The 2027 Hospice Aid UK Calendar Is Here!
Our 2027 calendars have arrived, and we’d love you to have one.
A calendar seems such a simple thing, doesn’t it? You hang it on a wall, you write birthdays on it, you turn the page each month without thinking much about it. But this one pays for things hospices struggle to find the money for, and we’d like to tell you what those things are, because we think you should know exactly where your donation goes.
What do hospices actually do?
Most people picture a hospice as somewhere you go right at the very end. That’s only a small part of it.
A hospice team gets someone’s pain under control so they can eat a proper meal, or sleep through the night, or sit up and talk to their family without struggling. They visit people at home, often several times a week, so that someone doesn’t have to spend their last months on a hospital ward. They run day services, so that people who are very ill still get to be somewhere that isn’t always their own bedroom. They give carers, usually a husband, wife, son or daughter who hasn’t slept properly in weeks, a few days to rest. And they look after the family afterwards, for months, long after everyone else has stopped ringing.
None of it is charged to the family. Not a penny.
Why are donations their lifeblood?
This is the part that surprises people. Hospices aren’t fully funded by the NHS.
On average, a hospice receives only around a third of its money from the health service locally. The rest it has to raise itself, through charity shops, raffles, sponsored walks, gifts left in wills and donations from people in its own community. Every bed, every home visit, every hour of counselling depends on money that somebody, somewhere, chose to give.
That was hard enough when times were good. It’s much harder now. Nearly two thirds of independent adult hospices ended the 2023 to 2024 financial year in deficit, and beds have been closing as a result. Our blog post ‘Why Are Hospices Closing Beds?‘ goes into what that means in practice.
So, when we say donations are a hospice’s lifeblood, we don’t mean it as a turn of phrase. Without them, the beds close. Sadly, we’ve watched it happen.
What does your calendar actually buy?
Hospices don’t usually come to us for the big, obvious things. They come to us for the practical ones. A syringe driver so someone’s pain relief can be managed properly at home. A specialist mattress. Hours of bereavement counselling for a family after the funeral, when everybody else has gone back to work. Garden furniture, so that a patient can sit outside with their grandchildren on a warm afternoon.
Those requests land on our desk throughout the year, and whether we can say yes depends entirely on what supporters like you have given us. Last year, our calendar raised much needed funds for UK hospices, and that paid for things like a portable bladder scanner for the Princess Alice Hospice, an emergency grant to Isabel Hospice in Welwyn Garden City to support their children’s bereavement service, and a new, long-length Klearside bed for Claire House Children’s Hospice. We’ve been funding hospices for more than 25 years, and we’ve helped more than 100 of them along the way.
That’s the whole point of the calendar. Small amounts, a lot of people, and something that makes a real difference at the hardest time of someone’s life.
What we ask for a Hospice Aid UK calendar
We don’t put a rigid price on our charity calendars. We never have. Everything we do runs on what people choose to give, so we’d far rather you asked for one and gave whatever you feel it’s worth.
If you’d like a suggestion, most people give around £10. If you can give a little more, we’d be delighted. Every extra pound goes straight into the fund for the next hospice request that lands on our desk. But we’re well aware that money may be tight this year, so please only give what you can afford. Either way, do still please ask for a calendar. We’d much rather it was on your wall than sitting in a box in our office.
How to ask for yours
1. Online at eBay here, where you can give whatever you’d like to.
2. By phone on 0845 606 0510. We’re a small team, so you’ll get a real person to help you.
3. By post, with a cheque made payable to Hospice Aid UK, sent to 1st Floor, 48 Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1JF. Do let us know how many you’d like.
Postage is included.
Order your calendar before 18th December 2026 and it should reach you in good time for Christmas.
If you’re able to support our work, don’t forget to tick the Gift Aid box ✅
An easy gift for the person you never know what to buy for
Calendars post extremely well. They’re light, they fit in an envelope, and almost everybody uses one. If you have a neighbour, a colleague or an aunt who insists they don’t want anything, this is a kind way round it. Ask for five calendars and your Christmas gifts brighten up a kitchen or office wall while helping our amazing hospices across the UK all year.
If you’ve got a staff room or a reception desk at work, a small pile of calendars placed beside the kettle tends to disappear quickly. Tell us how many you need and give whatever your team can put together between you.
If a calendar isn’t for you
Some people would rather give, and that’s every bit as welcome. You can donate at PayPal, and if you’re a UK taxpayer, adding Gift Aid means we receive an extra 25p for every pound at no cost to you. Our Gift Aid blog post explains how that works.
A few pounds a month is worth more to us than you might think. It lets us tell a hospice “Yes” straight away, instead of asking them to wait until the next appeal comes in.
Thank you
Hospices are having a really tough year. Several have closed beds, and some have closed altogether. The people who help keep the rest going are, in the main, supporters like you asking for a calendar, or setting up a regular donation of a few pounds a month. We don’t take that generosity lightly, and we’re so grateful to every single one of you for your tremendous support.
At Hospice Aid UK, we’ve spent over two decades making sure hospices can be there when families need them. With your fabulous help, we can keep going.
If you’d like to know more about our work, explore our website or get in touch at info@hospiceaid.org.uk.
Find out more about our partnerships for businesses of all sizes and how to choose Hospice Aid UK as your Charity of the Year.