Unique and Fun Christmas Gift Ideas
The Daisy Chain Project is offering a Christmas Card designed by Sophie Bodoc, aged 6.
It’s getting nearer: Christmas. A time for joy, sharing, family…..and scrambling to find presents for everyone!
Now that the shopping season is in full swing, we thought you might like some suggestions for unique Christmas gifts you can get for your loved ones while also supporting some fantastic causes. Read on to find out more!
The Power of Social Media
On Sunday 30 October, People’s Postcode Trust launched their Vote That Counts campaign. Inviting 12 chosen charities to compete for £50,000 funding, the winner will be the charity that secures the highest number of online votes – simple as that.
Putting the power of choice in the hands of the voters – not the Trust – is a sign of the social media times. And is very telling of how it has evolved over the last four years.
In the not so distant past, social media was considered an optional addition; something companies could dip in and out of if they had the inclination. Nowadays, its power is leaving traditional advertising and PR in the dark.
The Vote That Counts campaign is a very good illustration of how clever social media can really make a difference. Despite the fact that the campaign was officially launched in a four-page spread in the high-circulation Sunday Mail, it is the use of the charities’ individual Twitter feeds that is showing the biggest change in their rankings.
It is much easier to incentivise supporters with Twitter than print. Arguably, followers already have an interest in the brand and are more easily encouraged to spread the word. If these Twitter teasers are backed up by current website content, you can arm your brand advocates with all the information needed to reach and educate audiences that brands alone cannot achieve.
The ‘ease’ of online social media also cannot be denied. How simple it is to move from Twitter to the Vote That Counts website is perhaps one of the contributing advantages. And its ability to speak directly to the audience is certainly another; who wouldn’t want to feel like your favourite brand was talking directly to you?
All eyes are locked on the Vote That Counts campaign website to see which of the charities can best harness their social media expertise and reap the rewards – are you following the #votethatcounts craze?
What does charity mean to you?
Charity – giving to, being part of, supporting, raising money for… There are so many ways of being involved in charity.
The old saying goes “Charity begins at home”, but perhaps it is more exact to say it begins on your doorstep. One look into the outside world will throw up a vast array of people and planet issues, which need our tender loving care.
No ONE person can fix the issues which the planet, and its people, are facing. But the support from ONE person to a charity can make a HUGE difference to the work the charity, as a whole, is doing to tackle important issues facing people and planet.
The weight of the environmental issues facing planet Earth doesn’t’ just fall on the shoulders of charit
ies though.
Companies across the world are being asked to ramp up their Corporate Social Responsibility efforts. Many organisations are making minimal efforts. Other organisations take looking after the future of their planet extremely seriously, and see CSR as a very small aspect of protecting our planet and its people.
People’s Postcode Lottery falls within the second category. As a charity lottery, its mission is to raise funds for charities and good causes, and increase awareness of their work.
So to ‘practice what they preach’, the organisation continues to build on the ways charities can benefit from People’s Postcode Lottery. The launch of the Dream Fund has seen charitable projects being awarded £100,000 to realise their dream idea. The creation of People’s Postcode Trust, a grant giving charity, has ensured that smaller charities, who are very often trying to tackle and support issues going on at community level, can receive funding. The formation of the Green Challenge has seen five projects which are environmentally sustainable be awarded more than €500,000.
The charities which receive funding from People’s Postcode Lottery, are supported before, during and after grants are awarded.
People’s Postcode Lottery encourages staff to volunteer, allowing them to use their office time to support charities. Charities are frequently invited to present to the staff, allowing staff a greater understanding of the aims and objectives of those charities, and underlining the importance of protecting our planet, and its people.
Organisations that continually encourage staff to change their way of life, so to protect this planet and all that is on it, assist in underlining the importance of every individual changing their perception of ‘charity’, and involving themselves in all aspects of charity that they possibly can.
So, the next time you read about an individual, or an organisation adopting a greener way of life, wonder – “Is that the best you can do?”
