We raised £300,000 in 33 hours…thanks to you!
We held our very first ‘Giving Day’ on Tuesday 28th March, a 33 hour fundraising campaign which aimed to raise £300,000 to support the range of services here at the hospice… but there was a little twist….
The campaign, a new concept for our fundraising team to tackle, was a race to unlock a pot of ‘match funding’ that had been pre-pledged by friends of the hospice. This money raised in advance of Giving Day, would be used to match every donation made during the 33 hours, meaning that the amounts people give would be doubled!
A team of 575 ‘Champions’ were recruited to help spread the word. These amazing Hospice supporters each had their own fundraising pages set up, which all went live at 8am on day one of Giving Day. The Champion’s role was to then share their page links far and wide, with friends, family and colleagues, to reach as many people as possible and secure donations towards our overall Giving Day campaign total.
One of the Giving Day Champions was Caroline Dobbin, mum to Honor, an 11 year old girl who has been attending our Children and Young Adults Service since she was 4 years old. Honor has a genetic disease that is so rare it doesn’t have a name. Caroline wanted to be a Champion to thank the hospice for everything they do for them as a family.
Hospice supporter Terry Egdell and his group of lifelong friends, known as ‘Heb’s Posse’ signed up as Giving Day Champions in memory of their friend David Hepburn, who died at St Oswald’s Hospice in 2015 and his daughter Sara, who sadly died shortly after.
Terry and his friends’ page was very busy all day as donations flooded in. As the 5pm deadline on Wednesday 29th March got closer, it was their page that pushed the overall total over the £300,000 target, with just four minutes to spare! Their final total raised towards the campaign was £10,157.
People and businesses from across the North East and beyond got involved with Giving Day and across the 33 hours, 3260 individual donations were made.
As the hospice team nervously watched the totals rise across the 33 hours, members of the team including Chief Executive Steph Edusei, members of the hospice Board of Trustees and management team and clinical staff from the children’s and adult’s services formed an ‘Appreciation Station’ telephoning the Champions to offer encouragement and thanks, as they worked towards reaching their target
Staff from St Oswald’s Hospice Fundraising team dropped in some of the companies who were fundraising, including Mediaworks, Deal Direct Blinds, Thompsons of Prudhoe and Miller Homes, surprising them with sweet treats to keep their energy up. And St Oswald’s Hospice charity shops got in on the action too with staff and volunteers getting inviting customers to get involved in 33 hours of fundraising in store.
By 5pm, donations has reached £300,000 and cheers erupted across the hospice.
Steph Edusei, Chief Executive at St Oswald’s Hospice said:
“I am incredibly proud of how the whole St Oswald’s Hospice team came together to support our first Giving Day. The amount of love and support I witnessed in the donation messages and online was incredible and that is testament to the wonderful work we do here. Add into that the incredible amount raised (which is still going up) and it has been a fantastic experience.”
The total raised stands at over £312,000, which will help our teams to continue to provide expert and specialist care and support care to babies, children, young people and adults with life-limiting conditions, and for their families too.
Huge and heartfelt thank you to everyone who played a part. You are all our Champions and we couldn’t have done this without you.
Donations can still be made to the Giving Day campaign in support of St Oswald’s Hospice until Friday 7th April at www.charityextra.com/stoswaldshospice although the matched funding has now ran out so gifts will no longer be doubled but will still be gratefully received and put to good use.
