It’s time to start the Christmas round ups so here is the first – a round up of some of the ways charities are being supported across the festive period, from the Met’s annual fundraising appeal for The Childhood Trust, to VistaPrint’s cards supporting The Prince’s Trust, and The Entertainer’s toy appeal for the Salvation Army. Grab a mince pie and read on.
Met launches annual appeal for The Childhood Trust
The Met has launched its annual appeal for the public to donate Christmas presents to thousands of vulnerable and disadvantaged children across London. Working with charity The Childhood Trust, Met ‘elves’ will deliver the presents funded by the public to children who might otherwise go without, in time for Christmas Day. Following donations to last year’s Christmas Tree Appeal, more than 17,000 children received presents across London. The Met Christmas Tree Appeal first launched in 2011. In its first year, 230 gifts were gathered for London’s children. Over ten years 133,645 Christmas presents funded by the public have been delivered to children – from one-week to 17 years old, from low-income families, or cared for by foster parents, in residential care homes, refuges or hospitals.
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Charity Escapes partners with Vertu Motors for Christmas raffle
Charity Escapes has again partnered with Vertu Motors to launch the 2022 Great Christmas Raffle, with the motor retailer donating a 72-reg Volkswagen Polo to be used as the top prize, with an RRP of £19,400. Charity Escapes’ online fundraising campaign is powered by Raffolux, with tickets available through its website and directly from the charities taking part. By using the online platform, individuals and businesses can either spread support amongst all the charities taking part, donate directly to one of the 70 charities involved, or companies can choose to donate to their chosen charity. Last year’s prize, a £17,000 MINI One Classic – also donated by Vertu Motors – was won by Emily Taylor, supporting The Charlie Gard Foundation.
Salvation Army teams up with The Entertainer for toy appeal
Toy retailer The Entertainer has once again teamed up with The Salvation Army to launch The Big Toy Appeal, an initiative that aims to give as many underprivileged children as possible the joy of opening a gift on Christmas Day. The Big Toy Appeal encourages customers to pick up an extra toy to donate towards the cause when they visit The Entertainer in-store or shop online. For every gift donated, The Entertainer will also contribute a toy, doubling the number of donations that will go towards families in need of support this Christmas. Through customer donations and matched toys, over 92,000 gifts have been provided since the campaign launched in 2018.
VistaPrint launches Christmas card special with The Prince’s Trust
VistaPrint is launching a Christmas card special edition in partnership with The Prince’s Trust. With 10 festive cards designed by five people supported by the youth charity, alongside nine cards created by professional freelance designers from the 99 designs by Vista community, the limited-edition cards – available on the VistaPrint site from November 7 till January 7 – are the perfect way to spread Christmas cheer with friends and family. Featuring 19 different designs, from traditional winter scenes to modern, festive typography, each card will be credited to its designer to help showcase the work of young and independent artists. In the spirit of giving, VistaPrint has also pledged to donate 10% of the proceeds from the sale of each card back to The Prince’s Trust – helping to support even more young people working with the charity in the run-up to Christmas.
Home Bargains partners on Christmas products with NSPCC
Home Bargains is delighted to be partnering with the NSPCC once again this Christmas to create a range of limited-edition products to raise much-needed funds for the children’s charity. Marking the 10th year of working together, the range includes everything from matching family pyjamas, duvet sets and mugs to traditional Christmas cards; there’s something for everyone in the collection. Home Bargains has committed to donating £80,000 from the sales of this range, which will help the NSPCC continue to support children and families from the North West hub in Liverpool.
Hill’s Panel Products supports Mahdlo Youth Zone campaign
Mahdlo Youth Zone has launched a £10,000 fundraising campaign to help support young people and families throughout Oldham, and has already won the backing of Hill’s Panel Products (HPP) Ltd. The charity is pledging to provide a free or subsidised hot meal for everyone attending one of its Junior, Senior, Girls and Family sessions until March 2023, in addition to stocking other food items costing no more than £1 for anyone visiting its café. Hill’s Panel Products (HPP) Ltd has created an array of festive decorations destined for the Christmas tree at the Youth Zone. Each one will be decorated by Youth Zone members and then sold at prices ranging from £10 to £150 to local businesses and individuals, who can include a personalised message of support, and who will receive their decoration after the festive season.
Cult Beauty supports three charities this Christmas
As part of Cult Beauty’s continued effort to support people and the planet, the brand is working with a trio of charities this Christmas: Mental Health UK, (more:trees), and Beauty Banks. The brand is donating over £75,000 from the sales of its advent calendar to Mental Health UK. Cult Beauty is also working with (more:trees) to plant one tree for every advent calendar sold, and is continuing to partner with Beauty Banks, helping many people struggling with hygiene poverty in the aftermath of the pandemic. Cult Beauty donated £60,000 in both 2021 and 2022 to the organisation.
Manchester City launches A Time For Giving
Manchester City has launched its festive community campaign to give young people in Manchester the gift of football this Christmas. ‘A Time For Giving’ will provide fans with an opportunity to come together with the Club to fund thousands of hours of free football for young people in Manchester throughout 2023. For every purchase a fan makes from a range of selected Christmas retail clothing items, available online and in the City Store, the Club will donate £5 to its charity, City in the Community. Fans can also make additional donations at the tills in the stadium store, when checking out online during their purchase journey for match tickets, and via mancity.com/CITC. Manchester City will match these donations up to the value of £75,000, including £5 donated for each sale of selected Christmas retail clothing items.
Thortful creates Christmas cards benefitting RSPCA
Greetings card marketplace thortful has teamed up with the RSPCA, to create a beautiful collection of charity Christmas cards. As part of the partnership, for every A5 Christmas card thortful sell this year, they will give 5p to the RSPCA, and will give £1 for every card sold from the RSPCA Christmas card collection. The RSPCA Christmas Card Collection is exclusive to thortful and designed with thortful creator Made By Harriet. Two of them feature illustrations of real-life rescues – Skye the dog, and Holly the cat. Plus, each card has a QR code on the back that leads to more information and rescue stories.
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.
