More philanthropic opportunities for businesses

Can you help a local school? Hop on your bike for charity? Donate towards one of the Bucks Business First team’s marathon exploits?

Featured opportunities:

  • Can you sponsor a local school’s breakfast club?
  • Citizen Advice Chiltern calls for community support as demand for advice increases
  • Rupert Waters is running a marathon – and you can help him raise money!
  • Make a real difference at this year’s Mix96 Tour De Vale Charity Bike Ride
  • Sponsorship required for Aylesbury Hindu Temple Trust badminton event

Can you sponsor a local school’s breakfast club?

A school in High Wycombe is hunting for a new sponsor to rescue its breakfast club – which provides a vital early-morning service for dozens of pupils.

The club at The Highcrest Academy has been running for a number of years but looked set to fold due to the running costs. It was saved almost two years ago when a local motor company stepped in to provide around £570 per year to fund it. That sponsorship deal has now come to an end, and Highcrest is urgently seeking a replacement.

Joe Clarke, Assistant Headteacher, explained: “We were enormously grateful to our last sponsors for all they did for us and for continuing to support us for so long. This is an extracurricular activity so it’s not one that can come out of normal school funding. Highcrest arranges it all, but has to pay for two staff and supply all the food which costs a considerable amount of money. We can meet some of the cost, namely the staff, but unfortunately, it may not be able to continue unless we can find another source of funding to support the provision of the food.”

Mr Clarke added:  “Breakfast is said to be the most important meal of the day and, yet, for whatever reason students don’t always have time to grab something to eat before they leave for school. We would really appreciate it if another business came forward to support our students. We would ensure in return that this sponsorship was advertised throughout our school community.”

If your business is interested in supporting the club, please call Caroline Hardaker on 01494 529866. For more on The Highcrest Academy, go to www.highcrestacademy.org.uk.

Citizen Advice Chiltern calls for community support as demand for advice increases

When people come to Citizens Advice Chiltern for help – they are looking for someone they can trust and who is on their side. A local charity, Citizens Advice Chiltern helps over 5,000 people a year in the Chilterns community to tackle problems of debt and money management, high energy bills, benefits, housing, employment law and consumer affairs. From April 2019, it will provide additional support to people applying for Universal Credit, in line with the national roll-out of the benefits scheme.

Trends show that Citizens Advice Chiltern is increasingly supporting women, younger people who are in debt and struggling to pay basic bills due to housing costs, people in low-quality and insecure employment whose employment rights aren’t being upheld, people with health issues due to housing problems, and people who are struggling to claim benefits support.

Emma Burgham, Citizens Advice Chiltern’s Chief Officer, said: “People often think we are a national government service but actually we’re a local charity. We have 70 volunteers who, along with a staff team, work hard to support anyone who comes forward looking for help or advice. We’re affiliated to the national Citizens Advice network but exist through local fundraising.

“The Chiltern community is an incredibly generous one. With demand for our services increasing, there has never been more need for the Chiltern community to support its local Citizens Advice service.”

To donate to support the work of Citizens Advice Chiltern, go to https://www.chilterncab.org.uk/ways-to-donate. For advice, call 01494 545991.

Rupert Waters is running a marathon – and you can help him raise money!

You may know him as the Head of Economic Research at Buckinghamshire Thames Valley LEP, but look past the spreadsheets to see the runner in him and help him raise money for the MS Society!

Rupert is running the London Marathon this year and is doing so in aid of the MS Society, the UK’s largest organisation dedicated to supporting the 100,000 people, their families and carers affected by multiple sclerosis (MS). MS is the most common neurological disorder among young adults and is usually diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 45. The focus of the Society is to provide support today, whilst funding vital medical research to find a cure for the future.

Visit Rupert’s fundraising page to help him raise money for a great cause!

Make a real difference at this year’s Mix96 Tour De Vale Charity Bike Ride

Fundraise for us! That’s the call out from WheelPower, the National Charity for Wheelchair Sport, based in Buckinghamshire, with entries for this year’s Mix96 Tour De Vale Charity Bike Ride open! It comes as a recent survey by WheelPower shows that only 7% of people who took part in the Mix96 Tour De Vale Charity Bike Ride last year raised any sponsorship for the charity by taking part.

Jo Hall, Mix96 Tour De Vale Charity Bike Ride Organiser at WheelPower comments: “Of course, we want as many people as possible to take part and have fun, but we equally want people to remember that it is a Charity-funded event, and WheelPower relies on participants’ sponsorship and donations to continue our work of helping disabled children and adults to take part in sport.”

Last year, the bike ride raised just over £56,000 for WheelPower across 1,556 cyclists. However, the challenge is on to beat this amount in 2019. Previous participant, Ben Potton, from Leighton Buzzard, aged 10 years old, who took part in the bike ride last year comments, ‘This was my first organised cycle event, and I enjoyed being part of it. It was a great sense of achievement when I crossed the finish line!’.

Funds from the Mix96 Tour De Vale Bike Ride have help support some of WheelPower’s biggest accessible sporting events throughout each year such as the Inter-Spinal Unit Games, National Junior Games, and Primary & Junior Sports Camps.

Entries can be made online at www.tourdevale.com. To arrange an interview with the Organiser please contact Carolyn Fray, Communications Officer: carolyn.fray@wheelpower.org.uk / 01296 395995.

Sponsorship required for Aylesbury Hindu Temple Trust badminton event

Aylesbury Hindu Temple Trust (AHTT) is a newly established UK-registered charity run by volunteers. One of its aims is to run fun family-based activities while fund-raising at the same time for a permanent space to serve the wider community. They will be kicking off their fund-raising efforts to build a community space by hosting a fun badminton tournament that is open to all. Free entry for all spectators!

With your help, they intend to deliver this by initiating various programmes of activities aimed at enhancing and enriching the lives of the town residents and promoting integration across the wider community in Aylesbury town.

They are currently looking for local businesses to sponsor the event, which is expected to have wide coverage in Aylesbury and across Buckinghamshire. There are four levels of sponsorship available starting at £50, as well further opportunities to sponsor things like shuttlecocks, refreshments and t-shirts.

For sponsorship queries, email funding@aylesburyhindutemple.org. Get more information on the event itself and a breakdown of the sponsorship packages available here.

Business community ambassadors