Hi
I thought I'd enter the conversation from the point of view of one of those small charities which ask for lower fundraising targets. The cost per place to the charities is quite high, so therefore we have to try to get the best return on our investment in order to provide the best services to our clients.
However as we are quite small and we recognise the challenges of raising sponsorship (though many of our runners have exceeded their own expectations in the past) with golden bond places we are asking that our runners pledge to raise a minimum of £1250 for The Rainbow Centre for Children. We ask for a £100 deposit upfront to secure the place but we refund this once the fundraising target is reached.
As a small organisation that provides free therapeutic support to children and their families affected by bereavement and life threatening illness, I can honestly say that the money raised by our Rainbow Runners will make a real difference to our work. If we are successful in recruiting 5 runners who each raise us £1250, this should provide us sufficient funds to provide 208 therapy sessions at the Centre or the equivalent of supporting 12 children or their parents through all their therapy. These funds are potentially 2% of our income for this financial year so it does make a significant difference.
In the time that it takes you to read this post, a family’s life could have changed forever – they may have received a diagnosis of a terminal illness or received tragic the news that a loved one has died. This is where The Rainbow Centre for Children comes in. We support children and their families from Bristol and the surrounding area including Somerset, South Wales and Gloucestershire. We help families deal with the pain, grief, anger and sadness that can be caused by the death of a child or parent or their life threatening illness and the impact that has on individual family members as well as the family as a whole. Families come to us not only because someone has died from an illness but also as a result of road traffic accidents, suicide or murder. We offer art and music therapy to children, as these non-verbal therapies are a valuable means of expressing emotions when words simply can’t be found, counselling to older children and adults, and massage therapy to help relieve both the side effects of conventional medicine, or the physical symptoms of grief or simply to keep a carer healthy so they have the strength to continue to look after their loved ones. Each therapy session lasts for 50 minutes, and the children or their parents / carers come at the same time each week so they build up a relationship and trust with our therapists. All the therapy we provide is free of charge and we support families for as long as they need our help. Each therapy session costs The Rainbow Centre £30 a session and we rely entirely on voluntary donations for our existence.
On a personal note as someone who is an erratic and very slow runner, I have entered and ran the last 3 Bath Half Marathons on behalf of my charity so I do understand the challenges in raising the sponsorship required. However it was the knowledge that my friends and colleagues had shown faith in me by sponsoring me to run that gave me the motivation to train through the winter months and run the whole distance on the day.
If anyone is interested in our Golden Bond places you can apply online at our website http://www.rainbowcentre.org.uk/#/vlm-13-sign-up/4570408429
