Fundraising . . .
. . . we rely very heavily on donations from the public.
Although we receive a grant from Stockport Council Social Services towards our maintenance, this only covers a part of our annual costs. These include rent and maintenance on the office premises which we rent from the Council, and the costs of running the service. The largest of these is the telephone charges, but we also need to cover office expenses, the costs of regular training for new and existing volunteers, and contributing to the travel and attendance costs for conferences and meetings.
To cover these extra costs we must raise about £7000 a year from donations and fundraising activities. It is always a great help to the branch when a volunteer helps with fund raising 
occasionally, rather than leaving it to someone else. We have a number of regular donors and a 100 Club whose members make regular donations in return for a regular monthly prize draw. However, most of our extra funds are raised by the activities of the volunteers themselves. This involves collecting from the public at local supermarkets, raffles for prizes donated by the volunteers or by local businesses, and fundraising dinner/dances, which are also good social occasions for the volunteers and our friends. We have also benefited from the sponsored activities of a number of volunteers and their friends and family members who have run, walked, cycled and parachuted for our benefit.
The Branch Committee is constantly looking for ways to raise money to cover our costs, and we would like to hear from anyone who has new suggestions to make or can offer their assistance. For more information please see: