Fundraising
We want to help you help us!
Welcome to the fundraising section of our site. Children First Lewisham has already raised over £271,000 in response to the main appeal during the building of Kaleidoscope. The centre opened in November 2006. We now have renewed our fundraising efforts towards meeting our charitable objectives, described elsewhere on this site.
Gift Aid it!
This is a fantastically easy way for you to add to the money you raise! Children First Lewisham can reclaim the tax on all donations through the Gift Aid scheme with no added cost to the donor. Currently we can claim 28p in every £1 - 25p refund on tax you have alreay paid and 3p in the £ extra from Inland Revenue. So for every £200 donation, we could claim an extra £50, and even for a £5 donation we could claim an extra £1.40.
The donor has to be an UK-tax payer and we MUST have their consent and full HOME address details. There are Gift Aid and sponsorship forms below under Fundraising ideas.
If you are sending a cheque in your name to cover several smaller cash donations Children First Lewisham still need the donor’s details for each donation that your cheque covers in order for us to claim back the tax. We can claim Gift Aid back only from personal cheques from UK tax-payers. Company cheques, CAF cheques and cheques from charitable trusts already include the tax benefit.
Donate your time and skills
Children First Lewisham is a small charity which would benefit greatly from your talents and time. Do you have skills in public relations or creating publicity materials (eg posters, leaflets or photography); or do you have administrative or other skills?
Your talents could help us to continue to support the children, young people and families of Lewisham and continue to make Kaleidoscope the centre they need and deserve. If you want to help, please write to Children First Lewisham at the address below.
Fundraising ideas
We’ve created a fundraising pack to help you help us - you can download this by clicking on the document below. The pack contains lots of ideas for fundraising (see also ‘Our A-Z of Fundraising Ideas’ below), a template poster for events, sponsorship forms and the all important legal guidance on fundraising. If you want to find out how to successfully fundraise, this is the best place to start!
We invite you to have fun and join us. We can only provide all that our families need if you help us.
Our A-Z of Fundraising ideas
Here are some ideas to get you started!
Auction of Promises - Try to get people to donate a promise of their time, use of their belongings, or to donate a gift. You can even ask people to donate themselves and auction them as ‘helper for the day’.
Bungee Jump - Sponsor a friend or colleague to take a jump of a lifetime, or better still, do it yourself!
Bring a pound to work day - Simply ask all your colleagues to bring just a pound to work in aid of Children First Lewisham, then collect together the money.
Cricket Match - Have a knockout contest and charge people to join a team. Charge admission to all your spectators and sell refreshments.
Dinner dance - Have a good band and good food and charge a good price. Organise a raffle and/or an auction.
Expert Seminar - Use an expert who is prepared to donate their time to give a talk or performance. Charge admission, have a break to sell refreshments and any related goods that would be of interest to the group.
Fashion Show - Ask a local store to put on a show.
Gladiators - Have a fun day and charge teams to take part in a competition Gladiators-style knockout league.
Halloween Ball - Sell tickets to a fancy dress Halloween Ball.
It’s a Knockout - Challenge your colleagues and others to a friendly ‘It’s a Knockout’ Competition.
Just a Minute - Have a sponsored game show with - no repeating, hesitating or deviating. This could double up as a presentation training exercise!
Karaoke Evening - Ask a local pub to host one for you and charge people to get in or take part.
Lunch Money - Ask all your colleagues to bring in sandwiches for their lunch and donate the money saved.
Masked Ball - Everybody wears a mask of their choice. Have a competition to guess who’s who.
Night in for the charity - Stay in for an evening and donate the money saved to Children First Lewisham.
Online sale - Easier than a car boot, offer items for sale over the intranet with a charity auction.
Pictures & Prints - A time for budding artists to exhibit and sell their work.
Quiz Night - Challenge different departments to a friendly quiz, with prizes for the best team, most inventive answer, wooden spoon etc.
Race Night - Hold a race night.
Sponsored Event - Cycle, marathon or half-marathon, swim, slim, headshave - ask your colleagues and friends to raise sponsorship money for you in a fun way.
Treasure Hunt - Stop the clock! A challenging and fun way to raise money.
University Challenge - Collect together teams who attended the same or nearby universities and hold a challenge to see which university comes top. If you can’t find enough people, have a quiz anyway!
Variety Show - Round up your talented friends and tread the boards.
Who-s Who - Quiz based on facts/ baby or fancy photos of colleagues or friends.
X-files Party - or any other themed evening with fundraising top of the menu of course…
Yuletide - Seasonal Party for charity.
Z - Your own fundraising idea beginning with Z!