Garden Party Fundraising Pack
Thank you for taking part in Thrive’s Garden Party, this is a new idea for 2013. Sharing your garden and love of gardening with others is a wonderful thing to do and we hope you will be one of many people holding garden
parties this summer to help Thrive.
This may be the first time you have thought of holding a garden party let alone fundraising for charity, we hope this pack will provide all the inspiration you need and some practical help too. We are here to help you make your garden party a success. Let us know when you are holding it so that we can support you; email us with your plans on [email protected] putting “My Thrive Garden Party” in the subject line or please feel free to call Sue or Tina in the fundraising team.
About Thrive
Thrive uses gardening to help disabled people. Thrive is the only charity of its kind and has been providing horticultural therapy since 1978 with more than thirty years’ experience we are the leading authority on horticultural therapy in the UK.
One in five people in the UK are living with a disability that they were born with, gained with age or are living with because of an illness or an accident. Becoming disabled can be a life changing event and often Thrive can help. Gardening with Thrive can bring profound change by improving physical and psychological health and wellbeing; it can build skills, abilities and self-confidence and can change attitudes and behaviours.
Thrive provides horticultural therapy through a range of gardening programs which take place at our garden “projects” at Trunkwell Garden in Berkshire and in Battersea Park in London, Thrive is also involved in gardens belonging to other people too. We work successfully in well-known gardens and national organisations in venues not belonging to Thrive; we also run short term projects in local communities all over the South of England. During 2013 Thrive is launching new gardening programmes in the Midlands and the North of England.
Thrive relies on public donations to support our work and the funds you raise for Thrive at your garden party will be used to help more disabled people use the power of gardening to improve their lives.
Rebecca
Rebecca is a lovely teenager with a sweet smile, she is the youngest of three sisters and she has Downs syndrome. Before coming to Thrive she was struggling with school and unsettled at home. Thanks to Thrive’s practical approach to learning in a garden, Rebecca has become a happy and enthusiastic member of her gardening group and she has built up her skills. She now loves being “one of the girls” and talking about school and what she’s planning next for her garden.
“I feel happy” “I am more involved and polite” “I have learnt lots of things” “I love it here so much, it’s amazing” “I have made new friends and like everybody here”…. are just some of the things Rebecca says about Thrive.
Thrive focuses on helping Rebecca to work well alongside her fellow gardeners, think for herself, learn new skills and complete tasks well. Rebecca’s day is usually spent on the allotment; she enjoys digging and likes growing vegetables, particularly potatoes, even though she says it can be hard work! Rebecca’s new found confidence means she is looking forward to going to agricultural college next term whilst still coming to Thrive once a week.
Mum Jocelyn says : “Thrive has been a breath of fresh air for Rebecca……My husband is a GP; I am a nurse and one of my daughters is an occupational therapist, so we all find the whole ethos of Thrive amazing for helping such a diverse group of people.”
It costs, £30,000 every year to run our youth programmes and £30 for a person to come to Thrive once a week from school.
Your garden party could make a tremendous difference to disabled people; please help and together we can help Thrive to help more people like Rebecca.
Dora
Dora wasn’t expecting to have a stroke, then one evening after work her life changed in a matter of minutes. Dora was left with limited speech and some paralysis; a common effect for most people who experience a stroke. Dora’s stroke made her a silent shadow of her former self with no idea how to cope with this sudden onset of disability but once she was discharged from hospital Thrive stepped in to help.
Rehabilitation is crucial after a stroke to help people to recover physically and mentally. The everyday activity of gardening can have powerful benefits. We teach Thrive gardeners how to rebuild muscle strength and improve stamina; which foods have a positive benefit and how to grow them. The gentle exercise of gardening helps reduce blood pressure - a major factor in the recurrence of stroke - and can help reduce stress and anxiety.
In just 12 weeks Dora experienced significant changes in her speech and improvements in her sleep. Learning new ways to do things renewed her self-confidence, helped her gain control of her life and reduced the stress and frustration she was feeling. Gardening in a group with other stroke survivors also gave Dora the support of people who understood her and offered hope for the future. Dora could sense her old life was no longer beyond her reach which in itself helped her emotional recovery.
