By Paul McGill from NICVA
Published on 17 Jan 2008
Raising money for good causes can be great craic and a wonderful way to develop team building in businesses and other organisations. Nominees for the NICVA Link Awards had 101 ways to enjoy themselves in their fundraising. The winners of the final Link Awards will be announced at a gala dinner on 7 February.
Roger Priestly from BT speaking at the Link Regional Awards.
Raising money for good causes can be great craic and a wonderful way to develop team building in businesses and other organisations.
Nominees for the NICVA Link Awards had 101 ways to enjoy themselves in their fundraising, from abseiling to ziplines and including bungee jumps, golf, marathon runs, walks – and even weeding gardens.
For those more interested in adding calories than in losing them, Link partners, whose work was celebrated at two nomination ceremonies, have been running gala balls and barbecues and donating the proceeds of coffee or dinners to a local charity.
Seafood helped one small Northern Ireland charity, Cystic Fibrosis Trust, to raise funds and gain publicity for its work. It teamed up with the Hillsborough International Oyster Festival to benefit from fund-raising opportunities at the festival held each September.
The Trust raised £60,000 over two years and, as a bonus, it got a lot of media coverage for its efforts to help people affected by the disease.
It nominated the Oyster Festival in the Awards, which NICVA has been organising for 21 years to recognise the contribution to good causes by companies, statutory bodies, schools, colleges, clubs and societies. The ‘charity Oscars’ are run in association with BT and supported by the Belfast Telegraph.
Kildress Plumbing Suppliers Ltd in Cookstown was nominated for the first time this year by Action MS, which helps people with multiple sclerosis. It raised £65,000 for a mobile holiday home in Portstewart specially adapted for wheelchair users and moved on to the even more ambitious target of £100,000 for a mobile care centre.
“Time and again we have heard from people living in rural areas of their deep frustration that all services are concentrated in Belfast,” said Ann Walker from Action MS. Fatigue is a big problem for people with MS and travelling can be very tiring and expensive if you are living on a fixed income. The mobile care centre is now bringing the much-needed services to their doorstep.”
Several larger charities, including the British Red Cross, Help the Aged, Childline, the hospices, Disability Action, Young Enterprise, the Integrated Education Fund, the WEA and several cancer charities, also attended the nomination ceremonies to applaud the businesses and other organisations that have supported them during 2007.
The contribution of companies and others to charity goes well beyond money. Adshel, for example, was nominated by Mencap for donating unsold advertising space in bus shelters.
This gave the charity a lot of free publicity eg a sponsored Husky Sled Challenge was fully booked up after only 10 days thanks to advertising the event on the posters.
Trócaire, for example, nominated U105/Ulster Television for sending a reporter to Honduras to highlight the campaign for gender equality.
Aware Defeat Depression recognised Ulster Chemists’ Association for helping to educate pharmacists about depression and the problem of suicide it can lead to. TinyLife nominated Mammoth for its help with re-branding, which should make it easier for the charity to fundraise in future.
A lot of emphasis is given each year to the contribution of businesses and other organisations to good causes that help vulnerable and disadvantaged children and adults. But the benefits are mutual.
Many of those nominated say their involvement with charities has promoted team building and created a feel-good atmosphere in their workforces.
Others, such as Musgrave Retail, are more explicit:
"Research carried out this year has shown that 75% of customers are aware of Centra support of Action Cancer; 87% of customers said they felt good about shopping at the stores and 58% said they spent more in the stores because of the programmes."
Ballyclare High School introduced a scheme which had the advantage of promoting reading among its students while at the same time raising funds for the NI Cancer Fund for Children, which nominated the school for an award.
Winners of the awards will be announced at a gala dinner in the Ramada Hotel on 7 February.
NICVA chief executive Seamus McAleavey urged people to go to the gala since it will be the last one – he announced that this will be the last year of the Awards.
"We want to go out on a high. I know this will leave a gap but we plan to bring something back in its place."
Gala tickets
Tickets are available from Creative Events, 1 Dublin Road, Belfast BT2 7HB, email: link@creativeevents.co.uk or call 028 9023 5001.
Missed the events?
Don't worry if you missed the Link regional presentations - we've put together a short video with some organisations who did make it to the events to give you a flavour of what happened.
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