Wednesday 26 November 2008

Man who beat cancer gives £2,200 to charity

CANCER survivor John Williams, who had a massive 16lb tumour removed nine months ago, has donated more than £2,000 to the charity that helped him through his illness.

Mr Williams, 53, handed over the money to Sarcoma UK director Roger Wilson at Ynysygerwyn Cricket Club last Thursday.

He was diagnosed with sarcoma cancer – a rare form accounting for only 1% of all diagnosed cancers – last December and given only two months to live.

His only hope was an operation he was given just a 30% chance of surviving to remove the tumour.

But Mr Williams, of Hunters Ridge, Tonna, made an amazing recovery from his life-threatening illness to help organise a fund-raising evening for Sarcoma UK.

The charity provides information, support and advice to cancer sufferers, and supports research into treatment of the disease.

Mr Williams said: “It went really well. I presented Roger with a £2,200 cheque, which will go toward the £200,000 they have already raised.

“Sarcoma UK was very helpful to me. They got in touch with me as soon as I left hospital and offered me support, and sent visitors around to see me for aftercare.”

Mr Williams’ friend Andrew Davies, 42, donated £2,000 to the cancer charity Crossroads on the same evening.

“After my father-in-law passed away I was determined to do something because Crossroads had helped look after him,” said Mr Davies, a father-of-two from Baglan.

“My son plays for Ynysygerwyn Cricket Club and when John found out we were organising a charity match we went in on it together.”

Unfortunately, the match planned for the August Bank Holiday had to be called off because of torrential rain.

Instead, the pair raised money through an auction and quiz night.

Both men would like to thank everyone who contributed to their fundraising efforts.


From WalesOnline

Tuesday 25 November 2008

Looted Matisse goes to UK charity

A painting by Henri Matisse, which was stolen from a German Jewish family by the Nazis, is to be given to a British charity.

Le Mur Rose was confiscated from the Fuld family in the late 1930s and kept by a Nazi officer responsible for delivering poison gas to Auschwitz.

The work has been at France's national museum of modern art since 1949.

It will be handed to Magen David Adom UK, a charity that supports medical rescue in Israel, later this week.

Proceeds from the expected sale of the painting will go toward the charity's network of ambulances, paramedics and emergency treatment centres in Israel.

"It's a remarkable and in some ways slightly creepy story," said Stuart Glyn, chairman of the charity, who will take delivery of the artwork at the French Culture Ministry in Paris.

The painting belonged to Harry Fuld who made his fortune in telephones, founding the H. Fuld & Co. Telefon und Telegraphenwerke AG in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1899, the charity said.

After Fuld died in 1932, his art collection passed to his son, Harry Fuld Jr. He fled Nazi Germany in 1937, packing the collection into crates, which he gave to a shipping company to transport.

But the collection never left the country and it was confiscated it by the Nazis. The painting ended up in the hands of Kurt Gerstein, an officer in the Nazis' Waffen SS.

Gas chambers

Gerstein was an expert in decontamination techniques, assigned to the Hygiene Institute of the SS, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

On its website, it says Gerstein was responsible for delivering Zyklon B poison used in the gas chambers - to Auschwitz and other camps.

Gerstein surrendered to French authorities in April 1945, and later hanged himself.

French police recovered the painting three years later from a cache near Gerstein's home in Tuebingen, Germany.

Harry Fuld Jr. died in 1963 and for unknown reasons willed his estate to a woman called Gisela Martin.

She in turn left her estate to Magen David Adom UK when she died in Switzerland in 1992.

Buddha statues

The Matisse, which is worth a "a good six-figure sum", will be displayed in a museum before being sold, said Mr Glyn.

The charity is also trying to recover other parts of the Fuld collection, which included 12th century Buddha statues, 16th century Italian masters, furniture and other art.

Mr Glyn said trying to prove ownership of the pieces was a "long, slow and expensive process".

"Our representatives are in discussions and negotiations with a whole raft of people, including national museums and governments, to see whether some of this stuff can come back," he said.

"Some of the stuff is far more important than the Matisse."

Monday 24 November 2008

Barclays chairman says proxy vote backs fundraising

Agius told shareholders the lender had opted to raise capital from private investors rather than take part in the government's bailout of the banking sector partly because it feared the conditions attached to the bailout might force it to neglect overseas growth.

"As shareholders you will know that the overwhelming majority of the growth in Barclays over the past decade has come from diversifying our earnings base by developing our businesses ... outside the United Kingdom," he said in his EGM speech.