Every five minutes somebody has a stroke and whilst NHS acute care has significantly improved survival rates, rehabilitation for stroke survivors is still patchy across the UK. Thrive can help – we have a number of twelve week gardening programmes already in place in the south and we want to be able to offer more across the UK so that people can find help locally. We have step by step guides which can be used at home allowing people to work at their own pace and we run a telephone information service from Thrive.
People often say they feel forgotten once they leave hospital after receiving acute care; Thrive can make sure they are not abandoned; we are there to help them change their lives for the better.
Your garden party could make a tremendous difference to disabled people; please
help and together we can help more people like Dora get their life back.
Planning your garden party
When?
Please choose a date and a time that suits you, we are hoping that most people will organise a party in June and we are organizing ourselves around that, if June is not a good time for you please don’t let that stop you, we’ll support your garden party whenever you hold it this summer.
How big?
Big or small, it’s up to you - invite a few friends or you could throw open your garden
to your whole community; the important thing is that you’ve decided to help Thrive.
Fundraising ……..
The simplest thing to do is to ask your guests to donate to Thrive when they attend. You could boost your funds by offering refreshments, running a raffle at the event, or tombola, or an auction, selling plants sale or offering extra activities like face painting. If you need advice we can help.
Invitations, posters and collection boxes
These are included in your pack; you can also download more invitations and posters
from our website www.thrive.org.uk. If you don’t have access to a computer and
printer, please call us on 0118 988 5688 and we can send you a supply; if you need
more collection boxes please call.
Thrive information and promotional items
We have included some Thrive pocket guides and a booklet about Thrive in this pack
- in case your guests ask about our work. We have a small supply Thrive pins and
car stickers - samples are enclosed. If you would like more please call us.
Have a safe garden party
We want your event to be fun and enjoyable for all your guests but please be careful
to make sure everyone who attends is safe and acting within the law.
People who cannot attend
If people can’t come to your garden party, they may want to help you by making a
donation to Thrive instead, there’s a form on the reverse of their invitation or they
can donate online at www.thrive.org.uk.
Gift Aid - make donations worth even more
Thrive can ask the Inland Revenue for an extra 25p for every £1
donated by UK tax-payers, and it doesn’t cost you a penny more.
Use the form enclosed, photocopy more blank forms if necessary and
encourage people to fill in their details at your event. We need each
person’s home address details as well as yours, as the organiser, to be able to claim.
Tell everyone
If you are going “big” with your garden party you may like to think about publicity,
we have some advice for you below. Consider using or your local community
websites where. be able to register details of your event free of charge. Send details
to your local newspaper, local newsletters, and your local parish magazine. Do bear
in mind that parish magazines are produced weeks in advance so you’ll need to
contact them as soon as possible, whereas your local newspaper will not need much
notice to be able to help.
Use your company bulletin board or intranet if you have one (ask for permission
first). If you are fundraising for Thrive at work, does your company operate a
matched giving scheme, ask your HR department, or check your company’s
corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy.
PR Guidelines for holding a public Garden Party
We are delighted that you are raising money for Thrive by holding a garden party. This is a great opportunity to get publicity for you/your company/your club and for Thrive too.
Positive publicity helps us raise Thrive’s profile in the local community and will help us to help more disabled people.
Opportunities for getting publicity arise
• when you hold your garden party • when you know how much money you have raised • when you present the money to Thrive.
Press releases/information for local media
If you invite the local media along to your event, it is useful to send them something in advance which gives details of what you are planning. It would also be useful to include some information on Thrive. Please find below a draft press release about Thrive which you could use when you contact the local media in your area.
Photographs
If you would like photographs of some of the people the money you raise is helping, please let us know and we can send you some. These can be used on your internet site, blogs, in your newsletter or be sent out with your press release to local media.
Draft Press Release:
Please come to our Garden Party in aid of Thrive, a national charity that helps people with a disability or mental ill health, improve their lives through gardening.
The garden party is being hosted by {insert name} and is being held at {insert place} on {insert date} at {insert time}.
Entrance is by a donation of {suggest a donation} and all money raised will go to Thrive.
