In this blog, Laura Thomson tells us all about our fundraising efforts in 2012 and how much you have helped us to keep our great conservation work going.
2012 has been a massive year for community fundraising at RSPB Northern Ireland. It’s the first year we’ve tried fundraising in this way and we’ve come a long way already, largely thanks to our fantastic team of fundraising volunteers who make the magic happen! This festive season we have ramped up our fundraising activities to raise the money that will give local conservation projects the best possible Christmas present – cheesy but true! Here in the office we’ve been getting together to see how we can step up to save nature and have a good laugh in the process.
First up we held a bucket collection at Tesco Castlereagh Road. Our amazing team of volunteers had a great day meeting staff and customers from their local Tesco store and raised a terrific £374.26 from just a few hours volunteering! Each volunteer was able to give us 2 hours of their time on a Saturday morning and in doing so this amazing amount was raised – sure what else would you be doing on a Saturday?!
Not wanting to be an office of ‘Do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do-ers’ we decided that we should host our own event with the big dream that one day it could go global... Double Denim Day was born! This was the brainchild of our Policy Advocacy Officer, Colum who, let’s face it, had been itching to blow the cobwebs off the vast amount of denim in his wardrobe for a while now. The idea was a hit among our team and one day at the end of November we came to work en masse like a bunch of throw backs to the 80s. In the afternoon we all gathered in the kitchen for a celebration of fashion hits (and near misses!) and some buns and the best outfit won a prize. We each donated £2 to RSPB and managed to raise £39 – not bad for our first attempt!
We soon became a bit more adventurous and decided to take our ideas to water. Teaming up with our friends at the NI Marine Task Force and Alive Surf School, 19 intrepid adventurers headed to Portrush on 1 December to take on the Atlantic Ocean! We called the event our first ever ‘Festive Freeze’ where brave participants wriggled into their wetsuits before hitting the waves for a 2 hour surf lesson. The event was followed by mulled wine, hot chocolate and mince pies, which I’m told was just the ticket to raise everyone’s body temperatures after their day at sea! All in all we had a great day and raised £252.50 which will go to help saving nature right here in Northern Ireland.
We rounded off the year with our first ever Christmas Craft Fair right here at our NIHQ, Belvoir Park Forest. Opened by the Deputy Mayor of Castlereagh we were delighted to welcome members of the community who were all eager to snap up some stocking fillers from our independent retailers. Thanks to the support and generosity of those who came along to our fair we were able to raise a fantastic £767.07 which will bring us another step closer to achieving our conservation and education goals!
As we look forward to 2013 it’s got us thinking – what resolutions can we make ahead of the New Year that will help to save nature in Northern Ireland? As a charity we are only able to achieve our goals thanks to the support of people like you. All of our reserves are free to visit but unfortunately they aren’t free to run. Each year we connect up to 17,000 children and young people with the nature on their doorstep and help them to recognise that they can be the positive change for nature in Northern Ireland. Will you help us reach even more young people in 2013?
Our message is simple: we need you to step up and help us save nature.
You don’t need to organise a massive event or raise thousands of pounds. As the saying goes, every little helps and pennies add up to make pounds. As you make your New Year’s Resolutions please spare a thought for RSPB Northern Ireland and the difference you could make to our work by fundraising for us. We desperately need fundraising volunteers to help us with things like bag packs, coffee mornings, supermarket collections, event planning and more. If you have as little as two hours spare a month or as much as week we have a volunteer role to suit you!
If you would like to support our fundraising appeals or want to volunteer to help us reach our fundraising targets please contact me on 028 9049 1547 or email laura.thomson@rspb.org.uk
Finally, a big thank you to everyone who has supported RSPB Northern Ireland this year! Whether you raised funds, became a member or volunteered, we can’t wait to work with you all again next year. Here’s to reaching for the stars in 2013!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from RSPB Northern Ireland.