Corporate Partnerships Proudly sponsored by
Brother and sister, Kane and Beth 01909 517 367 www.bluebellwood.org @BluebellWoodCH
Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice
Who we are Your support helps us care for children and young adults whose lives are sadly just too short, both in their own homes and at our hospice in North Anston. We believe that every family deserves to make magical memories with their child, whether they have years, months, weeks or days together. Bluebell Wood is a home from home for families facing the toughest of times, with a comfy lounge and beautiful gardens. We’re always cooking up mouth-watering meals and tasty treats in the kitchen for families. There’s also plenty of fun activities for children to try, including soft play, arts and crafts, music therapy and much more. Every day, we need to raise £11,000 to keep our doors open, and only around 10% of our funding is from the government. Everything else is paid for by the wonderful work that you do; whether you join our 365 Club, take on one of our challenges, or choose us as your Charity of the Year.
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01909 517 367
corporateteam@bluebellwood.org
www.bluebellwood.org
Welcome Being told your child has a life-shortening condition can be a traumatic and lonely time. With your support, we can help families make the most of every moment, and create special memories they can treasure; whether they have days, weeks, months or more together. We’ve designed this booklet to make sure all the fundraising you do for Bluebell Wood is fun, inspiring, beneficial to your team, and a true partnership. Corporate giving is a fantastic way to engage your employees and make them feel proud to be a part of your organisation. In this pack you’ll find lots of information and ideas to get you started; why not give your team the chance to volunteer, or take on a challenge with their colleagues? Bluebell Wood receives less than 10% of our funding from the government, so however you decide to support us, every pound you raise really does make all the difference. Take a look at page 7 to find out how your fundraising has helped us be there for families like Mia’s when the worst happened and they had to say goodbye to their little girl. Good luck and thank you, Rachael Dawes, Corporate Fundraising Manager
Any questions? Get in touch! Contact a member of our Corporate Fundraising Team on 01909 517 367 or email corporateteam@bluebellwood.org
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could we be your charity of the year? By choosing Bluebell Wood as your charity of the year, you can help give your team a focus, and motivate them to fundraise and work together with a joint goal: to support local children with life-shortening and life-threatening conditions. Becoming an official corporate partner will give you plenty of positive PR opportunities and will help you reach new audiences, by strengthening your profile in the local community. You will be given a dedicated Corporate Account Manager, who will give you the ideas, enthusiasm, and recognition you need to make sure the partnership is a success. Here are just some of the ways we could support you during our partnership: • We can provide you with opportunities to increase your business profile within the community. • You will be given a Corporate Account Manager who will support you and your organisation throughout your partnership with us. • There will be plenty of opportunities to get your message out to our supporters, such as through social media, PR, and sponsorship. • By partnering with us, you’ll be able to motivate your employees by getting them to work together on exciting fundraising initiatives.
Our charity partnership with ITI has so far raised over £20,000 for local families - we look forward to working with them for another two years. 3
01909 517 367
corporateteam@bluebellwood.org
www.bluebellwood.org
sponsorship opportunities Whether you’re a small, local business or a national organisation, becoming a corporate sponsor is one of the best ways your company can support us, while helping you reach thousands of potential new customers. Our Corporate Fundraising Team will work with you to create a sponsorship package tailored to your business, providing you with the enthusiasm, and recognition to make sure our partnership is a success. There are so many ways you could support us through sponsorship, and each opportunity offers you the chance to generate positive PR and brand awareness. Here are just some of the ways you can get involved: • Sponsor promotional material such as newsletters, flyers and posters • Event sponsorship • Sponsor our mascot George • Sponsor a member of our Care Team Gripple and Loadhog have sponsored our Dragon Boat Race for 2019. Luke Davis at Loadhog, said, “Bluebell Wood’s Dragon Boat Race is a fantastic event for anyone who’s happy to roll their sleeves up and get paddling. It’s also a great day out for friends and family who just want to spectate. “Bluebell Wood is a charity close to many people’s hearts here at Loadhog and we’re only too happy to sponsor their Dragon Boat Race. We can’t wait to get wet for a good cause.”
01909 517 367
corporateteam@bluebellwood.org
www.bluebellwood.org
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sign up to a bluebell wood event! Could your team take on a challenge to raise money for local families? Whether you encourage your boss to strap onto a vintage biplane (and soar through the air at 130mph), or work with your colleagues to steer a roaring dragon boat, there’s no better way to test your strength, wits, or creativity, than by signing up to a Bluebell Wood event. Our fundraising events are a fantastic way for your employees to have fun and work together, or even create some healthy competition between your departments. The best part is, whatever you decide to do, when you decide to raise sponsorship you’ll be supporting local children and families during the toughest times imaginable. To find out about our fantastic events visit www.bluebellwood.org/events. You can also contact a member of our Events Team by email at eventsteam@bluebellwood.org, or call 01909 508 113.
