Save the Children: Niger emergency appeal

Niger is facing a potentially deadly food crisis – rainfall has been limited and crops are failing. Food and medicine prices are rapidly increasing and communities have reported only having sufficient pasture to feed their livestock until March. Consequently, families are struggling to feed themselves – over 5 million people are already facing hunger and are vulnerable to malnutrition. Families are still recovering from the deadly food crisis which left millions, around half the country's population, at risk of food shortages in July 2010.

Many families are becoming desperate and thousands more are at risk.

Save the Children is already on the ground, urgently working to reach vulnerable families before it’s too late.

We’ve already reached over 500,000 vulnerable children and adults. We are:

• Helping to buy essential food, water and medicine for over 250,000 people and have treated 40,000 malnourished children.

• Supporting over 260 health centres so thousands of children, pregnant women and new mothers can access free healthcare .

• Distributing livestock and training in farming methods to create 'safety nets' to stop families falling into crisis .

• Calling on the international community to respond immediately to help stave off a potential disaster .

• Planning to reach 2 million of the most vulnerable children and adults in 2012.

The international community was slow to act in East Africa, and thousands of children are now paying the price. We must learn from our mistakes. Early warning signs are again signalling a looming food crisis – this time in Niger.

These early warning signs must result in an early response. Save the Children is already on the ground, urgently working to reach vulnerable families before it’s too late. We are also calling on the international community to immediately scale up support for Niger – to enable aid agencies and the government of Niger to stave off a potential disaster.savethechilderen.org.uk

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Government Launches New Platinum Award

We are thrilled that the Government are showing renewed support of Payroll Giving (also known as Workplace Giving) with the launch of the Platinum Quality Award Mark.

This extended level to The Payroll Giving Quality Mark celebrates employers’ continuing dedication to increasing charitable donations through the scheme.

The new Platinum Award is being presented to those employers who have held a Gold Award for the year previous (applicants for 2012 must have held Gold 2011 status) and have met at least one of the criteria from each of the following three categories:

1. Public Register of Employers Offering Payroll Giving:

• Employers must have signed-up to the public register of employers offering Payroll Giving to their staff.

Company details can be registered here.

2. Increased Payroll Giving:

• Either achieved an overall employee sign-up to Payroll Giving of 20%, or increased employee take-up from the previous year by a minimum of 10%.

• Increased existing donations (through demonstrable promotion) by a minimum of 10%.

• Matched employee contributions by a minimum of 10%.

3. Promoted Payroll Giving:

• Actively encouraged pensioners (past employees) to continue to use Payroll Giving.

• Used volunteers or past employees to promote Payroll Giving to current staff

• Provided evidence of an active promotion that encouraged clients and customers to use Payroll Giving.

• Introduced (and signed-up) a minimum of five new employers to Payroll Giving (evidenced through relevant PGAs).

• Publically demonstrated commitment to Payroll Giving through use of the Payroll Giving and Quality Mark logos on letterhead, websites and other promotional materials .

• Demonstrated effective use of the induction and/or review process to introduce staff to Payroll Giving.

Applicants will need to provide the necessary material to support their submissions.

Applications need to be in for the Platinum Award by the end of February 2012. Submissions will be certified and the awards will be sent out in April 2012.

Hands On Helping will be assisting our company partners in entering for the Quality Award Marks and The National Payroll Giving Excellence Awards, if you would like further information or facilitation with applications for any awards please contact Penny Tapping on 01433 621882.

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What was your favourite book as a child?

Can you remember your favourite story book as a child? Who was your favourite character? Peter Pan? Matilda? Maybe Mowgli from the Jungle Book?

Children gain an awful lot from characters in stories; they look up to them, identify with them and aspire to be like them, and it’s a huge part of developing the imagination and learning about themselves and society.

Unfortunately, the number of impairments portrayed in children’s stories are few and far between, and disabled children often feel excluded and cannot relate to the characters in their books.

With the help of disabled children, Scope has created an amazing range of books to help a child understand their condition and build their confidence for the future. The books feature disabled children and explain a child’s condition in their own language.

Celine is one of the children who helped Scope with this project. She has cerebral palsy and needs assistance to be able to walk. When she was six years old, she helped Scope to develop Celine’s New Splints - a fictional story-book leaflet designed for disabled children to read themselves, or for parents to read to their child. The leaflet explains the process of being fitted for splints in a way that young children can appreciate, enjoy and understand.

