Christmas donations to Gardening Leave

[Flighty]

Daveyboi* recently wondered if members would like to make Christmas donations to a suitable gardening charity as we did last year.

Following lots of comments, and various suggestions, a poll was taken and Gardening Leave - http://www.gardeningleave.org/ - chosen as this year's good cause.

If you would like to donate you can do so via this JustGiving page -
http://www.justgiving.com/Michael-Rogers1
- using credit/debit cards or a Paypal account.  If you pay UK tax please click the GiftAid box when you donate.

If you have any problems or questions then please comment here or PM me...Flighty.

*Daveyboi has made a generous offer of a small gift to some members who donate details of which can be seen here -
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,63330.0.html

[Flighty]

[daveyboi]

I must stress this was Betula's Good Idea

All credit must go in that direction to Betula for the original suggestion and running the just giving etc last year along with Flighty.

I only was asking if it was happening again this year ......

Thanks must also got to TonyBloke for organising the poll and to all those who gave last year

[betula]

I think it is great that more people have become involved this year. ;D


Thanks for the lovely words but it takes all of our membership to make it work.

I feel very proud to be a member Of A4A.....we have some great people.

Also proud that we can in our forum name make a donation to others who hopefully will experience all the delights that we do in growing.

[ceres]

Good to see the forum thinking of others less fortunate in these tough times, and spreading it around a bit this year.  Keep up the good work!  :)

[Flighty]

I would like to point out that the JustGiving link shows my name as I've had an account there for some time, and I certainly get no so called kudos for having my name on the webpage.

Another point is that Gardening Leave is one of nearly 7,500 charities, including Perennial and Thrive, that are happy to use JustGiving as although a small fee is charged that is re-invested to raise even more money so that the charity actually ends up with 119% of your gift as you see here
http://www.justgiving.com/about-us/what-it-costs/

[cornykev]

Three cheers for our Four Musketeer's, hip hip.  ;D ;D ;D

[betula]

LOL @ Kev  ;D ;D ;D


Felt I must post as I am amazed that we have raised £90 already.

Thank you so much.

All donations very welcome big or small ........it all adds up.

Oh and don't forget the lovely surprise pressies.

It feels like Christmas already  ;D

[cornykev]

Once my new credit card arrives, ( lost mine the other day) I shall make my donation and lets hope as Grawrc said before, everybody who voted, and more, chip a bit in.   ;D ;D ;D

[SamLouise]

I'm going to make my donation nearer to Christmas so it feels more Christmassy to me  ;D ;D

I do have a question, silly as it may seem, I have been wondering.  Is there a cut-off/closing date and if there is and people donate for 2-3 months leading up to it, does the charity also receive the little bit of interest the donations must generate? 

[betula]

This tells you all about it

http://www.justgiving.com/about-us/what-it-costs/

I am presuming they do not hold on to the donations,I think they get passed on as they come in.I am not sure though,Flighty may know.

It is a very popular way of donating with many fund raisers.

I think this is the very best way to donate when the gift is being given under a collective such as us on this forum....we can all have a share in the fun of seeing how much we have raised.Otherwise it would be just another advert for a charity.

[Flighty]

SamLouise the page will be open for donations until early in the New Year.
That's not a silly question at all!  Regarding when the charity gets the money details are shown here -
http://www.justgiving.com/about-us/how-it-works/for-charities
Clearly if any charity didn't feel that fund raising in this way wasn't cost effective then they wouldn't do it. 

Thanks to everyone who has already donated for getting it off to a great start with £130 raised.  I emailed Gardening Leave to let them know what we were doing and they are most appreciative.  :)

[tonybloke]

Sorted!
thanks Mike for setting this up.  ;)

[betula]

Oh wow...we are up to a £180 now. ;D ;D ;D

[betula]

I was thinking this morning..................oh er,other half always says it is dangerous when I start thinking LOL  ;D

I noticed on Gardening Leave's web site that they welcome donations for a specific item.I rang them up asking if there was anything they particularly wanted.I mentioned the amount we raised last year.

They do have a wish list and someone is going to call me tomorrow to tell me what is on the list.

I would like to see what members think about what is on the list as hopefully it could be something specifically from us.

My own thoughts were maybe a bench or something like that but have no idea what is on this list till tomorrow.

Just thought it would add to the fun.   ;D

[grawrc]

Seems like a good idea. How much did we raise last year? I've forgotten.

[betula]

Around £200 Anne.I thought that was brilliant for our first effort and hopefull we will match that amount this year.   ;D

[Flighty]

Betula well done that's a great idea, and I'll be happy to go with whatever the majority wants to do!  :)

Last year's total was just over £200 plus the GiftAid.

[grawrc]

So it looks like we're on target to do better this year. That's really good.

[cornykev]

£190 now, my credit card arrived today, can I still have 31 please DB.   ;D ;D ;D

[betula]

Hooray for kev's credit card  ;D ;D ;D