The Loadhog Ltd Leviathans were crowned the champions for a second year in a row at our Dragon Boat Race. Now that’s a great way to bring your team together! 5
01909 517 367
corporateteam@bluebellwood.org
www.bluebellwood.org
does your company offer matched giving? From dress down days and Dragon Boat challenges to skydives and sponsored spin-a-thons, there are so many ways your employees can support us. Matched Giving is a great way to recognise their fundraising achievements, inspire other people in your team, and make them feel proud to work for your organisation. You can choose to match your employees’ donations however you’d like. This could mean matching employees’ donations pound for pound, or creating an allowance which staff can apply for when they raise money for Bluebell Wood. You could even match the time that your team have spent outside of working hours volunteering for Bluebell Wood. Call 01909 517 367 or email corporateteam@bluebellwood.org to find out more about Matched Giving.
workplace winners 9-5 just got luckier! Our weekly lottery is a fantastic way to get your team involved with fundraising for us. With seven cash prizes including our £1,000 jackpot to be won (plus up to £5,200 in our rollover), it’s a great way to support Bluebell Wood while giving your staff a chance to win each week. There are lots of different ways we can work with your company to promote our lottery. These include: • Letting our lottery fundraiser have a stand promoting our lottery in your canteen, staff area or reception. • Buying lottery e-vouchers for your staff incentives, rewards or Christmas gifts. • Letting staff pay for their lottery subscriptions through your payroll for Play (similar to payroll giving). • Sponsoring our Christmas Seasonal Superdraw.
£1
a week!
Call our Lottery Fundraiser, Kelly Gerrard, on 01909 517 365 to find out more.
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Mia’s story Mia was a happy, bubbly nine-year-old who was always on the go. In August 2018 she was diagnosed with a rare condition called hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), where the body reacts aggressively to an infection, and she passed away eight days later. Her mum, Dawn, shares her story: “When Mia first started feeling poorly we thought it was just a virus, but she just kept getting worse. She wasn’t eating or drinking, and spent most of her time asleep. She was taken to hospital on the Thursday, which is when they found out she had HLH.” Mia was started on a course of chemotherapy and steroids, which came with a lot of side effects. Dawn said, “I had to explain to Mia that she would lose her long hair. The doctors also told us the treatment could make her infertile, but we knew that because HLH was so aggressive, this could be her only chance. “On Sunday she started refusing to let the nurses give her injections, which was really unlike her. The consultant told us that the HLH could be affecting her brain, and over the next week it attacked her liver, kidneys, and her lungs. On Thursday 6th September the doctors told me it had begun to affect her brain stem and there was nothing more they could do. Mia passed away the next day, and that’s when the nurses told us about Bluebell Wood. We brought her here on the Saturday and spent five days together in the Forget-Me-Not suite. “The care team couldn’t do enough for us when we arrived. They gave us space to be alone, but we knew they were there if we needed anything. We spent what would have been Mia’s 10th birthday at the hospice and it helped being there with all our friends and family around us. Coming to Bluebell Wood gave us the time to come to terms with losing Mia, without having to think about all the big decisions we needed to make straight away. “Now I raise funds for Bluebell Wood in Mia’s memory. In just eight days, everything changed so rapidly for Mia, and our whole family. Staying at the hospice after she passed away was so important for all of us. The support they offered was priceless, so I just want to raise as much money as I can for this incredible charity.”
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01909 517 367
corporateteam@bluebellwood.org
www.bluebellwood.org
bluebell wood in numbers
Every day we need to raise £11,000 to keep the hospice open.
We supported 302 families in 2017/2018. Last year we hummed, plucked, and rattled along in 339 music therapy sessions.
£115 could pay for a counselling session for a bereaved parent.
We offered 23,976 hours of respite care to families last year.
wear it purple th on 28 June Whether you dress in lilac, lavender, or magenta, why not swap your office ‘Dress Down Day’ for our ‘Wear it Purple Day’ and encourage your team to take off their ties and donate £1 to come to work dressed all in purple? You could even give a prize to the person with the most inventive outfit, and share your favourite plum coloured pictures with us on Facebook using ‘#WearItPurple’.