Celine explains: “When I was little and I had my first splints I was quite scared because I didn’t know what it was going to be like. Celine’s New Splints lets children know what is going to happen and hopefully they don’t feel scared anymore. I loved helping to write Celine’s New Splints. You don’t see many disabled children in books and I’m really proud that I helped change that.”

You can download the books and share with children you know by going here: http://www.scope.org.uk/help-and-information/publications/celines-new-splints-bookletwww.scope.org.uk

Thank you for your generous support of our work and for helping us continue to make the world a more inclusive place for disabled children.

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SAVE THE CHILDREN WANT YOU!

Are you supporting Save the Children through Payroll Giving? Do you think that Payroll Giving is a great way to support your charity? Do you feel strongly about Save the Children’s work and thought about doing a bit more but not have been sure about what that could be?

If your answer to these questions is YES, we would like to hear from you!

We are looking for Payroll Giving Ambassadors who would be happy to give a quote for our website or other materials we have about Payroll Giving. AND, for those super keen we would love to interview you on video talking about Payroll Giving OR even talk at an event about Payroll Giving and why you are giving this way to Save the Children.

If any of these are things you would like to be involved with, please do get in touch with us: Mervi Slade, Payroll Giving Manager, tel. 020 3215 3252 or email me on m.slade@savethechildren.org.uk

Find out more at: www.savethechildren.org.uk

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Manchester United is first on board

Manchester United Football Club is again leading the way, this time in the philanthropy league. The Club are the first company to board the Payroll Giving Rocket, giving employees the opportunity to give to any charity directly from their pay.

The world famous team is one of the only Football clubs to offer the scheme to their top class players as well as ground, events and coaching staff. Employees have proved themselves to be truly sporting, giving generously to many local and national charities.

By getting on board the Payroll Giving Rocket, Manchester United FC has provided employees with the most cost effective method of donating. Only Payroll Giving automatically enables complete tax relief on charitable gifts, if all donations had been made in this way last year, charities would have benefitted from an increase of £900 million.

Eric Steele, Goalkeeping Coach said:

“It’s fantastic that the club are offering us all this effective method of giving. I’m surprised it is not more widely available given the tax advantage it clearly offers. It makes giving so easy and secure; I hope more companies can see the potential increased revenue for charities and embrace Payroll Giving.”

Hands On Helping (HOH) who introduced the Payroll Giving Rocket are extending the invite for more companies to get on board. The Rocket initiative promises to set-up launch and promote the scheme completely free of charge, giving employers a hassle-free method of meeting Corporate Social Responsibility ambitions. The campaign emphasises that businesses offering Payroll Giving not only demonstrate their commitment to CSR, but also provide employees with the most cost effective, secure way to give and support any good cause they wish.

Wendy Tapping, Chief Executive of HOH said:

“The success we experienced with Manchester United was brilliant; it was great to see so many employees and players being supportive and generous. The potential for Payroll Giving is enormous; hopefully Manchester United will lead the way for more employers to provide this facility and we can really make a difference to the amount of tax free money charities receive.”

Manchester United has been shortlisted for this years’ National Payroll Giving Excellence Awards in ‘Best Launch of a New Scheme’ category, winners to be announced 19th October 2011.

Find out more at: The Payroll Giving Rocket.

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Hands On Helping boosts Payroll Giving

Hands On Helping has launched an exclusive new initiative "The Payroll Giving Rocket". and is asking donors, charities and employers to jump on board.

With living costs on the rise, we are all feeling the pinch but still feel the need to help others less fortunate. Tax effective charitable giving is becoming a focus for donors, charities and the government.

The Cabinet Office recently published the ‘Giving White Paper’ (May 2011) recognised that giving is both good for givers and those they chose to help. It set out a framework towards working more closely with businesses and charities, making it easier it easier and more compelling for people to give time and money, to stimulate a step change in giving.

The Payroll Giving Rocket aims encourage more employers to actively offer Payroll Giving as a facility. The Rocket initiative promises to set-up launch and promote the scheme completely free of charge, giving employers a hassle-free method of meeting Corporate Social Responsibility ambitions. The campaign emphasises that businesses offering Payroll Giving not only demonstrate their commitment to CSR, but also provide employees with the most cost effective, secure way to give and support any good cause they wish.

