WOLO NEWS
What have Wolo been up to over the last few months?
The money that many of you have so kindly helped raise to date, is helping lots of local families affected by cancer.
During Covid-19 we have adapted our services inline with government restrictions, and have been working with local businesses to deliver isolation packages containing essential food items, fresh food, toys and activity packs to help keep children amused during the shielding/isolation process.
We were delighted with the response from the local community when we asked for donations - we are still receiving items which are perfect, and will really help to keep the children occupied. Whilst some of the weekly services we pay for have had to stop due to social distancing rules, I’m pleased to say that the therapy sessions we fund are now happening remotely so they are able to continue as normal - which has been a god send to many of the families we support.
The pandemic has also seen a sharp increase in the number of families we are supporting - an increase of 33% which is fantastic, as it means the word is getting out there about what we do, and they are no longer going without support - we can now be there to help them through their cancer journeys.
Sadly, a couple of days ago we lost a very special lady that we have been supporting. We will continue to do all we can to help her husband and two young children, during this incredibly sad time. Wolo pledge to support families through their cancer journeys and beyond, so we will continue to help them for the foreseeable future.
New JustGiving page
Being able to receive Gift Aid donations means we have now finally been able to set up our very own landing page on JustGiving! Its all feeling very professional now! Yay!
So from this point onwards, any online fundraising pages will need to be set up via the attached link please. Any existing fundraising pages can continue as they are (especially if the event has been postponed - we are still waiting to hear any new updates regarding the skydive!), but we will be deleting our own main fundraising page from crowdfunding in order to start the new one. Annoyingly we are unable to transfer the total across so we will be starting from scratch again, but hey ho! It’s worth it! We are also now able to accept monthly donations, so if you can spare a small amount each month, we’d be very grateful. https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/Wolofoundation
Gift Aid
Great news, we have now been approved for Gift Aid! This means that we are now able to claim 25% more for every donation received if donated by an eligible tax-payer. This is HUGE!
Facebook Fundraisers
You may have seen that we are now able to accept Facebook donations. These are also able to have GiftAid added to them. These are most often used to fundraise for a charity on an occasion such as a birthday - it’s all done through Facebook itself so there’s no third party site involved. We only received approval for this 2 weeks ago, and it has already raised £1500 for us - which is absolutely amazing - and shows what an effective fundraising tool it is! If you have a special event coming up, please consider choosing a Facebook fundraiser for us, it could make a real difference.
Fundraising Regulator
We are delighted to have joined the Fundraising Regulator which reflects our commitment to good fundraising practice. It ensures our compliance with the law, gives donors peace of mind and gives us access to fundraising support. It also ensures we adhere to the Code of Fundraising Practice - a set of strict guidelines on best fundraising practice. You will see their logo on our website and any relevant fundraising material from now on.
Grants
We have recently received a £500 grant from Sussex Police thanks to Lizzie Pullen and the netball tournament she had been busy organising for May.
Unfortunately like many events, this will now be postponed - we will keep you updated with the new date as and when its arranged. Thank you Lizzie for helping us to get that - it will be put to great use.
We have applied for a grant from the Sussex Community Foundation Sussex Crisis Fund to help cover the cost of the Isolation hampers we are organising for the families we are supporting. We have had to carefully budget due to the current situation and currently, we have committed to deliver these fortnightly, but if the application is successful (we will find out in 3 weeks) then we will be able to increase the frequency to weekly, which will be a great help. Fingers crossed - we will keep you posted!
Online Shopping
EasyFundraising & Amazon Smile
You may have seen that we have signed up to a couple of online fundraising sites - Amazon Smile & Easy Fundraising. Did you know that you can fundraise for us at no extra cost to yourselves when shopping online through portals like these? You can help us by supporting us when you shop online.
Easy Fundraising
If you shop online, you can raise FREE donations for Wolo Foundation using Easy Fundraising. Over 4,000 online retailers including John Lewis, Argos, Uswitch, eBay and M&S are ready to give us a free donation every time you shop online. Plus, once you’ve signed up and raised £5 in donations, #easyfundraising will give us an extra £5 bonus donation! You can shop for the garden, a new electrical appliance, some new exercise gear or a new outfit as well as purchase insurances, switch utilities, or order a takeaway - anything!
Please sign up using the attached link to support us (it’s FREE and only takes a couple of minutes!): https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk
Once you’ve signed up, you can also download the App on your phone for access at the touch of a button. https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/easyfundraising-app/
Amazon Smile
Next up, lets get a show of hands for who shops on Amazon?! If you’re anything like us, you will be on first name terms with the couriers!
If you use the link below and select Wolo Foundation as your cause, every time you shop with them via Amazon Smile, a proportion of the sale will convert into a donation to us! #AmazonSmile https://smile.amazon.co.uk/
Fundraising events
Many of our fundraising events are having to be postponed due to the current pandemic. However, we have a few virtual events going on at the moment -
Steph’s son, Lewis Woodward (Year 7) is a star, and has set up a virtual 5k for all ages - for £2.50 you can Run, walk, cycle, scoot, skip or even skate 5K (following Government guidelines on exercise), email a screenshot of your activity (you can use Garmin, Fitbit, Strava, Map My Run/Ride etc to log it) and you’ll get a medal! For more info please visit: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/lewis-woodwardwolo5k
The 2.6 challenge started on Sunday and lasts for a week. It’s a national incentive to help the Charity sector during Covid-19. The London Marathon was supposed to be last Sunday and is 26 miles, so they used these numbers to create the 2.6 challenge. You could run up and down the stairs 26 times, skip for 26 minutes non-stop, challenge yourself to eat 26 items within a set amount of times, do 26 star jumps, put 26 layers of clothing on, hula hoop for 26 minutes or ‘hide’ 26 times for hide and seek (thanks to Casper for that idea!)! See event link for more details! https://facebook.com/events/s/wolo-foundation
We will keep you updated with any new events as they are organised.
Trustees, corporate sponsors & ambassadors
We are on the look out for new trustees, corporate sponsors and ambassadors - if you are interested in becoming more involved with Wolo, please do get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.
Finally...
As time moves on, we are finding ways of adapting the charity to the current situation, so we are continually evolving - its a steep learning curve for us all! If you have any suggestions, please do let us know!
Thank you all so much for your continued support. It means so much to us and makes a huge difference to the families we are supporting.
Much love
Justin & Fler xx