"Taking capital from the UK government, however, would have necessitated many of these activities being given a lower priority, and we did not think this would be in your interests."

The government has said it expects the banks receiving public money -- Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and HBOS -- to help support the flagging the economy by keeping lending availability at 2007 levels.

The government is providing up to 37 billion pounds of cash to the three banks, and will in return receive stakes of up to 57 percent in RBS, and 43 percent in the combined Lloyds

TSB-HBOS.

The Middle East investors are set to provide about 5.3 billion pounds of Barclays' total fundraising target.

Top five investor Legal & General last week said it would vote in favour even though it does not like the structure of the controversial deal, as rejection of the deal would lead to a material deterioration in shareholder value.

The Association of British Insurers, which represents a fifth of UK investors, put a rare "red top" warning on the plan, signalling "an issue of grave concern," and told investors to make their own decision on the vote.

Three-quarters Of Kids With Mental Health Problems Not Getting Adequate Treatment, Great Britain

Britain's youth is suffering from mental health problems with 3 in 4 not receiving the treatment they need.

Heads up, a report published today by New Philanthropy Capital (NPC), the charity think tank, reveals that the lack of available treatment costs society millions of pounds and leaves charities to pick up the pieces.

NPC found that in England conduct disorder - a severe psychiatric disorder in children and adolescents - costs society £1.5bn every year. This takes into account the costs to the criminal justice system and the NHS, education and social care costs, and lost earnings. Conduct disorder leads to truancy and exclusion from school, crime and antisocial behaviour - some of the UK's most pressing social problems.

By expanding treatment to reach all children with conduct disorder, NPC estimates that cost savings of £244m to £376m a year could be achieved.

The scale of the issue is startling and poorly understood: many people assume that children's mental health problems are just growing pains or teenage angst. Yet 1 in 10 young people in the UK are affected by mental health disorders, and three-quarters of adults with a disorder, also had one in childhood.

'Helping children at an earlier stage stops troubled kids from becoming troubled adults. It can save individuals and families years of distress, and the state millions of pounds,' says Martin Brookes, Chief Executive of NPC. 'Charities support young people suffering from problems such as depression, eating disorders and self-harm who would otherwise be left out in the cold.'

Last week, the Government published an independent review of CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services), which revealed that, despite some improvements, mental health services are overstretched and there are 'unacceptable variations' in the quality of provision between regions and within local areas.

NPC found that charities play a vital role by providing accessible and timely support for vulnerable children, carrying out research into young people's needs, and campaigning to change policy and public perception. However, their work is often overlooked: it was barely discussed in the CAMHS review, and children's mental health charities have a lower profile and receive less funding than charities in other sectors.

'This needs to change. Increasing mental health problems in children and overstretched services mean charities are taking on more work,' says Benita Refson, Chief Executive of The Place2Be, a charity discussed in Heads up that provides school-based counselling for children in 146 schools. 'People are beginning to realise that mental health issues lie behind many of society's problems, but charities need increased support and recognition to meet rising demand', she added.

Providing a child with counselling at school costs The Place2Be less than £100 per year. NPC estimates that stopping a teenager from being excluded from school saves the education system £20,000: over 200 times the cost of counselling that could prevent the mental health problems and poor behaviour that may lead to exclusion in the first place.

For a copy of the report go to Click here for a copy of the report

Notes 1. New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) is a charity that maximises the impact of donors and charities - it does this through independent research, tools for charities and advice for donors. Its research guides donors on how best to support causes such as cancer, education and mental health. As well as highlighting the areas of greatest need, NPC identifies charities that could use donations to best effect. Using this research, it advises clients and their trusted advisors. For further information see: www.philanthropycapital.org.

2. NPC develops a detailed understanding of social problems by talking to policy-makers, practitioners, academics and other experts. Its charity recommendations are arrived at after visiting and analysing charities across the sector, looking at five key criteria: the charity's activities, results, sector impact, leadership and finances.

3. The report Heads up is the product of eight months of detailed desk research and consultations with more than 50 experts (including academics, policy-makers, mental health professionals and charities). NPC currently recommends ten charities that are working on children and young people's mental health issues. Case studies for two of these - The Place2Be and beat - are provided below. The other eight charity recommendations are: Samaritans, Youth Access, The Brandon Centre, Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, Family Action, Beatbullying, Chance UK, and the NSPCC's ChildLine. The charity recommendations and full report can be downloaded from www.philanthropycapital.org.