Helen Ellis, Head of Corporate Responsibility and Community Relations at Prudential said:

"Prudential is delighted to support the Payroll Giving Rocket, a new initiative by Hands On Helping to get more companies to promote payroll giving to their employees. Prudential operates a substantial programme of corporate responsibility activities, designed to make a real difference to the communities in which we operate. Payroll giving is an integral part of this programme and we encourage participation by matching employee donations each month, so that the charities get double the amount. A significant number of our employees participate in the scheme and we are very proud to have been shortlisted under two categories at this year's National Payroll Giving Excellence Awards."

Wendy Tapping, Chief Executive of Hands On Helping said:

“The potential for Payroll Giving is enormous. If more companies readily offered the scheme we could all make a real difference to the amount of tax free money charities receive. With the current economic climate, it is prudent for employers to provide their employees with the most cost effective ways to manage their finances. We work with many companies, large and small, that have increased employee participation tremendously by inviting us in to speak to colleagues. Our free service presents the scheme on a one-to-one basis, making it quick and easy to understand. Most people we see are happy to donate given the great benefits and choice Payroll Giving offers."

Find out more at: The Payroll Giving Rocket.

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Japan: 6 months on

Six months on from the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan, the disaster's impact still haunts children. We are there, using our expertise to help Japan's youngest survivors smile again.

Globally we've raised an amazing £12.6m for this appeal. The sheer scale of the disaster meant that despite a strong government response, there were still large unmet needs.

These gaps were in education, emotional support and protection for children – areas in which we have global expertise.

There are a number of things we have done to help children through this crisis:

 We quickly set up 19 safe play areas in evacuation centres where children could play, learn and receive psychosocial support, safe from the dangers of the debris-filled streets. They also gave parents time to rebuild their lives and livelihoods knowing that their children were safe.

 With schools destroyed, teachers displaced and thousands of children living in evacuation centres, children faced great challenges returning to school. As a result we provided school kits, learning materials and stationary to 3,390 kids.

 We're determined to ensure that children have a say in the future of their communities. We carried out a large consultation exercise with 11,000 children, which we will use to ensure that government reconstruction efforts take their needs into account.

Whilst a lot of work has already been done, it is important that programmes to support children’s psychological wellbeing are still maintained. Over the next five years, we plan to help children to recover from their experiences and be adequately supported to do this by their parents. These programmes will reach over 100,000 children and their families.

Find out more at: Save The Children

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East Africa Emergency Appeal

Children in East Africa are starving. In some areas, a child is dying every 6 minutes.

The worst drought in decades has wiped out livestock, crops and income in large parts of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia and left over 12 million people in the grip of a devastating food crisis.

The situation in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia is getting worse, with 6 million children facing starvation after severe drought lead to the devastation of income sources, failed harvests and the death of livestock. This year has been the driest since 1950, with food prices in some areas rising by 500 per cent.

In Somalia, 20 per cent of families have been left with no food whatsoever, with the number of malnourished children under five rising from 390,000 to 450,000 just within the last few weeks. More than 900,000 people have fled the country for overcrowded camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, whilst 1.5 million are displaced within the country itself.

We are rapidly providing life-saving food, water and medicine for children across the region, even in war-torn areas of Somalia where we are one of the few international organisations on the ground. We’ve launched one of our biggest ever emergency responses and we’ve already reached over 1 million people – and we’re aiming to reach 2 million in total. We are appealing for £65 million to urgently scale up our programmes across East Africa and reach more children and families before its too late. We are hoping to do this with our “Fill a truck” campaign, where we are asking supporters to help fill our trucks (pictured opposite). Each truck contains life saving food and supplies: enough to feed 4,000 children for a month.

Find out more at: Save The Children

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Hands On Helping News

Success at the National Payroll Giving Excellence Awards

TNT Post, JN Bentley and Home Retail Group were among the 16 companies recognised at the 2010 National Payroll Giving Excellence Awards.

This year’s ceremony was held on 1st November at HM Treasury, Nick Hurd MP, Minister for Civil Society and Justine Greening MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, presented the awards. The ceremony was greeted with the news that Payroll Giving had increased during the last year by 2 per cent, to reach £106m.

TNT Post were presented as the winner for Best Launch Of A New Scheme, an award that recognises employers for introducing a Payroll Giving Scheme into the workplace which shows the an integration of launch activities, promotion to staff and target achievement. The judges commented that “this was an excellent launch, with imagination, flair, leadership from the top and excellent results. It was a model example of how a large business can achieve so much.”