Testimonials Martin Dalby, CEO at Center Parcs “It has been an absolute pleasure to work with Bluebell Wood over the last two and a half years. Our organisations both believe in the importance of quality family time and for the families the Bluebell Wood team support, time is much shorter. From inspiring our teams to think of new ways we can work together and helping out with fundraising events to getting the Head Office and Sherwood Forest team involved in hospice events and activities, the team have embraced us from day one. “We have had national partnerships before but having the local aspect, with each of our locations working with their local Together for Short Lives hospice, our teams can see the instant impact their fundraising and volunteering work is having. For us, this is not just a partnership but a friendship and we look forward to this relationship continuing to go from strength to strength.”
Emma de Sousa, Managing Director UK & Senior Vice President Marketing EMEA at Insight “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Bluebell Wood for the third year running. From volunteering at the hospice with tasks including painting and gardening, to taking on the longest zip wire in Europe and the National Three Peaks, our teammates have helped raise over £100,000 for the charity. “In 2018, Insight completed a grand total of 360 volunteering days – that’s almost one for every day of the year, and a number of our teammates were inspired to continue to help the charity in their personal time. We look forward to raising awareness, engaging in more fundraising activities and having lots of fun together in 2019 for a very worthy cause.”
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01909 517 367
corporateteam@bluebellwood.org
www.bluebellwood.org
Over the years we’ve worked with some incredible organisations, who have gone above and beyond to raise funds, share their expertise, and spread our key messages. We’d like to share just a few testimonials from Center Parcs, Insight, and ITI about our relationship, and how we’ve supported their fantastic efforts.
Sharon Richardson, Group Finance Manager, The Templand Group “The
Templand Group of companies including ITI Network Services Ltd, ITI Electrical Services Ltd and Newline Communications Ltd are supporting Bluebell Wood to help keep this vital service available to the children and their families. We’ve pledged to raise as much as possible through fun events (and the odd event that wasn’t quite so fun - our Directors’ Waxathon… Ouch!). Along with the Waxathon our teams have taken part in a London to Paris Cycle challenge, bag collections, scratchcards and Christmas jumper days raising over £17,000. In May we will be taking on the Yorkshire 3 Peaks 12 hour Walk with a future challenge planned to climb Kilimanjaro. All these events have been great for our team building and even better for Bluebell Wood who we have supported as our charity of the year for 2 years. One visit to Bluebell Wood to see the amazing work their team does for the children gave us the focus we needed to motivate us to raise as much as possible. I would without hesitation encourage your business to support this worthwhile organisation and perhaps make them YOUR charity of the year.”
01909 517 367
corporateteam@bluebellwood.org
www.bluebellwood.org
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Trusts and grants Does your company have a charitable trust, grant or foundation? Your support could play a huge role in helping us fund one of our exciting projects, as well as to maintain our equipment and services. Our team will help you find the right project to meet your trusts’ objectives, provide you with updates, reports, and organise a visit to the hospice to see how your support is making a difference. Swirling galaxies and summer skies are now all part of the overhead experience for families at the hospice, thanks to our colourful ceiling tiles, which were funded by a grant of £7,461 from Eaton Production. Natalia Bird, HR Manager, Eaton Production, said: “The ceiling tiles really brighten the hospice and lighten your mood when they shine down on you. We couldn’t imagine how good they would look until we saw them all lit up in the hospice.” If you have links with a trust, grant or foundation, we’d love to hear from you. Please contact Julie Booth on julie.booth@bluebellwood.org.
Gifts in kind Gifts in Kind are a valuable way to support Bluebell Wood, while helping you achieve your company’s social responsibility objectives. Donating products or services means we can save resources and spend more money on care. This could include donating: • End of line stock which we can sell in our charity shops or on Ebay • Toiletries which our families can use during short breaks at the hospice • Raffle or auction prizes for one of our fundraising events • Pro-bono support, such as IT expertise or professional advice.
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01909 517 367
corporateteam@bluebellwood.org
www.bluebellwood.org
join our 365 business club Becoming a member of our 365 Business Club is a great way to raise your company profile and show your customers and staff that you’re committed to your corporate social responsibility objectives. Membership costs just £1 a day and is open to local, regional, and national organisations. As a member, you’ll be pledging your support for families during the toughest of times; just one membership could pay for nine bereaved families to have a counselling session. There are so many benefits of joining, including: • Invitations to our networking events, where you can have the chance to forge strong partnerships beneficial to your business • A unique way to meet your corporate social responsibility • Exposure on our social media channels and through PR, including membership on our 365 Facebook page • Fundraising resources to engage your employees • Your business logo on our corporate and Business Club webpages • Use of our 365 Business Club logo on your website, emails and print • Priority access to all Bluebell Wood events and sponsorship opportunities • A framed certificate of membership • A fantastic way to maximise your marketing budget • A dedicated Corporate Account Manager to make sure our partnership meets your business objectives.
