Our Appeal pages are a proven way to raise funds and awareness for a new project or an urgent need. Appeal pages can help you focus your supporters’ attention on a particular issue - whether it be the need for extra funding for specialist equipment to make your activities accessible, funding for unforeseen costs such as break-ins, or urgent support for individual beneficiaries. From a pure fundraising perspective -  Appeal pages are an incredibly effective way of bringing in donations quickly. On average Localgiving groups raise 70% more through appeal pages than through fundraising pages. Over the last 12 months our groups raised an average of  £696 through appeals compared to £405 through fundraising pages. Moreover, Appeals provide an excellent opportunity to build awareness of your cause and grow your supporter community. Most effective Appeals make good use of beneficiary stories - enabling you to  highlight the issues you address and the difference you make in a relatable way. Furthermore, Time sensitive appeals are far more likely to be considered ‘newsworthy’ than a general call for support.  We have hosted and helped promote some truly inspirational, life-changing appeals over the years, ranging from saving community services to flood relief. Here are just a couple of our favourites! The Dahlia Project - Leyla Hussein, a leading anti-FGM activist and psychotherapist, set up the Dahlia Project to provide a safe space and therapeutic support for victims of Female Genital Mutilation. When the Dahlia Project came into financial difficulties in 2017, Manor Gardens Welfare Trust set up an appeal on Localgiving. Through harnessing the power of the traditional press, blogs and support from podcasts such as the Guilty Feminist, the appeal successfully raised over £100,000.       Calderdale Flood Relief Appeal - In December 2015, the Community Foundation for Calderdale launched an appeal in response to the Boxing Day flooding after the River Calder burst its banks overnight. Their campaign raised over £2.5m in total, £250,000 of which was generated through their Localgiving appeals page. The fundraising campaign went on to win several awards. Borderlands - Borderlands, a Bristol based refugee charity, have successfully used Localgiving appeal pages to raise funds for individual beneficiaries and their families. Their appeals have ranged from helping beneficiaries pay for family reunion to supporting them to access legal support to help fight deportations. Through focussing on the needs and narratives of their beneficiaries, Borderlands have consistently given an emotional pull and sense of urgency to their appeals. Since joining Localgiving Borderlands have raised nearly £12,000 through their appeals. So, have you been inspired to set up an Appeal?   As a Localgiving member, all you need to do is log in to your Localgiving charity account and go to the "My Pages" tab and click on the button that says "Create an Appeal Page". You can download our 13 tips for running a successful Appeal here, and remember, we are always happy to help promote your fundraising activities through our social media channels or blog. Not an Localgiving Member Yet? Find Our More

Precious Sithole (CEO, Social Practice ENT) With 2018 having been marred in part by scandals, it is safe to conclude that now more than ever, all charities small and large must consider having a code of ethics in place. At Social Practice ENT, we work with charities to promote socially responsible practices that ultimately help improve the sector. In this guide, we share our 3 top tips to successfully integrate ethics into your fundraising strategy in 2019. 1: Start at organisational level A good fundraising strategy flows from the overall organisational strategy. Likewise, before focusing on ethics at a functional (fundraising) level, it’s worth first considering your charity’s ethical position at organisational level. Ask yourself, what are the charity’s core values and principles? What are the core values and principles of the trustees and chief executive, as individuals? Is there congruence — do the values of the individuals align with those of the charity? Having this information to hand will be useful when it comes to resolving ethical issues and assessing suitability of relationships with new funding partners and individuals. This ultimately helps to ensure that you put your core values at the heart of everything you do. If you do not have a code of ethics for your charity, there is a wealth of resources available online to guide you, including ACEVO’s report titled ‘leading with values’ and NCVO’s newly published set of ethical principles for voluntary organisations. 2: Consider the intersection of regulatory compliance and ethics Now that you have your charity’s values and principles established, you can focus on your fundraising strategy. Firstly, consider familiarising yourself with the Code of Fundraising Practice issued by the Institute of Fundraising (IoF) — and make an honest commitment to adhere to it. Remember, ethical decisionmaking is not just simply complying with regulatory guidance; rather, it is more about making a conscious decision to uphold high standards and ‘live your values’. Adhering to the code will help to ensure that your fundraising activities are legal, open, honest and respectful. Additionally, hold third parties that you enter into partnership agreements with to the same high standards that you hold yourselves. After all, it’s very easy for external partnerships to bring the name of your charity into disrepute. 3. Ensure a monitoring mechanism is in place The final step in any planning process is to monitor and review progress. Consider placing an ethical fundraising policy on your website, somewhere it can be easily accessed by interested parties Include a complaints handling procedure, to ensure that any issues noted by the public can easily be brought to your attention. Also consider setting a date within 12 months, to review the ethical components of your strategy at board level. For charities with resource constraints, monitoring and reviewing ethical procedures may be at the bottom of the priority list. However, it pays to be ethical — as a good ethical working environment: increases employee morale; reduces the risk of reputational damage as a result of scandals arising; and increases employee willingness to report issues of misconduct to senior management.   

