National charity for people with learning disabilities, HFT, has launched a new website dedicated to Zinnia Funds at hft.tributefunds.com

Taking its name from the brightly coloured, lollipop shaped Zinnia flower which stands for “thoughts of absent friends”, the fund represents a meaningful way for friends and family to remember loved ones whilst helping HFT in its work supporting people with learning disabilities.

OLT set up the programme on behalf of HFT to allow individuals to create their own Zinnia Tribute Fund which friends and family can help grow, making donations on special occasions, or on a regular basis.

The new website enables supporters to upload picture and write blog entries about the person the Fund is honouring, whilst at the same time allowing friends and family to sign a visitors’ book, leave messages or light a candle.

“This is proving a very popular way for people to share their memories of loved ones and allows family and friends wherever they are in the world to have a point of contact with each other”, said Katie Tennyson, legacy manager at HFT.

“Raising funds in memory of someone special is a poignant and lasting tribute which can be rewarding for everyone involved”.

Sarah Radburn-Smith

Posted by Whitewater Team at 12:26 PM | Permalink

In 1982, Terrence Higgins passed away. Through the will of his friends, dedicated to his memory, the Terrence Higgins Trust was born. Fast forward 25 years to the charity’s silver anniversary year, 2007, and this spirit of remembrance has been reignited, through an exciting initiative conceived and developed by Whitewater and Our Lasting Tribute.

On behalf of THT, we have created a significant and touching tribute to all 17,000 people who have died with AIDS in the UK. The memorial exists online at www.remember17000.org

Those who have lost a friend or loved one to AIDS are invited to create a digital red ribbon in their memory, leave a message and post a photo. The site went live a few days ago, and is soon to be promoted to the charity’s warm donor base, via Direct Mail. Whitewater has also created an email and promotional postcards, which will be distributed to key audiences.

We are hopeful that the email in particular will have a quick viral impact and fuel word of mouth so that the url is shared among peers of those who have died from the disease. The web site allows an individual to be remembered by as many people as wish to. They can each create a ribbon and leave their own personal memory.

Please forward the link to anyone you know who may like to remember someone special.

Michelle Taylor

Posted by Whitewater Team at 09:43 AM | Permalink

The Meningitis Trust has just launched its Tribute Fund scheme and is going great guns! In just six weeks, 45 Funds have been set up. Doug Edwards, Tribute Fund Officer at the Meningitis Trust, reckons that at least one person is setting up a Fund every day at the moment. Doug is doing a fantastic job of getting the Tribute Fund message out to his supporters (he's just mailed all those who have given to the charity in memory over the last five years, with a response rate of 1.39% so far) and has had some lovely feedback from his new Tribute Fund holders.

But what's really interesting for us is that the Meningitis Trust is one of the first charities to offer its Tribute Fund holders a 'privately consumed' commemorative gift. All OLT's members have heard us wax lyrical about the 'graveyard gap' (that with the decrease in burials and therefore graves and headstones, people no longer have a memorial to their loved one or a place where they can go and spend quiet time) and we have encouraged our members to offer a 'publicly consumed' memorial to their Tribute Fund holders - something that everyone can see. These are proving very popular and are helping the bereaved to close the graveyard gap.

We've always thought, however, that it would also be nice to offer (once a Fund has reached an intermediary level) something personal for Fund holders to remember their loved ones. Doug and his team are doing just that. They offer a rose once a Fund has reached £500, to plant in memory of their loved one. The Meningitis Trust supporters love the sentiment, as this excerpt from a letter they received shows: "Many thanks for the beautiful rose. It arrived safely and looks lovely. Thank you for all your kindness and help with the setting up of Adam's Tribute Fund. It means more than you will ever know!"

Of course, the Meningitis Trust aren't stopping there - they have plans to open a memorial rose garden in their local park and take their Funds online. I can't wait to hear from Doug with his next update in a couple of months' time!

Sarah Radburn-Smith

Posted by Whitewater Team at 10:27 AM | Permalink

In 2005 the MND Association launched a bold campaign with the aim of informing people about the devastating degenerative effects of Motor Neurone Disease. John Bell, diagnosed with MND in 2001, agreed to be photographed for a series of cross-track posters at central London tube stations. The photographs show John at different stages of his illness: from being a healthy, active young man, to being confined to bed, unable to walk or speak.

John and his family documented their experiences of MND at John's Journey, including a heart-wrenching video. Thousands have visited the site, leaving messages of praise and encouragement for John and his young family, and Tony Blair sent a personal message of support to John. The MND Association invited the Bell family to set up the John Bell Tribute Fund, which has now raised over £25,000. John died on 10th February this year, not long before his 33rd birthday. The courage shown by him and his family is an inspiration to us all.

Clare Hallsworth

Posted by Whitewater Team at 01:39 PM | Permalink

BLISS, the premature baby charity, is delighted with the progress of its Precious Star Fund programme. They established the scheme less than a year ago and already one of the Funds has reached the £5,000 level, at which point a star in the sky is named after the baby remembered by the Fund.