Laurence Abel, Shepherd Distribution Services’ Managing Director, said: “We are so proud to be part of Bluebell Wood’s 365 Business Club. It means so much to everyone in our team to be able to give back to such an important cause, and it’s a fantastic opportunity to network and collaborate with other local businesses too.” 01909 517 367
corporateteam@bluebellwood.org
www.bluebellwood.org
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volunteering Corporate volunteering is a really simple way for your company to give something back to the local community, whilst boosting staff engagement and team building. We offer businesses the chance to volunteer at our hospice for half a day or longer, where your employees can develop their skills and work as a team, knowing that they’re making a real difference to our children and families. Whether they’re a dab hand with a paint brush or an impressive organiser, there are lots of different ways your staff can share their skills and enthusiasm to keep our hospice running smoothly. They could help us maintain our beautiful gardens, get stuck in with admin, marshall at an event, sort and steam in one of our shops, or support our Care Team at a family fun day, the list is endless. A team from Insight recently spent one of their volunteering days organising our merchandise store cupboard. Neil Goodwin, Enterprise Inside Sales Associate Team Leader at Insight, said, “We can’t thank Bluebell Wood enough for letting us into their wonderful world. The team thoroughly enjoyed the day, and it was a great for us to give the hospice some of our time. The work that takes place there is absolutely amazing and there is no wonder staff at Bluebell Wood feel such a sense of pride and get that rewarding feeling in what you do on a daily basis.” However you choose to give your time, you’ll be inspiring others and helping us support families during the toughest of times. For advice on how to develop your volunteering strategy to include Bluebell Wood, please contact our Corporate Volunteer Co-ordinator, Gemma Robinson, on 01909 508 106 or email gemma.robinson@bluebellwood.org.
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01909 517 367
corporateteam@bluebellwood.org
www.bluebellwood.org
Bluebell means business If you’d like to spice up your volunteering days with some healthy competition, why not take part in our brand new shops challenge - Bluebell means Business? Your business will enter teams to take over a selection of our shops for an agreed day to raise much needed funds for the hospice, while competing against each other to see which team has the biggest increase in takings the same day in the previous week. Your staff will be tasked with putting their retail, planning, marketing and selling skills to good use to generate extra stock for the shop ahead of the takeover day. Your teams should also encourage colleagues, friends and family to donate unwanted clothing, jewellery bric-a-brac etc. to be sold to customers. Teams can also sell items they have collected online prior to their day in the shop, which they can add to their total. This scheme is brand new to our corporate partnerships package. If your company would like to get involved please contact Rachael Dawes on 01909 517 367 or email rachael.dawes@bluebellwood.org as soon as possible to secure your ‘Bluebell means Business’ day today.
01909 517 367
corporateteam@bluebellwood.org
www.bluebellwood.org
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introducing burrows motor company This booklet is proudly sponsored by Burrows Motor Company, South Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire’s main Toyota dealer as well as proudly representing Kia and Mazda dealerships across the region. Adam Hughes, Local Business Development Manager at Burrows Motor Company, said: “We’re well known for offering outstanding customer service and a customer first focus. Our expert team advise customers of the most efficient way to purchase or hire a vehicle with facilities for outright purchase, personal contract purchase, hire purchase, contract hire and leasing options.” Burrows Motor Company have loaned the hospice a Toyota AYGO since June 2018 and have extended this loan for another 12 months, this time offering us a Toyota C-HR. Adam added, “We’re really happy to loan our Toyota to such a well-loved and valued local charity. We know that Bluebell Wood relies on fundraising for 90% of its annual costs, so we’re pleased to do what we can to help those funds go even further.” For further details of how Burrows can help your businesses fleet, whether you run 1 or 1000 vehicles, contact Burrows Motor Company via Bluebell Wood and for every vehicle you purchase from the Burrows Business Centre they will donate an additional £100 to the hospice.