4. The report looks at the mental health of children and young people from 0-25 years old. The 3 in 4 statistic refers to children and young people who are eligible for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, ie, those up to the age of 18. It is taken from a 2006 report published by the Department for Education and Skills and the Department of Health. The 1 in 10 statistic for the prevalence of mental health disorders covers 5-15 year olds and comes from a study published by the Office for National Statistics in 2004. Prevalence statistics for the whole 0-25 year old age group are not available.

5. NPC's calculation of the costs of conduct disorder in England can be found in the appendices to Heads up, published on our website: www.philanthropycapital.org. The calculation takes into account the costs to the criminal justice system and the NHS, education and social care costs, and lost earnings. NPC calculated the cost saving of £20,000 for stopping a teenager from being excluded from school for a previous report, Misspent youth: The costs of truancy and exclusion (2007), which can also be downloaded from www.philanthropycapital.org. It represents the cost to the education system alone. The broader costs are much higher: the average excluded child costs a total of £63,851 to society (including costs to the child in future lost earnings resulting from poor qualifications and costs to society in terms of crime, health and social services). A recent Office for National Statistics study found that having a persistent conduct disorder increased the odds of being excluded from school by 47 times. Children and young people with a persistent emotional disorder were also more likely to be excluded from school than their peers.

6. The Place2Be was established in 1994 in response to increasing concern about the extent and depth of emotional and behavioural difficulties displayed in classrooms and playgrounds. It works with 146 schools across the UK, supporting a child population of around 47,000, often in areas of great deprivation. www.theplace2be.org.uk.

7. beatis the leading UK charity for people with eating disorders and their families. beat is the working name of the Eating Disorders Association. Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses that affect 1.1 million people in the UK. beat provides helplines for adults and young people, online support and a UK-wide network of self-help groups to help people beat their eating disorder. www.b-eat.co.uk.

8. Case Studies

Luke's story (The Place2Be)

Ten-year-old Luke was the boy who always sat on his own at lunchtime. He had few friends, was sullen and disruptive in class, and frequently arrived at school late, if he turned up at all. Outside school, he had begun to hang out with older teenagers and had got involved in fire-setting and vandalism.

Luke could not look to his family for support. His mother had her own problems - she suffered from depression and panic attacks and was prone to drink heavily. His sister had been placed in care some years earlier, and his father, who was chronically ill, lived a long way away with a new partner.

It was obvious to Luke's class teacher that he needed help. She referred him to The Place2Be, a charity that provides school-based counselling services to children and their families. Luke began weekly one-on-one sessions with one of the charity's counsellors, which took place in the school's special Place2Be room. His teacher started to see visible improvements. 'Luke began to arrive at school on time every day,' she noted, 'and dropped into The Place2Be on his way to class to announce that he was in. This in itself seemed to be a source of pride for him.'

Rachel's story: in her own words (beat)

'My name is Rachel and I am 21, and studied French and German at University. I now have hope for the future. I am still recovering, but I hope to be well enough to be able to spend a year abroad in France and Germany for my course.

'I first developed issues with food 6 years ago. These got more serious when I went to college at the age of 16. I cut right down on my food intake, and by Christmas of that year, I was going without food for up to four days. While I was an outpatient at the unit, I wasn't to go to college, I wasn't allowed to see my friends, use public transport or go anywhere on holiday. I had to stay at home and be looked after because I didn't have the strength. It was really depressing for me, because I was feeling really low and I was not able to see my friends.

'However, I have been a beat member for 4 years now, and regularly use the message board, Helpmail service, the live chats arranged by the Youth Team and the magazine that beat sends me. I find it hard to speak to people on the phone about how I feel, so the range of services is really useful. Because services and treatment are so bad and patchy, beat is the only constant support that I have. I know that I can go to them and receive support from someone that is sympathetic and knows about eating disorders. Through them, I have been able to make friends through their youth services: most of my old friends from school have fallen away, because while I was suffering, it was very hard for them to be my friend.'

Source
Sue Wixley, NPC
Philanthropy Capital
www.philanthropycapital.org

Behaviour disorder 'costing £1.5bn'

A severe psychiatric disorder in children and young people costs society as much as £1.5 billion every year owing to a lack of available treatment, a charity think tank said.

Heads Up, a report published by New Philanthropy Capital (NPC), showed that cost savings of £244 million to £376 million could be achieved by reaching out to all children and adolescents with conduct disorder.

Sufferers tend towards highly antisocial behaviour, such as fighting, stealing, vandalism and harming people and animals.

The NPC said the disorder often led to truancy and exclusion from school, crime and anti-social behaviour. The calculations were based on youngsters aged eight to 25 and took into account the costs to the criminal justice system and the NHS, education and social care costs and lost earnings.

