Craic Cup’ plays a key part in achieving this mission,  with players of all ages and abilities attending. With this year’s cup just ten days away we caught up with Tennis2Be’s Jay Macpherson. Tell us about the inspiration behind the Craic Cup? What have been your Craic Cup highlights ? “Noticing how more and more people show up every year. There is a real demand for it, enough people to create healthy competition whilst also taking playing levels into account. Visits from our Patron, Rudolph Walker from East Enders,and the Major. The oldest and youngest attendees 3-85 years! At the heart of what we do as a charity is to provide sports and education, we’ve been consistent in involving grassroots organisations and having our ear to the ground each year then I'd call that a highlight reel in itself." What do people have to look forward to this year? “The numbers are getting larger each year, over 80 people attended, giving players the opportunity to play as many people on the day as possible. We've also secured the National Tennis Centre again this year which is a 40 million pound tennis venue built for the pros. If you want to get motivated to play tennis, there is no better place to start than here!” Who can get involved and how? “The beauty of charity events is that absolutely anyone can get involved. All you need is to sign up through our website at www.tennis2be.com . Places are limited and would advise everyone to sign up as soon as they can. We also have special volunteer roles for the Craic Cup where people can gain experience on organising an event of this magnitude, roles in data entry, social media, trusteeship and more." How have you used Localgiving to raise funds for this tournament and your other activities? “Localgiving was an amazing platform that we used initially to try and get donations incentivised by the match funding (London Regional Development Programme). We found Localgiving has much more functionality including appeals and fundraisers, all of which we have explored with fantastic results.This is also thanks to Conor; our point of contact from Localgiving, who was very supportive and patient during the early stages of our understanding, always there when we need both in person and on the phone. The way we use the funding is mainly for providing equipment, reaching out to communities, increasing our programme intake, venue hire, and much more. For example a £45 donation can provide 5 children with a tennis lesson plus educational element. The value of our donations and the ease with which this was done through the platform, says volumes about Localgiving's mission is to strengthen UK communities by safeguarding the sustainability of the local voluntary sector. We really appreciate all the support from our patrons on Localgiving, you guys are awesome!" What recommendations would you give to other groups about how to make the most of their Localgiving page? “A couple of things. Filling out your profile as well as you can to make sure everyone knows exactly where you come from and where you intend to go is absolutely key for charities and organisations wishing to make a difference. You need stand out and provide something unique for your supporters so they can relate to you as closely as possible. An additional recommendation I would give is make use of fundraisers! Even if you get your small team of 3 or 4 individuals to try raising money it adds up insanely quickly. It can also be a ton of fun seeing what people are coming up with on the site, from bold marathons to baths in baked beans, there's a level of magic.” To find out more about the Craic cup or register to take part you can visit: https://www.tennis2be.com/tennis2be-craic-cup-2017  Enjoyed this blog? You may also like: Maximising your fundraising potential New Grant Opportunities from the United Way UK