Raising Funds

Restore is a charity and is responsible for raising its own funds. In 2007, the budget was around £85,000.

In 2007, the Big Lottery Fund grant Restore had received for 3 years ended and we were faced with the challenge of finding around 80% of our funding for 2008.

Following an appeal by the Presidents of Birmingham Churches Together in November 2007 and applications to a range of charitable trusts, we are delighted to report a very generous response from individuals, churches, charities and trust funds. We do not have all the funds we need for 2008 but we are in a stronger position than in September 2007, when we only had 10% committed of the funding Restore needed for 2008. Our funding base is now more diverse and therefore stronger. We can now consider again the possibility of an additional befriending worker to support women and families.

Restore Fun Fundraising Day — Saturday 26th April 2008
Another strand of our fundraising strategy is to develop community fundraising activities. We are therefore running a Restore Fun Fundraising Day on Saturday 26th April 2008 which aims to raise £3,000 that could be used to meet the cost of Restore’s summer holiday programme of day trips for families and also for our men’s social activities. This will mean that later in 2008 we can hopefully hear more quotes like: “I enjoyed every trip because people like us don’t get to go anywhere like the places where you take us.” (quote from a young participant on Restore’s Summer Holiday Programme). We would like as many people as possible to help us with this new initiative — we won’t achieve our target without the involvement and creativity of many of our supporters.

We now have 3 ideas for the Restore Fun Fundraising Day on 26th April 2008. One is a central event, the other two are events that can be organised around the city:

Many Voices - a multilingual sponsored sing and read (sponsorship is for the number of languages used at the whole event) at St Philip's Anglican Cathedral from 11.30am — 1.30pm. We hope that Many Voices will be a time of celebration, worship and awareness raising. We are still looking for people to sing and read in as many languages as possible. We especially need more people who are willing to collect sponsorship.

Media Melee Meals - dinner parties (or buffets) with international food and between courses a selection of newspaper articles giving a range of viewpoints on asylum issues are distributed to generate discussion. We will produce a pack with recipes (‘donated’ by the World Friends group in Selly Oak) and newspaper articles. If you have friends who enjoy a good discussion and you would like to organise one of these events in your home, please contact Jeremy for a pack.

Around the World in 80 words - we are producing a pack for children and young people to have a sponsored spell using either 25 countries from whence refugees have come (for younger children) or the 192 member countries of the United Nations (for older children).

YOUR IDEAS FOR FUNDRAISING........... We are still open to supporters devising their own events and activities to raise funds for Restore on that day. And some encouragement for you — such events do work! In December 2007, a group of supporters ran a Tombola at their local farmers market to raise awareness of Restore’s work and they also raised over £150 for Restore.