The Bluebell Wood pool car has helped us meet supporters, visit families, and get to events. All while raising much needed awareness for the hospice too. 15
01909 517 367
corporateteam@bluebellwood.org
www.bluebellwood.org
bag it for bluebell Hosting a ‘Bag it for Bluebell’ day in the workplace is a fun fast way for your staff to have a clear out and support the hospice at the same time. We’ll give your company marketing materials and collection bags so you can organise a day, and at a time that suits you. Once your team have donated their items, our van drivers can collect the bags direct from your workplace. We sort through each bag of items and distribute these to our shops and Ebay team. Each bag is worth an average of £15, which really does make all the difference to the families we support. One of our corporate partners, Greencore, has been supporting families since before the hospice even opened. As part of their fantastic fundraising, the company holds regular Bag it for Bluebell days, and have donated over 2200 bags in that time. Michael Evans, Group Communications Director at Greencore, said: “Greencore operates two large manufacturing facilities as well as a corporate office local to Bluebell Wood and has supported this fantastic charity for many years. We are pleased that our people have been so supportive of the Bag it for Bluebell initiative, helping raise £35,000 through the years. We look forward to our continued relationship with Bluebell Wood for many years to come.”
In the past 12 months our corporate partners have donated 4,404 bags to Bluebell Wood - that’s worth almost £66,060, which will make a huge difference to families. 01909 517 367
corporateteam@bluebellwood.org
www.bluebellwood.org
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hundred quid quest Everybody knows money doesn’t grow on trees...or does it? Here at Bluebell Wood, we beg to differ. We’ll give your company a seed fund of £100 and challenge your team to use all of your skills to turn it into as much cash as possible in just six months! You can choose any six month period between 1st April 2019 to 31st March 2020 to transform your £100, so as long as it’s within the law and good manners, you can be as creative as you like with your fundraising! It’s an amazing way to support local families during incredibly tough times, and a fantastic team building exercise too! If you’d like to battle it out with other businesses for the chance to be crowned the champion of The Hundred Quid Quest, please get in touch.
£
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01909 517 367
10 notes 6 months 1 good cause
corporateteam@bluebellwood.org
www.bluebellwood.org
Fundraising ideas Fundraising for Bluebell Wood is a great way to motivate your staff, encourage creative thinking, and help communication within your organisation. There are so many fun ways your company can support us - here are just a few ideas to get the whole workplace involved: • Sweepstake - can your team use their psychic powers to guess the winner of The Great British Bake Off, or the weight of Steve in Marketing’s baby? Set up an office sweepstake, and split the entry donations between Bluebell Wood and the winner. • Crown a chocolate champion - why not play our Chocolate Explosion Name and Claim game for just £1 per square (with the entry fees donated to Bluebell Wood) and give your team the chance to win a tasty treat? • Get competitive - organise a football tournament, board games evening or quiz night with teams of your colleagues, friends, or even rival companies, and charge an entry fee for each person taking part. • Staff Got Talent! Do you know someone with a hidden talent? Why not organise a talent show and let your staff show off to the rest of the team? Staff could donate £1 to vote for the act they like the best. • Ouch! Find out who the bravest members of your team are by organising a leg waxing in exchange for donations.
Fundraising top tips:
1. Get creative - discuss your fundraising ideas with your Corporate Account Manager to see how we can help you make them a reality. 2. Shout about it - get friends, family and customers involved and share your event or fundraiser on social media. 3. Tell a story - download our fundraising materials and tell people how their support will make a difference to local families. 01909 517 367
corporateteam@bluebellwood.org
www.bluebellwood.org
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other ways to give Christmas jumper day There’s no better way to spread some Christmas cheer in the office than by taking part in our annual Christmas Jumper Day. Simply ask your employees to wear their silliest sweaters and donate £1 to Bluebell Wood. You could even hold a competition to see who’s jumper is the best (or worst!). Best of all you can hold a Christmas Jumper Day anytime, so you can get festive whenever it suits you. After your festive fundraising make sure you share your photos with us on social media so we can thank you for your support, and help promote your company to our audiences.
wishlist
If you fancy buying our children and families something that they can use during their short breaks at Bluebell Wood, why not take a look at our Amazon wishlist? Visit www.bluebellwood.org/wishlist to browse our lists of toys, games, books, and more, and choose an item to donate. It’s perfect if you want to give families something special at Christmas. Don’t forget to leave details so we can thank you for your generosity.
an egg-stra special easter gift Many children at Bluebell Wood can’t eat chocolate so at Easter we ask supporters to give an egg-stra special gift, by making a donation to the hospice. Encouraging your staff and customers to donate is a great way to deliver on your social responsibility objectives, while helping us create memories for local families.
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01909 517 367
corporateteam@bluebellwood.org
www.bluebellwood.org