Welcome to our Christmas newsletter! After a busy 2014, we hope ... hoping to win the prized SCT cup award given to the
Welcome to our Christmas newsletter! After a busy 2014, we hope that you are all looking forward to celebrating Christmas and the New Year.
2014 Christmas challenge The Cause4 team is gearing up for its annual charity challenge today and is tremendously excited to be volunteering in our local East London community. On Friday afternoon, the Cause4 team will be volunteering with the Spitalfields Crypt Trust (SCT). SCT is a local charity that helps people recover from addiction by helping them get clean and sober. SCT has seven charity shops across East London and runs an innovative corporate challenge. In three teams, Cause4 staff will be competing against each other to raise the most money for the shops that we’re based in, each hoping to win the prized SCT cup award given to the most successful team. We have also decided to donate the money that we would otherwise spend on sending Christmas cards to the Spitalfields Crypt Trust. Donations to this cause can be made here. And for those of you still needing to buy last minute Christmas presents, check out Emily’s alternative Christmas list here.
Close Brothers Trustee Leadership Programme Cause4 is delighted to be able to announce the national roll out of our partnership with Close Brothers Asset Management. This will develop the Trustee Leadership programme across five UK regions. Developed since June 2014, the programme, which was recently featured in the Sunday Times, encourages young professionals to become charity Trustees and trains them in the skills needed to thrive in these roles. This addresses a real need in the charity sector, where it is estimated that only 0.5% of Trustees in England and Wales are aged 18-24. 2015 will also see the launch of an Emerging Chairs training progamme. This intensive training will support existing Trustees who have exhibited leadership and management skills and who are
interested to take up the specific challenges offered by being Chair of a charity. If you are interested in either of these programmes please email our CEO Michelle here.
Arts Fundraising and Philanthropy National Fellowship Programme There is an exciting opportunity for arts organisations across the country to host an Arts Fundraising Fellow in 2015/16. These year-long developmental fellowships for aspiring fundraisers will be offered on a national basis for the first time with cohorts in London, the Midlands, the North, the South West and the East and South East of England. Five placements will be available in each of these areas. Applications for host organisations are now open and will close on Monday 19 January. Further information about this opportunity and the benefits that it offers to host organisations can be found here. We are also turning our attention to some of the key issues facing arts organisations at the moment and will be running a series of national debates next year – starting with the slippery issue of ethics. If you are interested in contributing to these debates please contact Head of the Arts Fundraising and Philanthropy Programme Amanda Rigali here.
Supporting Female Entrepreneurship with Santander Cause4 is delighted to be working with the Santander Breakthrough programme to launch a new support programme for ambitious female entrepreneurs. There is plenty of support available for start up entrepreneurs but little for those wishing to scale up fast. This new year-long programme will support the next generation of female entrepreneurs ready to make a step-change in growth and will look to create a fast-growth peer to peer support network for ambitious female entrepreneurs. You can find out more about the programme and how to apply here.
Entrepreneurship and philanthropy In November Michelle Wright, Cause4 CEO, was fortunate to work with Malaria No More UK on an event with the ultimate philanthropist/entrepreneur Bill Gates, culminating in a special public lecture at the House of Lords. As we entered Global Entrepreneurship Week, Michelle was able to reflect on this event and the importance of entrepreneurs in finding solutions to intractable problems across the world. You can read her thoughts here. We will be working on new catalytic philanthropy projects in the field of Water Sanitation and Health in 2015, and are delighted to continue our partnership with Malaria No More UK. And finally our Development Coordinator Ali Khimji prepared a fascinating analysis of giving in the British Muslim Community. Read his recommendations here.
Awards We’re pleased that Cause4’s own entrepreneurial activities have also received wider recognition in recent weeks. Our CEO Michelle was the first UK recipient of the IWEC award for outstanding entrepreneurial achievement and met up with other recipients from around the world in Stockholm in November. Cause4 also won a prestigious gold and silver international Stevie award for business services and innovation, and we were delighted to be awarded a bronze award for Social Enterprise of the Year at the Great British Entrepreneur awards.
Team news Cause4 is pleased to welcome Martina Murphy as our new Head of Development. Martina has joined Cause4 having led the fundraising department of the Everyman & Playhouse theatres in Liverpool and will take on a number of new projects across arts, entrepreneurship and education. And finally, all that leaves to say is all good wishes for a superb Festive season to all our clients, partners and friends. We are delighted to have raised almost £13million in charitable funds for our clients since April 2014 – and look forward to building on this support into 2015. A final round up of our best charity blogs for 2014 can be found here. Merry Christmas!