As well as the chance to enjoy our garden there will be {insert other activities/stall on the day such as a plant sale, cake sale, activities for children etc.}.
Thrive helps people with a disability or mental ill health use gardening to improve their health and wellbeing. It brings profound change to people recovering from stroke or living with heart disease. Also those coping with physical disabilities, sight loss, recovering from an accident or illness, or coping with early stage dementia.
If you would like to help Thrive through making a donation, fundraising or volunteering, please call them on 0118 988 5688, email them at [email protected] or visit their website www.thrive.org.uk to find out more.
ends
Photos
Send your photos to us – we may be able to use your photo and story in our Thrive News or on our website. Send a copy or the best photo of your event to the local paper, telling them how much money you have raised for Thrive. Colourful pictures of people enjoying themselves, looking at the camera and smiling would be great. Nowadays the local papers prefer to get photos in high resolution format by email, and you’ll need the permission from those people featured in the photograph, so make a note of their full names and where they live.
For more information on publicity, please contact please contact Alyson Chorley at [email protected] or call her on 0118 988 5688.
For more advice on fundraising, contact Sue Tiplady at [email protected] or
call her on the same number.
After your event - sending in the funds you have raised
Please don’t risk sending cash through the post. You are very welcome to
bring the proceeds to Thrive at Beech Hill, we are open 9-5 Monday – Friday,
when you arrive please ask to speak to a member of the fundraising team.
Or
Please make a cheque or postal order payable to Thrive and send it to
Thrive
The Geoffrey Udall Centre,
Thrive,
Beech Hill,
Reading
RG7 2AT.
(there is a remittance form enclosed with this pack)
Or
Telephone Thrive on 0118 988 5688 to pay by credit or debit card.
We accept Visa, MasterCard, Switch and Maestro cards; please tell us you are
paying in funds for the Thrive Garden Party when you call.
Or
Pay through online banking – our bank account details are as follows
Address HSBC plc.
Frome
Somerset
Sort Code 40-21-19
Account number 21347659
Account Name: Thrive
Please quote Thrive Garden Party as a reference.
Or
Make a donation through our website at
www.thrive.org.uk/forms/donatenow.aspx. Mentioning Thrive Garden Party.
Please let us know your name and address so that we can acknowledge your
support.
Questions? Call Thrive on 0118 988 5688 or email [email protected].
Donation record and Gift Aid Form
Organisers name: .............................................. ..........................
Organiser’s address ......................................................................
Postcode ......................................................................................
If you’re a UK taxpayer, you can use Gift Aid to increase the value of every £1
you donate by 25p. Please read the declaration below, and then fill out your
name, home address and postcode, along with the total you have donated.
Finally simply tick the Gift Aid box.
*Thrive fully complies with the Data Protection Act (1998) and respects your
privacy and will not pass you details onto any third party.
Gift Aid Statement
I want Thrive to treat all donations I make from the date of this declaration until I notify you otherwise, as Gift Aid donations. I understand the requirement is that I must pay an amount of income tax or capital gains tax
at least equal to the tax deemed to have been deducted from this donation.
PLEASE WRITE CLEARLY (PLEASE PHOTOCOPY THIS PAGE IF YOU NEED TO)
Full name Address with postcode Donation Gift Aid?
(Y/N)
Date
Donation and gift aid record continued …..
Full name Address with postcode Donation Gift Aid?
(Y/N)
Date
Remittance form
Name ....................................................................................................
Organiser’s address ..................................................................................
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
..................................................... Postcode..............................................
Phone number:……………..…………….. Email Address:……………………..…………..
Date of my garden party………………………………………………………………………….
Please make a cheque or postal order payable to Thrive and send it to
Thrive
The Geoffrey Udall Centre,
Thrive,
Beech Hill,
Reading
RG7 2AT.
Thrive’s Bank Account details are:
Account Name: Thrive
Bank: HSBC
Sort code: 40-21-19
Account number 21347659
Cheque/Postal Order/Cash enclosed for £ …………………………………………………
I have donated £ …………………… via the website
I have made a BAC transfer of ……………………………………………………….………
Feedback:
Please tell us why you decided to support Thrive with a Garden Party ……
Please tell us the year of your birth:
