A day in the life of…Louise – Community Fundraiser

Louise, our Community Fundraiser, has shared a day in her life at work! Read on to find out what her role involves on a daily basis.

07:45 Today’s an office day, so I jump in my car and begin my journey to Basingstoke, hoping that by leaving a little bit earlier I can miss most of the rush hour traffic. On my way in I need to stop at the storage unit to pick up some resources for the weekend, our St. Michael’s Hospice flags and some teddies for the teddy tombola will be perfect.

08:20 I arrive at our storage unit, grab the flags and teddies and jump back in the car to make my way around the corner to the fundraising office.

08.30 Now I’m at the office, I plug my laptop in and make myself a cup of tea whilst it loads. Then I check my emails and write my to-do list for the day.

09:00 I start the day with calling the local primary schools to see if they are interested in taking part in our Mad Hair Day and Reindeer Run events. Mad Hair Day is great fun, the students and staff come into school with crazy hair and donate to the Hospice to take part. Each year the hairstyles get crazier! Our Reindeer Runs are great events for the whole family and give a real kickstart to Christmas, this year we’re encouraging schools to host their own for the students to take part in. So a quick call to each school to see if they’re interested and have any questions helps encourage them to take part.

10.00 I call a supporter, who held a coffee morning for us the day before, to have a chat and see how the event went. It was a huge success, they raised a lot more than they expected and didn’t have any cake leftover – so they’re thrilled! They talk about making it an annual event, which is wonderful news.

10:30 One of our wonderful volunteer van drivers stops by the office to see if we need anything taken to our Furniture Store to be distributed to our shops. I give him some posters we’ve made to pop up in the shop windows advertising some upcoming events and he gives me a couple of collection tins that have come back from various shops. We have collection tins in shops, pubs and cafes across North Hampshire, they are a great way of gathering loose change from people out in the community and we really appreciate all the businesses who support us with collection tins.

11:00 We’ve had a notification that a supporter is going to run a marathon for us in a couple of months. After reaching out to learn more about the event and their motivations for wanting to support us, I pop one of our St. Michael’s Hospice running vests in the post for them to wear whilst they’re training and on the day.

11.30 We have our bi-weekly team meeting now, which is a great chance to catch up with the rest of the team about what our supporters are doing for us at the moment. It’s good to hear that sign ups to our events are doing well, we’ve got a new local business supporting us, and our recent mailing is doing well too. I give an update on what our community supporters have been up to, including a group who hosted a choir concert for us, a couple of supporters taking on a Skydive challenge and the success of our most recent supermarket collection.

12.30 Lunchtime! A couple of us from the office go for a lunchtime walk up to the Hospice which is a 5-minute walk from our office, we then go around the back of the Hospital and loop back through the woods. It’s a beautiful day and gives us a chance to catch up about our weekends before focusing again in the afternoon. Once back at the office it’s time for a quick bite to eat and a bit of cake.

13.00 Now that our Supporter Care team have had time to input all of the donations we’ve had onto our database, its time to write some thank yous to our supporters. Each supporter gets a thank you card sent to them that confirms the amount they raised and the impact it’ll have on the Hospice.

14.00 I’m off out to visit a supporter who’s hosting a Golf Day for us at the end of the month. We chat about their plans for the day, including what resources they’ll need from us and the prizes they’ve managed to source for their raffle. We’ll go along once everyone’s returned to give a short talk on the impact their support will make at the Hospice, and I also suggest a couple of other businesses to approach for raffle prizes. He likes the idea of doing a ‘Beat the Pro’ and ‘Nearest Pin’ challenge as well and is happy to source a couple more prizes for these events.

15.30 Back at the office, I get a phone call from a supporter who wants to host a charity darts match to raise money in memory of his mother-in-law, who was cared for by us earlier this year. He tells me about the wonderful care his mother-in-law received, and how his whole family was supported too. We have a chat about his plans for the event and we discuss the easiest way of collecting cashless donations is to set up a fundraising page. He also asks for balloons, banners and collection tins for the evening which we arrange for him to pick up in a couple of days.

16.00 I pop to one of our shops to pick up their tombola drum that they’re lending me for the event I’m going to at the weekend. Our shops are a great place to pick up a bargain, so as well as the tombola drum, I end up leaving with a couple of new tops and a puzzle to do in the evening.

16.30 Time to drive home. It’s been a great day catching up with supporters and hearing about the wonderful things they have planned to support us.

Fundraise for us!

Would you like to fundraise for us? From events to challenges there are so many ways you can help us raise vital funds for your local Hospice, find out more here or contact fundraising@stmichaelshospice.org.uk with any questions you have.