Let’s be honest: fundraising is tough. We should know; we’re an independent charity, and we’ve been doing it for over 20 years.
We receive about 75% of our income from fees paid by local authorities for our specialist services – but in many cases, these fees have had no uplift in several years. Consequently, to keep providing a great service to local brain injury survivors – and to continue developing as an organisation – Headway East London runs at a deficit and has to raise a proportion of its income through fundraising.
This year our fundraising target is just over £300,0000.
We know. Quite a big number. Some of that will come from trusts & foundations or from corporate donations, but £63,000 needs to come from our community – from people like you, who value our work and want to help out people who are disadvantaged.
We mean people who run, cycle, swim and skydive for us. People who do car boot sales, or bake sales or a clothes swap. People who organise a dress down day at work, or host a charity dinner at their house, or a pub quiz. There are literally THOUSANDS of ways you can support us – some require lots of effort but some barely at all.
Introducing: The Headway Pledge
£63,000 sounds like a daunting number – but if we all take a slice of the target then it starts to break down into much more manageable chunks. That’s how we dreamt up the Headway pledge: we’re asking you to make one pledge to us over the next year, in the hope that our combined efforts will ensure stability for Headway East London and a brighter future for the hundreds of local people we support.
We’ve got 3 levels – easy, medium and dedicated – and lots of ideas for them.
An easy pledge might be to come along to at least two of our events this year: for example head to our Print Fest art sale this week and one of our Headway Eats supper clubs and you’re done! You could set up a birthday fundraiser for us on Facebook, or source us a great raffle prize.
Medium pledges might require a bit more effort: you could sign up for a sponsored challenge, or recruit a friend to do one for us! Maybe you work at a restaurant which could donate £1 from every table bill for a month? You might want to encourage your work to get involved, or another group you belong to…
And for all you daredevils we have the red pledges. These are for the skydivers, the Kilimanjaro climbers, the people who host entire fundraising events for us or can bring in a big connection or donation for Headway.
We figured charity starts at home, so we’re kicking off the pledges by introducing you to some staff who have already gotten into the fundraising spirit….
Over the next year, Sean, our Deputy Director of Services will be taking on as many sponsored cycles as he can. Having already conquered three races, he’s now looking ahead to take on the 145km Cycling World Championships this September!
“I’ll be flat out cycling all over the place this year (100km through the night round London; 161km on L’etape London;135km (with 4,500 meter of climbing) on a mountain stage of the Tour De France and 145km at the Cycling World championships in Yorkshire). Basically I’ll have legs like tree trunks come September! Truthfully, I’m doing it because I love it, but I’m also trying and raise a few quid for Headway East London so that they can continue to support survivors and carers who access much needed services.”
To support Sean’s incredible feat, visit his sponsor page here.
Also taking on their own personal pledges are staff members Emily and Alex & member Freddy. Emily and Alex both work in the art studio at Headway and figured a good way to support fundraising would be to host a print sale at the studio, showcasing and selling all of the work that we’ve been making in collaborative workshops over the past few years (if you haven’t us talk about Print Fest – check it here!).
Meanwhile, member Freddy has set himself the monumental task of doing a skydive with a group of other members & friends! When asking him “WHY?” he said:
“I wanted a challenge after my brain injury. I chose sky diving because I used to watch people on Youtube and I was fascinated. So I decided to take on the challenge and believe in myself.”
Want to make the Headway pledge and help us reach our target for the next year? Get in touch by emailing us on support-us@headwayeastlondon.org