Small and local charities often operate on a shoe string so are acutely aware of the need to balance income and expenditure whilst generating social value. Critically, each charity must generate enough income to fulfill its mission whilst meeting social objectives.    For a charity to be viable, donors, funders and supporters must be in no doubt that the money that they give to a charity will be used to make a positive change in the lives of beneficiaries.   Outcomes and long-term impact are the significant changes, benefits and learning which has resulted from an organisation’s work. All too often, charities find it easier to communicate about outputs, detailing the numbers of people who have attended an event for example (quantitative information), rather than provide the more interesting qualitative information, detailing the difference made to someone’s life following an intervention. A lack of understanding about this can have a detrimental effect on an organisation’s ability to communicate the difference they make. This is also directly linked to the ability to raise funds and write compelling proposals to funders.   At the centre of performance management and understanding impact, is the requirement for services delivered by charities to serve the needs of beneficiaries who, after all, are the reason that small and local charities exist. This includes creating projects or areas of work that will address specific problems or issues, being able to evidence that need and explain why the need exists. The ability to analyse performance is also a management tool which allows organisations to ascertain whether the services they are delivering are effective and whether they are wanted or needed by beneficiaries. With the right information about need and impact, small and local charities can develop new services based on the changing needs of beneficiaries and abandon ineffective ones.   There is an inherent need for small and local organisations to demonstrate the effectiveness of their work but with limited resources this can be difficult. A first step is to have a clear plan of what must be achieved for a project or area of work, to clearly define aims and the outcomes/impact that will be produced, along with objectives and outputs. The NCVO Charities Evaluation Services planning triangle is a simple theory of change framework which can be used to achieve this. A monitoring and evaluation framework can be created to record outcomes and outputs by defining a series of KPIs (outcome and output indicators). Learning from the evidence collected and communicating successes with the world outside, including funders, is the part that is often neglected. Understanding impact with the ability to engage supporters is vital as impact is like a commodity which is bought/funded by donors.   Impactasaurus is a free impact monitoring and reporting tool which was designed for small and local charities. It is easy to use and focuses on soft outcomes, ideal for organisations helping individuals over time. Demonstrating and learning from your impact has never been easier.     Lydia Edwards – Corporate Fundraiser and Impactasaurus volunteer who has worked in organisational development roles at CVS’ building the capacity of small/local charities and in several fundraising/communications roles.   

No matter what sector you’re working in and what social issue you’re working to address, every small charity shares the same challenge. Everyone is spending substantial time fundraising - whether it’s from the government, corporates or individuals. In this hugely competitive landscape charities are increasingly finding their offering pressed, having to either compromise their quality of service in order to be competitive or dedicating valuable resource to endless bid writing and event organisation. We’ve been looking at this for a long time; how do you create a sustainable income stream, and how can you make this fit with your overall mission? We’re a charity, not a social enterprise A registered charity can still be a social enterprise. If you’re already running a shop or selling items to raise money to reinvest into the activities that make a difference to people - just like Mums in need in Sheffield - you’re already halfway there. Of course, running a shop isn’t for everyone, it’s still time and labour intensive - and you need to have premises, volunteers and budget for overheads.   Developing a meaningful concept First and foremost in creating a sustainable income stream is coming up with an idea. You need to identify something which fits into your overall mission, preferably which has a social impact, whilst raising funds at the same time. Wristbands, lapel pins and even giant daffodils are great for awareness and brand building, but if you want to create something which is truly impactful on a social level you need something that tells your story. Knightsof.media is a good example of this. Investment Think about the cost of development time and resource, but also where are you going to get the funds to get your idea off the ground? Do you believe the concept is strong enough to warrant investing time in it? Can you allocate a proportion of your budget to it or do you need to look externally for funding? Crowd Funding You have your idea and believe it’s strong enough to invest time in, but you don’t have funds. Crowdfunding sites are great platforms to use, but you only get the money committed to the project if you reach your full goal. In our case, our crowdfunding campaign didn’t reach our target, but it generated awareness and ultimately a single donor who believed enough in our idea to give us the full financial backing we needed. Timing Bear in mind that for any new enterprise it can take up to three years for an idea to start generating a profit for you. A sustainable income stream is not an overnight solution to short-term cash flow. Together Equal - Our Solution Our aim as a not-for-profit is to support small, independent charities working towards equality by helping to develop a sustainable income stream through these conversation cards. We really believe that by driving conversations around key talking points we’re building awareness, consideration and ultimately deeper understanding of the challenges arising from the lack of equality in our society. Our roots are in working within the VAWG (Violence Against Women and Girls) charity sector so this first set of conversation cards has been developed in association with our charity partners -  specifically The Dash Charity. Together Equal drafted an initial list of questions which we then refined with Dash, replacing some with questions that came from their education team so we ended up with a deck that we are all really happy with. How it works Our charity partners take the cards from us at cost, enabling them to retain all profits for themselves. We use the money returned to produce further sets of cards. We ourselves raised our first round of funding indirectly via Kickstarter. Whilst our current cards address issues around gender we’re keen to support charities focusing on equality across all aspects of society. If you’re reading this and think it could work for you, please get in touch! Sarah is co-founder at Together Equal, specialising in producing conversation cards which raise money for charities while having a social impact by creating conversations which challenge social stereotypes. Follow Sarah and Together Equal @betogetherequal @sarahairdmash.  

