Charlton Life members will recall that last year you played a significant part in the success of Charlton Athletic Community Trust’s Down’s Syndrome football team, the ‘Charlton Upbeats’ achievement of winning ITV’s ‘People’s Millions’ award. It is acknowledged by everyone involved that the role Charlton Life members played in raising the awareness of the ‘Upbeats’ contributed greatly to the project’s ultimate success.
Now, one year on and precluded from entering the ‘People’s Millions’ competition again, the reality of life is that new Charlton Upbeats’ funding will be required from January 2011 and unless funding can be found, the longevity of the project is at risk.
With this in mind, and following on from the success of last year’s ‘Street Violence Ruins Lives Dinner’ which 400 people attended and which raised over £25,000; the Charlton Athletic Community Trust have again put together a committee, which I have the honour of Chairing, to organise a major fundraising dinner for the Charlton Upbeats and this will be taking place in the North Stand Suite at The Valley on Thursday 14th October.
Together with my fellow committee members, Peter Varney, Jason Morgan, Carl Krauhaus, Terry Peart, Neville Maw, Gary Allen and Dan Bream we are committed to raising £30,000 on the night for the ‘Upbeats’ to guarantee the team’s immediate future and it is in this connection that I am posting this message.
We believe that to achieve this figure of £30,000 we need to attract around £5,000 in sponsorship/additional funding and, knowing how brilliantly you all supported the Upbeats last year, the Committee would like to enlist the support of Charlton Life members again to help us to achieve this target.
We will allocate a complimentary table for 10 people to the dinner, which will be a fantastic occasion, for the use of Charlton Life members. All we ask is that you help us to raise the £5,000 additional funding target.
If you recall, the Charlton Upbeats are part of a Down's syndrome programme which runs for 90 minutes every Saturday. More than 100 youngsters have attended since its launch and around 25-30 youngsters aged between five and 26 attend every week. The initiative began in partnership with DS Active to provide opportunities for youngsters with Down's to access and enjoy football and other activities at their own speed and at a level that is manageable for them.
We are determined to raise the funds to ensure that this fantastic project continues to do its excellent work in the community. I very much hope that Charlton Life members will rise to the challenge, as you have always done in the past, to help us to raise the vitally important funding that the project needs.
Should anyone require further information please do not hesitate to contact Carl Krauhaus or Terry Peart at the Charlton Athletic Community Trust on 0871 781 2095 or by e-mail at carl.krauhaus@cact.org.uk
Many thanks; I very much hope that you will help us to raise the £5,000 sponsorship target.
Regards
Steve
Steve Sutherland
Chairman, Charlton Upbeats Charity Dinner Committee
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Comments
Speaking as an individual I'd be happy to help in anyway I can.
Me too.
Would be good to set up a Just giving site for CL members to donate. is that something you can do WSS?
I am suggesting that the mythical CL badges are made a reality with profits going to the upbeats. Not my call so prepared to shouted down but if we sold the badges with a margin of around £2.50 on each (that would be the profit not the price) and sold 500 we'd be a quarter of the way to the £5k target.
http://www.justgiving.com/charltonupbeats
I will have a think over the next couple of days of how we can boost the fundraising.[/b]
Great stuff.
A video from last season on the work of the Charlton Trust and the Upbeats team.
Have you thought that through properly WSS? You've rushed that up quickly.
So anyone could donate 3 quid and get a chance to win the dinner place. Surely you should put some stipulations to that? I.e. at least 20 quid if not 50?
Sponsored slim would be good but they only need £5k not £500k : - )
I'll wait for an answer then, if yes I'll start a new thread with a picture at the top.
Would be happy to auction this with all proceeds going to the Upbeats.
TCE, ValleyGary very kind offers.
To try and streamline this a little, WSS and myself will co-ordinate any suggestions / questions you all may have and will forward them to the committee for the middle of next week. If anyone has any ideas that you think would be worth consideration, please either add them to this thread or alternatively drop myself a WSS a private whisper.
Similarly, if anyone has any interest in themselves or their companies providing any form of sponsorship and would like to be contacted with a bit more detail, then equally give one of us a whisper.
thanks.
AFKA
PS. It may be an idea if those who wish to just make a simple contribution via the JustGiving link attached hold fire from doing so for a few days as we can then try to determine if there is a workable way we can involve pledges into some form of a competition.
just a suggestion. It would boost the profile of CL & more importantly would raise much needed money for the Upbeat programme.
In other words auction and other sales proceeds etc are not strictly eligible. Donations attracting gift aid are supposed to be YOUR money.
My intention is not to be critical in pointing this out but helpful in case it was thought that auction proceeds etc would attract gift aid.
i think i get what you mean. So that applies for raffles to i take it?
I get what your saying Len. But I will auction an Item, a winning bidder will pay me for it, and I will donate the money. Its my money ; )
I think the beer on 5th August would be a good time to auction off something as plenty of fans, sun and beer normally equals bigger bids.
And I think if the CL badges idea gets off the ground then it should be aimed at raising money for this.
TCE: I hear what you say and if it is you acting on your own, the sums involved are not too much, and you've paid sufficient tax then in practice you can do what you suggest.
My concern in posting was that if there was an idea to have a "Charlton Life" auction and then try to gift aid the TOTAL proceeds then potentially there could be a problem.
Best to be aware of potential problems before they arise in my experience and opinion.
Those ideas are still good money spinners even if gift aid isn't available.