Rachel Beckett, Individual Giving Manager, told us: "This programme has been so well received by our donors. They really love the idea, and many of those fundraising for their Precious Stars seem to be finding it a very positive experience. One of our Funds has even had a website built specially to help the family raise more money" (Joshua Star Fund).

Interestingly, not all the Precious Star Funds have been established in memory of premature babies, as you might expect, reflecting the broad appeal of this idea to BLISS donors. This is one of the reasons that the Funds are given a nice prominent spot on the BLISS homepage and this is the source of many of their enquiries.

Rachel concluded, "I feel that the Precious Star Fund scheme gives something back to our donors that they really value. I'm confident that by this time next year there will be a whole constellation of our Precious Stars in the sky!"

Clare Hallsworth

Posted by Whitewater Team at 09:19 AM | Permalink

The Motor Neurone Disease Association has achieved the extraordinary landmark of being the first charity to achieve £1million of income (excluding Gift Aid) through their Tribute Fund programme.

Here's their official press release.

What it doesn't tell you is how much of their success is down to the vision and hard work of their fundraising team. They have made it work, for which we at OLT offer our warmest thanks and congratulations!

I'd also like to mark the occasion by adding my thanks and congratulations to the many people who have worked at OLT and helped make this happen; the current team of Clare and Sarah; but also those who have moved on but are not forgotten: Charlotte, Matt, Rupert, Claire and John.

Steve Andrews

Posted by Whitewater Team at 09:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Breakthrough are enjoying some great results from their Crocus Fund programme, with almost £150k having been raised from 90 Crocus Funds since the establishment of the programme in 03/04. Last year alone saw income double - not bad growth considering that, by their own admission, the Tribute Fund team had not done much active promotion of the scheme.

Gary Kelly, Breakthrough's Senior Legacy and Tribute Fundraising Manager said: "We are very excited about the potential of our Crocus Fund programme. The scheme is showing some great returns, and we believe things can only get better as we focus more on this area. We are particularly pleased with the performance of Crocus Funds that have a website function. On average these Funds are worth about 25% more than those without a website."

Spring may seem a long way off, but for Breakthrough the Crocuses are already blooming!

Clare Hallsworth

Posted by Whitewater Team at 10:30 AM | Permalink

The Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association helps all those affected by MND. This is a devastating illness, which destroys the body’s motor neurones, the nerves that send messages from the brain to the muscles that control voluntary and involuntary activities: speech, mobility, breathing, swallowing - all the things which most of us take for granted. About half the number of people diagnosed with MND will die within 14 months.

The MND Association does incredible work, supporting people living with the disease, their carers and their families and funds research into the disease so that one day their vision of a world free of MND will be realised.

The Association launched its Tribute Fund programme in 2004, and to date has 327 Tribute Funds with a collective value of well over £800,000. There are several contributing factors to the scheme's success, but crucially, it has been implemented and managed extremely well.

Legacies and Tribute Fund Manager, Stephen May, told us: "Our Tribute Funds are a highly personal service provided by a small, dedicated team and supported by streamlined processes and timely, relevant communications. We are also constantly developing and enhancing our programme. For example, after a year of in-house development, testing and pilots, we introduced a new, optional service in August this year - Branch Tribute Funds.”

MND Association - honouring a loved one

Clare Hallsworth

Posted by Whitewater Team at 09:49 AM | Permalink

Guide Dogs for the Blind Association are approaching the quarter million pound benchmark for their Tribute Fund scheme, proving beyond doubt that this kind of fundraising can work for charities which aren’t medical causes and don’t deal with cause of death.

Guide Dogs have implemented a well-executed programme, staffed by professional and enthusiastic individuals who wholly believe in the scheme. Their systems and processes work, the Guide Dogs staff are happy to be on the end of the phone, and are very comfortable dealing with the bereaved in person – all contributing factors to this fantastic success.

They also have the ‘Name a Puppy’ trump card, which ticks so many boxes for Tribute Fund supporters. When a Guide Dogs Tribute Fund reaches £5k, the family of the deceased can, if they choose, name a guide dog puppy; most name the puppy after the person the Fund remembers. This has proved a massively popular ‘commemorative option: it literally allows the name of the deceased to live on through the good work of the charity. The family grow closer to the charity, enjoying regular ‘Pupdates’ and the chance to meet and cuddle their named puppy early in its training.

In fact, once the once-daunting £5k target has been reached, many families feel so inspired (and have been looked after so well by the Guide Dogs team) that they go on to reach for £10k and beyond. Brilliant fundraising.

Quarter of a million – if I had a tail I’d wag it!

Clare Hallsworth

Posted by Whitewater Team at 07:05 PM | Permalink

Due to the success of our recent ‘Perfect Programme’ seminars, we’ve decided to triple value for money and offer all three in one day – and roll them out in both London and Manchester! The sessions will look at ways in which our members can increase the number of in memoriam donations they receive, how to convert those one-off gifts into inspirational relationships and how to increase the life-time value of Tribute Funds. With feedback from the first round of seminars like “excellent”, “thought provoking” and “the most productive afternoon I’ve had in ages!”, how could we not?

Sarah Radburn-Smith

Posted by Whitewater Team at 04:05 PM | Permalink