Every charity, fundraiser and individual is invited to participate in the Captain Tom 100  (#CaptainTom100) taking place between the 30th April 2021-3rd May 2021 (which marks the weekend that Captain Tom would have turned 101). To participate, you will need some creative and fun 100 inspired challenge ideas so we have decided to make this easier for you by coming up with 100 of them to help you get those creative juices flowing! We have however selected our 10 top favourite ideas!   Walk 100 laps/miles/steps Learn 100 dance moves Bake 100 cupcakes Tell 100 jokes Juggle for 100 minutes Host a 100 question quiz Build 100 sandcastles Sing for 100 minutes Carry out 100 good deeds Make 100 cocktails Don’t forget to set up your fundraising page on Localgiving here to allow plenty of time for your donors to support you in the run up to the big challenge and provide you with a better chance of winning the additional £100 prize for the best fundraiser, which will be provided by Localgiving. To find out more about the Captain Tom 100, please click here. Oh alright then, here is the full list of 100 ideas to get you started... Walk 100 laps/miles/steps Run 100km  Go for 100 runs Climb 100 stairs Cycle 100km Learn 100 dance moves Dance for 100 minutes Swim 100 laps of a pool Do 100 push ups Do 100 pull ups Go on a 100km hike Hop 100 times Play tennis for 100 minutes Play football for 100 minutes Play golf for 100 minutes Play squash for 100 minutes Lift weights for 100 minutes Do 100 burpees Do 100 keepie uppies 100 star jumps Do 100 squats Do 100 leg presses Do 100 yoga positions Do 100 hula hoops Do 100 trampoline bounces Do a plank for 100 seconds  Go for 100 dog walks Throw and catch a ball 100 times without dropping it  Bake 100 biscuits Bake 100 cupcakes Make 100 cocktails Make 100 cups of coffee or tea  Eat 100 grapes Eat 100 of something else Drink 100 of something Flip 100 pancakes Cook 100 meals 100m egg and spoon race Balance something for 100 seconds Knit 100 items Tell 100 jokes 100 minute silence Speak for 100 minutes Sing for 100 minutes Write 100 poems or letters Juggle for 100 minutes Learn to say something in 100 different languages Take 100 photographs Build 100 sandcastles Write a 100 word story Draw something in 100 seconds Create a 100 second video Second 100 messages  Host a 100 question quiz Plant 100 seeds Paint 100 of something Give away 100 likes on social media Follow 100 people on social media Meditate for 100 minutes Create 100 different outfits Do 100 puzzles Finish a new puzzle in under 100 minutes Pick up 100 pieces of rubbish Donate 100 items Cut off 100cm of hair Share 100 positive affirmations Play a board game for 100 minutes Play chess for 100 minutes Start a 100 minute twitch stream Watch 100 episodes of your favourite show Dress in 100 different fancy dress outfits Send 100 postcards Read 100 books Read for 100 minutes Host a virtual party for 100 people Host a virtual yoga class for 100 people  Host a virtual comedy night for 100 people  Host a virtual pub quiz for 100 people Carry out 100 good deeds Build something with 100 lego bricks Create a song 100 minutes long Create a 100 track playlist  Clean for 100 minutes Do laundry for 100 minutes Rearrange your house for 100 minutes Don’t touch the floor for 100 minutes Smile for 100 minutes  Act out a scene for 100 minutes Learn 100 songs on an instrument Watch 100 documentaries Learn 100 new facts Create a 100 minute podcast Give 100 compliments Tell the truth for 100 minutes Say yes for 100 minutes Build 100 paper aeroplanes Do volunteer work for 100 minutes Design a whole website in 100 minutes Garden for 100 minutes Attend a 100 minute lecture  Happy fundraising!  

  Dorset Parent Infant Partnership have just launched a new appeal on Localgiving! DorPIP work to ensure that parents and babies can access the support they need to build secure, long-term attachments. This includes providing psychotherapeutic intervention and promoting the importance of investment in early relationship building between parents and their children. As Vivian Allen, the founder and CEO of Dorset Parent Infant Partnership explains: "After 10 years of working as a counsellor, helping children, teenagers and adults who suffer from the effects of poor attachment, I started to look at where their pain had begun and often found it started right at the very beginning of life during the first 1001 critical days, when ‘natural bonding’ should have taken place. Having also experienced problems bonding with my own children i was inspired to set up a specialist community based preventative service to help families when bonding does not come naturally”.   They need to raise a total of £3,600 to run their our #keepintouch groups. These groups ensure that families receive ongoing specialist support during the vital first 2 years of a child’s life. “This support is good for babies, good for families and good for our society too. Please donate now to our appeal. These #keepintouch groups are a lifeline to parents and babies who really need your support." Help DorPIP to continue to provide this invaluable service to parents and babies in Dorset: Make a donation here