The NPC referred to Government statistics from 2006, which showed three in four under-18-year-olds suffering from mental health problems were not receiving the treatment they needed. The think tank said the scale of the issue was "startling", with many people mistaking children's mental health problems for growing pains and teenage angst.

NPC said children's mental health charities received less funding than those in other sectors and their "vital" work was often overlooked.

One of the charities discussed in the report was The Place2Be, which provides school-based counselling for children in 146 schools.

This counselling costs less than £100 for each child for a year, while the NPC estimated that stopping a teenager being excluded from school can result in a cost saving of £20,000.

Via WalesOnline

Friday 7 November 2008

Institute of Fundraising UK events

Are you a fundraiser and based in the UK? Then you might be interested in the upcoming events organised by the institute of fundraising UK. The Institute of Fundraising is the professional body for UK fundraising. They support fundraisers, through leadership, representation, setting standards, and training, and champion fundraising as a career choice. I’ve attended their events and wanted to draw your attention to the some coming up in November and December .

1. Working with Volunteers for Community Fundraising Success
Re-energising grassroots fundraising

Join the Institute of Fundraising at the only conference that specifically considers the relationship between fundraising and volunteering, to be held on 20th November in London.
Volunteer-led fundraising activity is the most frequent way in which the majority of the public engage with and encounter fundraising practice, for example, through attending events, coffee mornings or meeting house to house collectors. Crossing the boundaries between the volunteering and fundraising worlds, this conference will explore how community fundraisers can work with volunteers to strengthen their fundraising overall. It will also explore other key community fundraising issues such as recognising long term value, best practice and developing new ideas.

This conference offers an opportunity to learn from the experts, hear from other organisations in the sector and gain understanding to help you re-energise your approach to community fundraising.

Conference topics include:

  • Debate and discussion - recognising the value of community fundraising
  • Administering regional fundraising networks
  • Understanding volunteers and volunteering trends
  • The Commission on the Future of Volunteering’s Manifesto for Change - understanding what it means for your organisation
  • Recruiting, training and managing volunteer fundraisers
  • Best practice, health and safety, and legal advice

Key speakers from Volunteering England, nfpSynergy, Macmillan Cancer Support, Save the Children, Samaritans, Breakthrough Breast Cancer and more!

To view the full programme and to book online click here!

2. E-Media Fundraising Conference
Strategic Tips for Online Income Generation

This conference will provide actual advice and practical tips on how to develop and implement a successful e-media fundraising strategy. Top of the range sector experts, consultants and trainers will provide you with the tools to take your online marketing strategy into new realms of effectiveness and profitability.

Key conference topics include:

  • Setting up a successful digital strategy
  • Measuring ROI and improving conversion rates
  • Top tips for making money online
  • Making the most of Google Analytics and Adwords
  • Dos and don’ts for successful websites and e-mails
  • Digital media - a driver for commercial partnerships?

Join us on the 2 December in London and hear from Martin Gill, former Head of New Media at Comic Relief; Bertie Bosrédon, Head of New Media, Breast Cancer Care; Jason Potts, Director, THINK Consulting Solutions; Nick Burne, acting Head of Digital, National Trust; Stephen Elsden, Marketing Manager, Leonard Cheshire Disability; Jon Parsons, E-Communications Manager, The Woodland Trust and many more!

To view the full programme and to book online click here!

3. Legacy Fundraising Conference
Exploring an integrated approach

Legacy fundraising is crucial to charities and among the most cost effective ways to fundraise. This year’s annual Legacy Fundraising Conference, to be held on the 10th December in London, is an opportunity to keep up to date with the latest developments in the sector. The event is packed with information and advice to help improve your legacy fundraising strategy.

Conference topics include:

  • Confronting the economic climate
  • Broadening your legacy message
  • Integrated approaches to legacy fundraising
  • Improving online legacy communication
  • Masterclass on successful legacy marketing
  • Opportunities for donor development
Hear from NSPCC, Freestyle Marketing, Legacy Foresight, Mencap, Save the Children, Action for Children and many others.
To view the full programme and to book online click here!

2 Easy Secret School Fundraising Tips To Double Your Profits

Why is it most schools doing fundraising do not apply the principals you see discussed below, I have no clue. Maybe because most schools are trained to focus on the wrong things while choosing and planning a fundraiser.

School fundraising companies by nature emphasize their product lines and brochures. But that doesn’t answer the question why the school down the street that picked your second or third choice had a better sale! Your fundraising success has less to do with which brochure you pick (Don’t they all look pretty much the same anyway?) than with how you run the sale. Even profit % means little in how much money a school makes if the sale lacks the one key ingredient… MOTIVATION!

