Chilled-out community
Normally I design and art direct appeals for charities professionally but I also raise money in my neighbourhood through FACE (Furzedown Annual Charity Events) for local charities including St George's Hospital and South London MNDA.
Over the last 7 years we have raised over £45,000 to help local causes, our biggest success has been in opening a chill-out room for young people with cancer in St George's Hospital. This was opened in October 2017 by our local MP Dr Rosena Khan but was only possible thanks to so much local support - from school mufti days to a neighborhood '100 Club' draw, we run popular local events like quiz nights and garden gigs, we also sell Heyland & Whittle products which have been donated to us so 100% raised goes to our charities and we have engaged with local businesses and have recently become charity partners with a popular local pub and got many generous prizes for our yearly raffle, including european holidays.
We have found what is really important is to ask for something tangible, it enables the whole community to get behind us and it is really rewarding to be able to say 'this is what we've achieved' and the Chill-out room is only one example. We provided a defibrillator for The Furzedown Project, a local club for elderly people, we have also provided IT support and sponsored their minibus. We paid for a training course for the volunteers at WASA a swimming club for handicapped children and a first-aid course at the local youthclub.
I have found social media is very useful in engaging businesses and making sure people know who we are and what we do on a local level. Original content and local engagement is very important - this means we're not just pushing our own cause and looking for donations but promoting local businesses, telling people about new pop-ups and restaurants, sharing any free events or news, posting photos or just an amusing story.
Our website is also regularly updated (people like to see photos of themselves) and is from Wix.com, which is an excellent platform, very user-friendly and reasonable cost:
https://www.furzedown-face.org.uk