The highly commended (runner-up) in Best Re-launch Of A New Scheme was JN Bentley. Judges felt that this was a very neat, well planned and executed launch, with excellent consideration of workplace environments, especially targeting non office based staff. Hands On Helping are delighted with this remark as many site visits involved careful organisation to ensure a majority of staff were seen.

TNT Post are also thrilled to have been highly recommended in the Best Overall Campaign category, judges thought the TNT Post campaign was” an excellent example of making payroll giving both fun and effective. Along with partners Charities Trust and Hands On Helping, they launched an innovative and eye catching campaign. Their ‘dynamite stick’ gimmick was both clever and engaging, giving the campaign a special feel. Many employers planning a launch or relaunch could emulate these ideas to great effect.”

Home Retail Group were awarded the winners in Best Innovative Promotional Partnership, an award given for a Payroll Giving promotion which was successful as a result of a partnership between the employer and another organisation. This decoration celebrates the partnership between Home Retail Group, Hands On Helping and Charities Trust. “The judges felt this was an excellent partnership showing that using the distilled experience of an agency works. They demonstrated a real bond between Hands On Helping, the organisation, and the employees, with great use of supporting testimonials. The ‘Be a Smartie’ campaign designed with Charities Trust and delivered by Hands On Helping ensured comprehensive engagement over all sites. Detailed monthly progress reporting showed a real engagement and ownership of the scheme with their partners.

Hands On Helping are delighted to have helped so many of their company partners have been recognised for their commitment and achievements in Payroll Giving.

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New RNID sponsored research projects working towards a cure for hearing loss.

The biomedical team at RNID have awarded four new international research projects, selecting the very best proposals from 48 applications. These projects will join our existing portfolio of projects aiming to find ways to prevent hearing loss, restore hearing and silence tinnitus.

Click the link to find out more about our brand new projects:

Dr John Chambers at Imperial College London will investigate which genes make our ears more susceptible to noise damage.

Dr Jonathan Gale at the UCL Ear Institute will study the processes which cause our delicate hair cells to become damaged by noise exposure.

Dr Andrew Faulkner at University College London will examine why someone with a cochlear implant in one ear often benefits from a hearing aid in the other ear.

Dr Lukas Rüttiger at Tübingen University in Germany will explore pharmacological therapies for noise-induced and age-related hearing loss.

None of these projects would have been possible without the generous contribution from people like you, so thank you very much for your continued support!

Find out more at: RNID

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RNID Deaf Awareness Week

28th June - 4th July 2010 is Deaf Awareness Week

RNID are focusing on helping people become more deaf aware.

There are currently 9 million people in the UK who are either deaf or hard of hearing and 65% of people over 60 have hearing loss.

Deaf Awareness Week – dos and don’ts:

Don’t avoid conversation.

Deafness can be isolating. Always involve people who are deaf in group conversations.

Do repeat yourself, or rephrase until you’re understood.

Don’t shout. This distorts your mouth, making you harder to understand. Speak clearly and at a normal speed.

Do think about communication support. Ask RNID how you can book sign language interpreters or speech-to-text-reporters.

Do get involved. Help us to carry on supporting people who are deaf by helping us – join, volunteer, donate…

Find out more at: RNID

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National Payroll Giving Excellence Awards Deadline

The deadline for applications for the National Payroll Giving Excellence Awards 2010 is Friday 16th July.

The National Payroll Giving Awards Event is held annually in October to celebrate the efforts of employers, charities and professional partnerships in promoting Payroll Giving in the work place. Any employer who has achieved a Bronze, Silver or Gold Quality Mark Award in 2010 is eligible to submit an entry for the National Payroll Giving Excellence Awards 2010.

All applications are marked against specific criteria by a panel of impartial judges. Every category is unique and therefore so is the individual criteria although the qualifying period is the same for all categories – 1st April 2009 to 31st March 2010.

Hands On Helping are encouraging many of their company partners to apply for the awards, in a hope that they will repeat their success from last year. At the awards in 2009, Hands On were delighted to see their partner Aviva win “Best Large Employer Campaign”, and be highly commended in the "Best Re-Launch Of An Existing Scheme" category. Further achievements included Hands on and Howdens Joinery being highly commended in the "Best Innovative Promotional Partnership" category.

