A fundraising update from Laurie Boult

Since launch day, we have been passionately, relentlessly, and rapidly fundraising around the clock to secure the extra money that we all need. 

None of us wishes to be in this crisis, but it has brought with it a powerful opportunity to tell a single, poignant story of the impact on older people and the critical work that we all do, both nationally and locally, to help the older people who need us every day. 

Though the circumstances are cruel, me and my team have never been more determined and proud to raise money on behalf of all of us, and all the older people who need us. It is hugely motivating to be able to fundraise like this, and for the public to respond so well when we speak as one. I want to thank you for trusting and believing in us to get it right. 

Steph will write to you soon about how we plan to get further funds to you. In this update, I'd like to tell you what we have done so far and let you know about the exciting opportunities we've lined up to raise more money for you.

Success to date

So far, we have confirmed pledges totalling £4.6 million, though as yet only £1.8 million of this is hard cash in the bank. We are putting friendly pressure on our funders to get the money to us as quickly as possible, to help us make more available to you.

Support from companies and grant-givers

The vast majority of pledged income is from donations and grants from around 30 different organisations. The most significant donations are from Santander, The Phoenix Group and The Garfield Weston Foundation, each of whom has contributed a very generous £500,000. Other substantial gifts have come from innocent, ReAssure, Vertex, and Cadbury, alongside large donations from the supermarket sector, including £250,000 from Aldi, the first donation to our nationwide appeal.

Working with other colleagues across Age UK, we are encouraging all supermarkets to do more to make shopping accessible to older people and those collecting on their behalf.

As a first step, we worked with Aldi to make arrangements for Age UK volunteers to attend 'vulnerable shopper hours' on behalf of older people, simply by proving they are an Age UK volunteer. We will continue to do more.

We have been working with companies to support and promote the appeal to the general public, securing free support from MSN on digital channels, and from Sky on our DRTV activity, that you can read more about below. We've pushed the campaign out in every way available to us, through digital channels, including Facebook, radio, PR, email campaigns and of course through traditional mail. We've asked our donors to help, but we've also asked other supporters of Age UK to give - including runners, volunteers and campaigners.

Celebrity support

Many celebrities and social media stars have been keen to help. So far we've had support from over 25 high profile public figures including Dame Helen Mirren, Geri Halliwell, David Beckham (the team were very excited about this!), Stephen Fry, Sir Tony Robinson, Aisling Bea and Boyzlife (former members of Boyzone and Westlife) who released a single for us, 'You needed me'. We also worked with Clarence House to secure coverage of the appeal and the work of Age UK and The Silver Line in the recent message from our patron, HRH The Prince of Wales. If you have ideas for local celebrity support, please do contact us as our team may be able to help you. We'd be delighted to try. 

Support from the public

As an outcome of all of this, individual members of the public are showing us how much they care about what all of us are doing for older people. They have already donated around £1 million for the practical support that you continue to provide in communities, and for Age UK's national advice and befriending services, including the Silver Line. 

Reassuring funders

Although the appeal is close to £5 million in just four weeks, I wouldn't want to give you the impression that this is all very easy or that the money has simply fallen into our lap. We're still having to do everything that is ordinarily involved in obtaining substantial sums of money. We're still carrying out due diligence and me and other directors, as well as Steph, have been subject to serious grillings from various funders and their due diligence teams. We’ve also got directly involved in fundraising. Steph dyed her hair bright pink and let her daughter cut it. I sold all my dresses on eBay. Hannorah Lee, who leads our Partnership & Philanthropy team danced, skipped and walked 40,000 steps on her 40th birthday on her 60ft house boat!

The fundraising team is reassuring funders that we will spend their donations on helping older people right now while minimising the need for very detailed and complex reporting from you so that you're not diverted from helping older people.

It has been somewhat relentless, but we should recognise that donations, whether large, small, one-off or regular, are a sure sign that organisations and the public have faith in us all.

What is to come

New TV ad

We have collaborated with our agency, Brave to produce a DRTV ad starring Academy Award-winning actor, Jim Broadbent, who donated his time to us, and filmed his simple but highly emotive piece to camera in his own home. The 30-second ad launched on Monday 20 April and reminds the public that older people have been hit hardest, and encourage viewers to text a donation to Age UK's Coronavirus Emergency Appeal.

Though the ad is very stripped back and is truly homemade, it has involved a significant amount of work to set up, to engage Jim, and to secure the airtime, which is free so far. We will monitor the donations and may consider paying for additional space, depending on public response and contributions. I hope you like it!

Jim is also lending his voice to our radio appeal, which follows a similar script to the TV ad and should also be live next week.

BBC Big Night In

The BBC Big Night In takes place this Thursday, 23 April at 7 pm on BBC One and iPlayer. This is a joint event between the grant-giving organisations Comic Relief and Children in Need and is raising money for charities providing front line support for Covid-19.

I am delighted to tell you that we will benefit from a proportion of the donations made on the night. We do not know how much, but we were asked to explain the work that we are all doing locally and nationally, including the Silver Line, and we indicated that we could very easily spend a lot of money between us!

We were explicitly asked not to share this news with the entire network while the show was being developed, although we privately contacted a small number of you to help us with TV content for the greater good of all of us. Thank you to those who were able to help us. It is highly unlikely that Age UK or any local partners will be named within the programme, rather our content will be used and our projects will be described. The show will tell the stories of older people, and this may well boost our appeal as well as driving donations to The Big Night In. We will update you once we know more about the success of the event and our potential share. Please see the partner hub tomorrow for more details on this event.

The 2.6 Challenge

Some of the largest mass sporting event organisers, including the London Marathon, have created the 2.6 challenge as an alternative way for the public to fundraise because of the postponement of the London Marathon. I'm sure you have heard about this already, but you can find out more information on the partner hub. We will be promoting it via our channels, and money raised will be added to the collective appeal pot. I was due to run the London Marathon this Sunday, so I'm instead attempting to dance around my living room for the equivalent distance of 26.2 miles to raise money for our appeal. I may live to regret this!

Community fundraising 

We are also working up a range of 'at home' community fundraising ideas that we'll feed through social media. We're finalising the details, but I'll hint that it will involve dressing up.   

We are working on lots of other innovative ideas and following up leads that we will share with you as soon as we have a plan. If you want to talk to me or the team about any of what I've described in this message, please email me at laurie.boult@ageuk.org.uk. 

For celebrity enquiries, please contact Lydia.Curran@ageuk.org.uk, and for more info on any of the upcoming fundraising activities, please see the Partner Hub, or contact Gemma.Rawlins@ageuk.org.uk

Thank you!

Finally, I want to congratulate those of you who are running your own fundraising appeals. I hope they are all a massive success. Those of you who know me know already that I believe that we all need to be fundraising organisations, and that the more we all ask, the more success we will have. Thank you very much for supporting me and my team and letting us get out there and do all we can to fundraise for us all. 

Laurie Boult

Fundraising Director