Here are the top 2 secrets on school fundraising that if heeded will make all the difference in your final profit.

First Secret - Run Your School Fundraising Event as Early in the School Year As Possible.

Deciding when to start the fundraiser can mean thousands in profit gained or profit lost. It is a well known fact that the first group to go into an office or neighborhood with their fundraising materials to ask for orders has higher sales than the groups that follow second or third or forth. Timing, however, is not the number one reason schools have profitable fundraisers.

Each month delay from the start of school that you put off starting your fundraiser will take $6.00 off every students sale! Multiply that by 500 students and a mid October kickoff and that school is missing out on $6,000 in sales simply by choosing that date on the calendar! Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that waiting till close to Christmas would be a good time to start your sale. It sounds reasonable, but the stats don’t confirm that at all. THE Main secret coming next…

Second Secret- (The Main Thing!) The Thing That Affects Your School Fundraiser Most is How You Run Your Sale.

Two similar elementary schools can have excellent leadership and both be excited and they both start their sale on the same date. They both can do everything they know to maximize their sale, so WHY can there be $5 - $10,000 difference in results?

Ready? Here is the number one, the most important, the “Big Kahuna” secret of all. Program Management (how you run the sale) is the most important element in running a successful fundraiser. You may Say, “I knew that but what is wrong with the way I run our fundraiser now?” The main problem I think is that not many fundraising companies train the fundraising sponsors in how to properly run their sales. In the interest of “getting the sale” they let the school have the lead, especially when dealing with a “headstrong” sponsor.

There are a couple of key elements in Program Management:

  1. Set Goals
  2. Have a Memorable Fundraiser Kick Off
  3. Keep the Excitement Up During the Sale
  4. Place Emphasis on Motivating Students and Teachers

The most important factor for changing the results for a better School fundraising event is the motivation you provide to the students and the teachers. The main reason why one elementary can have an $19,000 sale while the another, very similar elementary, will have a $40,000 sale is the way they do their incentives for students and teachers! It would surprise you how easy it is to do.

We at AIM have a saying “Kids can sell $5 bills for $10 and do real well if you motivate them right.” So part of your job in fundraising will be to find out what truly motivates your students and teachers! This can have a dramatic impact on your fundraising sales! For more information or ideas of prizes for elementary schools, visit http://www.aimfundraising.com/prizes.htm

Cancer charity asks for donations

UK charity the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation is asking people to donate their old mobile phones so that their components - sometimes made up of precious metals such as gold - can be used to help raise funds.

The non-profit organisation is searching for alternative ways to raise money in the economic downturn, when cash donations may be more difficult for supporters to make.

Money raised from the mobile phone appeal will go towards three different areas - support for patients and families, lung cancer research and tobacco control programmes.

It estimates that there are over 60 million old mobiles - which could contain the precious gold parts - currently lying unused in the UK alone.

Janine Drew, a fundraising manager for the foundation, said: "We urge people who still currently throw away their mobile phones and cartridges to take just a few moments of time to donate them instead."

Recently in the US, a 14-c gold ring was donated to help the cause of an Aids charity by KT Diamond Jewellers.


Source: Gold News

Wednesday 5 November 2008

Charity ball raises £4,000 for breast cancer

FUNDRAISING events are pulling in the pounds and raising awareness for a breast reconstruction group.

A charity ball held at the Next Generation club in Brierley Hill, on Friday October 24, in aid Rainbow Breast Reconstruction Group raised £4,000. Sylvia Horton, from Woodland Crescent, Pedmore has been working hard to raise the profile and cash for the group which helped her.

The recovering breast cancer suffered has been inspired to write poems about her experiences and has recently seen her work published. Sylvia launched her poetry book called “Simple and to the Point” in September, with all the proceeds going to the charity. Lye pubs have also been rallying round and showing their support, the Railway pub recently held an auction which raised £500. Kind-hearted landlady Sheila Sidaway from the Fox is always holding fundraising events and recently raised £500 with a sponsored sudoku.

Sylvia said: “We would like to thank everyone who has supported the events and helped to raise money. “I am still selling the books and people are supporting us despite the current financial problems.”

The creative grandmother is also offering poetry reading sessions and poetry evenings to also help cash for cancer charities. Sylvia books are still available to buy and people can purchase one from Lye community centre or Sheila Sidaway at the Fox pub, Spring Street or from Sylvia on 01562 720213.

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