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Hands On Helping to represent more charities

We are pleased to announce that we have taken on a few more charity clients. Our new partners are;

International Fund for Animal Welfare

Muscular Dystrophy Campaign

RNID

Spinal Injuries Association

Woodland Trust

WRVS

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Pounds for Pledges; Hands On, Hands Out! Double!

We are now set to double our donation from £1 per pledge to £2!

In the first year of our Pounds for Pledges campaign, we gave away over £10,000 to charities large and small. The initiative supported those donating through Payroll Giving, as Hands On Helping gave an £1 on top of each charity pledge received.

This year, we want to get the word out about Payroll Giving and give away more! We promise to give an extra £2 on top of every donation, on all new business. If you are interested in joining our Pounds for Pledges campaign, so that every donation can go that little bit further visit; Pounds for Pledges.

Graziella Campisano, Corporate Responsibility Engagement Manager for Nationwide Banking said:-

“One of the reasons we chose to work with Hands On, was their added incentive, ‘Pounds For Pledges’, which showed true commitment and individuality. Our launch of our Payroll Giving Scheme has been a huge success, in conjunction with Charitable Giving, and we look forward to continuing our working relationship with Hands On this year.”

Kerry Glover – Head of Donor Recruitment, The Dogs Trust

“Hands On Helping work really hard to get donations for us here at Dogs Trust. We were delighted to attend their Annual General Meeting last year and meet the team. The subsequent introduction of Sponsor a Dog has worked brilliantly and we are very thankful for all their hard work. The Pounds for Pledges initiative is very generous and a wonderful idea of Hands On, thank you.”

Erika Basra – Corporate Partnerships Account Manager, Macmillan Cancer Support

“The regular income produced by Hands On Helping through Payroll Giving allows Macmillan to make a committed effort in providing practical, medical and financial support, as well as being able to campaign for better cancer care. The extra £1 per pledge that Pounds for Pledges will give us will help a great deal in our cause.”

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Wateraid

WaterAid demands action at the first ever High Level Meeting on Water and Sanitation

One of the world's most recognisable buildings has been given a shocking makeover by WaterAid and global campaign group End Water Poverty. The image makeover of the White House marked the first ever High Level Meeting on Sanitation and Water which took place in Washington on 21 April. The image is designed to raise greater awareness of the 884 million people who have no access to clean water and the 2.6 billion who have no access to a toilet. This meeting brought together Ministers and policy makers from 30 developed and offered a historic opportunity to tackle the water and sanitation crisis through concrete financial and political action.

Bangladesh: Communities face water scarcity one year on from Cyclone Aila

Tens of thousands of people remain without clean water and sanitation one year on from Cyclone Aila, which battered the coastline of Bangladesh on 23 May 2009. Most of the fresh water sources in the districts of Satkhira and Khulna were contaminated by sea water in the wake of the cyclone and, with no rain in the past eight months, the area is now facing terrible water scarcity. WaterAid has been working to re-excavate fresh water sources, construct disaster resilient ponds, install rainwater harvesting systems, build low-cost latrines and renovate water and sanitation facilities in some of the cyclone shelters to reduce the spread of disease. In the picture opposite Mamunur Rashid, a resident of Satkhira District uses a pond sand filter installed by WaterAid to supply clean water.

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Payroll Giving Quality Mark Awards On The Up

The Institute of Fundraising has announced that a record number of Payroll Giving Quality Mark Award certificates have been distributed in 2010 – 3,347, which is over 1,200 more than last year.

The Quality Marks recognise employers’ commitment to Payroll Giving, awarding participation levels and ongoing promotions. The increase reveals that regardless of the economic downturn Payroll Giving is proving a resilient and effective way for employees to give. In addition, employers further support was shown in the £13 million they added to employees’ contributions throughout 2008/09 – a welcomed boost to UK charities.

Any organisation that has achieved a Bronze, Silver or Gold Quality Mark Award this year is eligible and welcome to enter the National Payroll Giving Excellence Awards. The deadline for entries is 16th July, so employers do still have time to submit their applications to the judging panel. Please contact us for further information and guidance in applying.

Lee Grant, Tax-Effective Giving Project Manager at the Institute of Fundraising said:

“Payroll Giving really is showing its strength in this recent period of economic uncertainty. We are delighted that so many employers have taken part in Payroll Giving and achieved the high standards demanded of the Quality Mark. I’d urge all those organisations which have embraced Payroll Giving to aim high by entering our National Payroll Giving Excellence Awards this year and join us at the London ceremony in October.”

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