Could Your Workplace Support a Hospice This Autumn?

The summer’s almost over, September beckons and the diary is starting to fill up again. In offices, shops, warehouses and workshops around the country, people are starting to think about autumn and, dare we say it, even winter. It’s also the time of year when lots of workplaces pick a good cause to get behind. If you’re still deciding on who to support, we’d love you to consider the work we do at Hospice Aid UK. We’re the charity that funds hospices nationwide, helping them with vital equipment, training and emergency support when it’s needed most.

You don’t need to work for a big company with a fundraising committee. A team of four in a village accountancy firm can do just as much good as a factory of four hundred. Here’s how any workplace, whatever its size, can get behind hospice care and feel part of something that matters.

Why do workplaces make such good fundraisers?

A shared challenge really does bring a team together. People get talking to colleagues they’d normally only nod to by the kettle or see pop up on a Zoom/Teams call. Before you know it, a bit of friendly competition creeps in, and there’s real satisfaction in raising money side by side for something worthwhile.

A workplace Charity of the Year reaches new people, too. When your team fundraises, word spreads to their friends, families and customers, plenty of whom won’t have heard of Hospice Aid UK before. For a small charity like ours, that reach is worth a great deal. And customers do tend to warm to a business that gets behind a local cause.

What is a Charity of the Year, and how do you choose one?

If you’ve not chosen one before, a Charity of the Year is the cause your workplace gets behind for the next twelve months. Some firms hold a staff vote to decide; in smaller places it might be sorted out over a cup of tea. However you decide who to support, you’re choosing one charity to rally round and make it the focus of your business fundraising for the year.

If you’d like that to be us, it’s an easy suggestion to put forward. Raise it at a team meeting, tell everyone a little about what we do, and explain why hospice care matters to you. Often the thing that wins colleagues over most isn’t a polished pitch at all. It’s someone telling colleagues about their first-hand experience of seeing their mum, a friend or a workmate looked after by specialist hospice teams – and the comfort that brought whilst dealing with one of the most difficult times.

Which workplace fundraising ideas work best?

There are plenty of workplace fundraising ideas for you to try, but the ones that work best tend to be the simplest. Here are a few that we’ve found go down well with office teams:

A dress-down day. A pound or two to swap work clothes for jeans on a Friday.
An office bake-off. Everyone brings in their best effort, the rest of the team pays to taste and vote, and someone walks away very pleased with themselves.
A sponsored step or cycle challenge. Set a team target for the month, maybe the distance to the coast, and cheer each other on.
A quiz night. The back room of a pub, an entry fee, a raffle – let the competitiveness and fun begin!
A sweepstake on a big race or match. Simple, and it more or less runs itself. The Grand National, the Oxford/Cambridge boat race, FA Cup … you get the gist.
A skills swap. People offer favours, from dog walking to spreadsheet rescue, and others bid for them.
A bring-your-dog-to-work day. A small donation to bring them in, and a happier office for it.

Pick one, stick a date in the diary, and you’re off.

Hospice Aid UK – The Charity that funds Hospices Nationwide

What if You’re a Small Business or Sole Trader?

Not everyone works in an office, and you don’t need to. Some of the warmest support we get comes from small businesses whose customers know them by name. A hairdresser can give a day’s tips. A café can put a ‘hospice cake’ on the counter and collect donations. A tradesperson can add a pound from every job over a month. Whatever you choose, tell your regulars what you’re up to and why, and let word of mouth do the rest.

If you’re able to support our work, don’t forget to tick the Gift Aid box ✅

Could Payroll Giving Make Fundraising even Simpler?

Payroll giving is one of the easiest ways to support us, and hardly anyone seems to know it exists. If your employer offers it, your donation comes straight out of your salary before tax. So a £10 gift actually costs a basic-rate taxpayer £8, but we still receive the full tenner! It’s steady, dependable support we can plan around, and once you’ve set it up you can forget all about it. Worth asking your HR or payroll team whether it’s something they offer.

Will your employer double what you raise?

A lot of companies will match what their staff raise, pound for pound, up to a certain amount, and it’s surprising how many people never think to ask about this. It’s one of the quickest ways there is to turn one bake-off into two.

It’s nice and straightforward for the business too. There’s no special scheme to set up; the company just agrees to match what’s raised, usually up to a set limit. And because a gift to charity can be deducted from the company’s profits before Corporation Tax, matching your fundraising costs the business less than the headline figure suggests. Your company’s finance team can confirm the specifics, but for most companies it’s a tax-efficient way to give.

Well worth raising with your company before you begin

How do you get the ball rolling?

Start with a chat. Have a word with your manager, or whoever looks after that sort of thing, and see if they’d like to get involved. Then pick something from the list above, pick a date, and let people know that you’re raising money for Hospice Aid UK. And please do get in touch with us; we’re a small team, and we’re always glad to help.

Whatever your workplace takes on, however modest, it makes such a difference. The money you raise helps hospices care for people at the end of their lives, and supports the families beside them through some of the hardest days they will face.

If your workplace would like to raise money for hospice care this autumn, here are the ways to get involved. We’d love to hear from you.

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.