Posts Tagged ‘fundraising’

Recently, some of the great people got together at Sky Bet and auctioned off their hand made Christmas decorations – Princess Leia and Darth Vader sock snowmen – to raise money for the Humanist Action Group’s homeless programme. Brilliant idea!

While listening to the radio this morning, I heard that some councils are planning to place restrictions on fundraisers. I’m very much in favour of this, so I write to my local councillor to voice my support.

Dear Elizabeth,

I am a resident living in your ward. As you may have heard, several city councils have proposed restrictions on “chuggers” raising money for charities on the street. I am writing to you to voice my support for similar restrictions in Leeds.

I walk though town on a regular basis and often feel like I am “running the gauntlet” as I walk up and down Briggate or Lands Lane only to have people madly waving their arms at me and block my path.

Worse still, as a trustee of a local charity based here in Leeds, I am familiar with the industry and know that these people are almost always professional fund raisers that are primarily funding their own salaries, and taking money away from local charitable causes. This to me seems dishonest, as when people give to charity, they expect that money to actually end up in the charities pocket.

Therefore, given they provide benefit to neither charities nor residents, I would strongly support any move to reduce this nuisance.

Yours sincerely,
Chris Worfolk

I would encourage you all to do the same.

Here at the Chris Worfolk Foundation, we’re really excited about the directions in which the charity is moving. Whether it is our widely success Humanist Community that the BBC recently covered or the national splash we’re making with our Enquiry Conference.

Our trustees are busy making a difference too whether it’s Gijsbert who has spent all day talking to the Yorkshire Post, myself speaking out against Catholic Care on BBC Radio last week or Richard being one of the first people to volunteer their time on to speakers networks, we’re out there trying to make a difference.

Of course the focus of our work is promoting humanism but rather making a direct difference in the communities we work with. This can be seen in the groups we’re involved with such as the Humanist Community and the Humanist Action Group. We’re a doing organisation, not a talking organisation. We want to enable people to get stuck in there and make a measurable difference.

I’m really proud of how everyone involved in the project is pulling together and I really believe that the foundation has a bright future ahead of it. As such I am announcing today that I am doubling my personal monthly donation to the foundation to continue it’s good work.

If, like me, you feel that support for humanists, atheists or whatever non-believers choose to label themselves as then now is the time to act and support our good work. Become a supporter and help us continue or valuable work that makes a direct difference to local communities.

Chris

This evening A-Soc held a fundraiser for Amnesty International. It was reasonably successful – we got around 30 people there and raised over £100, the winning idea of the night being the raffle to which Jonni had secured us some amazing prizes – including tickets to the Four Nations final which I walked away with! I understand it is some kind of sporting event, I will ask the guys at work to explain more tomorrow.