How you can help Maggie’s £1m fundraising campaign
This year has been an especially important one for Maggie’s, the independent charity providing vital cancer support to the City of London.
2015 saw City A.M. launch a £1m fundraising campaign to help to deliver the charity’s unique programme of support from its new centre, Maggie’s Barts. Located in Smithfield, the new centre is being built on the grounds of Saint Bartholomew’s Hospital and has been designed by renowned architect Steven Holl. Following in the same design principles of Maggie’s existing 18 centres – which include their RIBA Stirling prize-winning centre in Hammersmith – the new site will give emotional and social support to people with cancer, their friends and family.
Announced in June, the partnership between City A.M. and Maggie’s officially launched in September and has already raised over £100,000 for the charity through a variety of giving initiatives and creative fundraising events.
Throughout the summer City A.M. staff formed a team to fundraise and take part in Maggie’s Culture Crawl, the charity’s annual fundraising event. Held in partnership with Open House, and sponsored this year by London Property Company Capco, Maggie’s Culture Crawl is part 15 mile night-walk, part cultural adventure around the Capital.
Over 900 walkers, including the City A.M. team, started at Paternoster Square in the heart of the City, before heading out into the night to enjoy exclusive night time access to iconic London buildings including the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Chelsea Physic Garden, the Victoria and Albert Museum, The Keeper’s House at the Royal Academy of Arts and finishing in Covent Garden’s iconic Market Building.
To mark the Lord Mayor’s City Giving Day, City A.M. proudly supported Maggie’s with cups of tea celebrated all over the City. Maghisgie’s staff handed out free cups of tea, shared information about Maggie’s and collected donations from passers-by in Paternoster Square, while back at the City A.M. offices we held a bake sale and enjoyed a cup of tea with the Lord Mayor, City A.M. co-founder and managing director Lawson Muncaster and Maggie’s chief executive Laura Lee.
In November, with the festive season almost upon us, we announced our 2015 City A.M. Christmas Appeal calling on all of our readers to help us reach our target of raising £1m for the new Maggie’s Centre. For this year’s fundraising drive we’ve joined forces with innovative investment platform VentureFounders to help raise £250,000 for Maggie’s to make the biggest difference possible to people living with cancer, their family and their friends, across London.
“We felt it was the perfect opportunity to offer our platform, our time and our resources in partnership with City A.M.,” said cofounder James Codling. “We will be fully behind the initiative, from encouraging our investors to donate generously, as well as getting our team involved directly with fundraising and volunteering.”
Laura Lee, chief executive at Maggies, says, “I’d like to say a huge thank you to City A.M. for their enthusiasm and commitment to Maggie’s Barts and their amazing fundraising efforts so far to help us to bring a new Maggie’s Centre to the City. From night walks, to bake sales, from corporate events to individual donations the City has already shown enormous support for Maggie’s Barts, support we hope will continue to grow in the lead-up to Christmas and throughout 2016.
“I’d like to extend special thanks to those within the City who have supported us to date including HSBC, VentureFounders, Savills, Bloomberg Tradebook and the Surface Design Show. Your support brings us one step closer to making the biggest difference possible to people affected by cancer across the City and beyond.”
HOW THE £1M WILL SUPPORT PEOPLE WITH CANCER
The £1m that City A.M. has committed to raising will cover the running costs of Maggie’s Barts in the first two years. This funding is crucial in enabling the Centre staff to provide each person with the support they need, be it psychological support, financial advice, access to information about their diagnosis and treatment or simply to sit quietly with a cup of tea. By helping us to raise this money, you will be helping to support people with cancer, their family and friends across the Capital.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
City A.M. needs your help to raise the money to ensure this vital cancer support, delivered by professionally qualified staff, is available to the City and its seven surrounding boroughs, including some of the most deprived and ethnically diverse communities in London.
MAKE A DONATION TO OUR CHRISTMAS APPEAL
To donate to the City A.M. Christmas Appeal, go to: www.venturefounders.co.uk/maggies. There is a minimum donation of £20. If you would like to donate less than £20, please do by texting MAGG10 £5 to 70070. You will be charted for your donation plus your standard network rate and Maggie’s will receive 100 percent of your donation.’
GET YOUR COMPANY INVOLVED
Companies can support Maggie’s Barts by offering payroll giving, matching employee fundraising or setting up a charity partnership. Through charity partnerships, Maggie’s can provide Cancer in the Workplace workshops, places in challenge events, a wide range of volunteering opportunities at Maggie’s Centres and the opportunity to host private events at their Centres with talks from leading figures in the fields of art, architecture and health.
City A.M. MONEY MAKER AWARD
At this years annual City A.M.Awards we announced a special award category for 2016 to commemorate our pledge to raise £1m for Maggie’s Barts; The Money Maker Award. This award will go to the company that raises the most money for Maggie’s Barts between Thursday 26 November 2015 and 30 September 2016.
Maggie’s and City A.M. will support entrants by providing materials and help to shape fundraising ideas. We also encourage you to share your experience with us on social media using the hashtag #1M4MAGGIES – this could be a blog, video or photos. Our favourite ideas may be profiled in City A.M. throughout the year.
The winning company will be announced at next year’s City A.M.Awards ceremony in November 2016. They will receive an additional prize from City A.M. and have an opportunity to host a celebratory event at the new Maggie’s Barts. All entries will also be invited to a reception at the end of the partnership.
Visit www.maggiescentres.org/cityam for more information and to enter.
SPONSOR A DAY
It costs £2,400 to keep the doors of a Maggie’s Centre open for one day supporting on average 80 people affected by cancer each day. Get together with your friends of colleagues to raise £2,400 and sponsor a day at Maggie’s Barts. To find out more about any of the options above or for more information on supporting the new Maggie’s Centre at Barts, please contact London Development Manager Lizzie Hunt: email lizzie.hunt@maggiescenters.org or call 020 7386 3566.