Fri, 11th September, 2020
Charity Booster Appeal
As you know, a £100 card is winging its way to you, to spend in our local economy. The aim is to give local business a much needed boost, and at the same time giving every islander a chance to get something in return for that boost. Maybe a treat, towards a stay in a hotel, a special meal out, a beauty therapy, a blokey thing! We are free to spend it however we like (with the exception of the bookies and online shopping!).
When this was announced, we at the AJC were inundated by people offering to give their £100 to a charity instead, as they didn’t need the money themselves, or were just extraordinarily generous! Regardless, we then began to work with Gov.je to see how this could be achieved without undermining the purpose of the voucher scheme - which is to support a whole range of local businesses and give the economy a boost. But of course charities can do this, or they can give to their clients to do so, but we wanted to make something special about it – spend your voucher on you, and then, if you can afford it donate a little of it to a charity from your own cash.
If everyone in Jersey gave just £10 through this scheme then that would be £1 million to charities, who have lost nearly ALL their fundraising for 2020 – the amount lost by all charities is unquantifiable, but it amounts to more than £1 million!
When you think about it, charities are also part of the local economy, in that they are consumers, they employ staff who spend in the local economy and they give funds to clients who do likewise. But most importantly, charities are a massive part of Jersey society, who spend their time supporting many people, who suffer untold disability, marginalisation and poverty (in relative terms), and if the charities fail then their clients will suffer even more.
We support nearly 300 member charities and non-member charities alike, with funding, with training, with information – an A to Z of charities, from Autism Jersey to Jersey Zoo and everything in between. But there are many very small charities that quite often fly under the radar, and it is the smaller ones, often relying on one big fundraising event per year are the ones that are suffering most. Some bigger charities have good reserves to protect them from adversity, but even those will run out soon! And there is only so much funding available to help them with all the fundraising they have lost.
So this is where you come in! The benefit to you personally supporting a charity in this way is many-fold; it will make you feel good! It will benefit those less fortunate; it could benefit you at a later or bad time in your life; it will benefit the economy doubly.
Check out all our member charities here: https://www.jerseycharities.org/members
Check out ALL registered charities here: https://portal.charitycommissioner.je/Public-Register/
You can donate directly to a charity by contacting them, or you can head to our website for different ways to donate, either directly to a member charity, or to a category of charities, or to us, the AJC. All funds received via the categories will be earmarked for use to charities in that category, or donating to the AJC, all charities will be eligible to apply for funding.
Go on! You know you want to!