Fundraise Through Your Business

Why support YMCA DLG?

As a local charity our aim is to transform the lives of vulnerable young people, so that they can all belong, contribute and thrive. That takes money. Local businesses that partner with us are a vital source of creativity and energy when it comes to raising funds.

Perhaps you and your staff or colleagues could take part in one of our fundraising events?  Or maybe you could donate some of your time or resources to our cause?  Whatever you choose to do, your support for YMCA DownsLink Group’s local projects and services will directly benefit young people.

What can YMCA DLG offer your company?

A partnership with YMCA DLG will bring you tangible, lasting business benefits and enable you to build on your reputation. Just some of the many benefits could include:

• Staff engagement: Opportunity for staff engagement to increase morale and motivation, attract new talent and keep staff retention rates high.
• Volunteering:   A range of meaningful volunteering opportunities at a local level.
• Brand association: Enhanced brand reputation with customers, suppliers and the wider local communities. By partnering with YMCA you are linking with the oldest and largest youth charity brand in the world. We have over 90% brand recall in the UK and aligning your business with a powerful brand like YMCA with strong brand values will work to your advantage.
• Public Relations: Involvement with a charity can create some great PR and marketing opportunities. Every time your employees take part in fundraising activities there is a story to be told.
• Social media: As a charity with a long history and rich heritage we know the importance of evolving over time. That’s why we’ve established ourselves at the forefront of social media campaigning.

How could your business work in partnership with YMCA DLG?

GIVE money: 

• Hold a one off event at work – eg a cake sale, a mufti day – be creative and put the fun into fundraising
• Adopt a local YMCA project and hold a series of events to support it. You could plan a campaign over twelve months to raise a significant amount of money and profile. Your year of events could include taking part in our Sleep Easy Sleepout, or engaging with Love in a Box, and maybe culminate in a glittering Charity Ball.
• Sponsor a space – our move on hostel in Guildford is undergoing refurbishment and we are looking for local companies who can sponsor a room or space to reduce the costs involved. Can you help? Read more here.
• Payroll Giving is a simple, tax efficient way for your employees to donate regularly to charity directly from their salary. Whatever the size of your business, Payroll Giving is easy to set up and inexpensive to run. We can provide advice on setting up a payroll giving scheme and help you to promote it to your staff.
• Match funding whatever funds your staff raise would speak volumes about the value you place on your involvement with YMCA

GIVE time:

• A great opportunity for team building – send a staff team for a day or half day to work together in a local project – maybe decorating or gardening or something completely different!  Team building can build employee confidence, enhance team working skills while also having a huge impact on the work we do.
• Encourage staff to join our Sleep Easy sleepout – on Friday 24 March 2017 we will stage sleepouts in Brighton, Horsham and Guildford. This small taste of ‘rough sleeping’ leaves a lasting impression on the participants, and the sponsorship they raise will generate vital funds for the local projects.
• We have volunteering opportunities as well – these are advertised on our website

GIVE items:

• Your staff may respond well to collecting items together to create ‘move in’ or ‘move on’ packs – we have wish lists for items that will help our new residents settle in to hostel life. ‘Move on’ packs are invaluable for those who are moving out into more independent accommodation and need a helping hand to get things together.
• In the run up to Christmas filling shoeboxes with small items (Love in a Box) as a gift for a young person living in one of our hostels is a tangible way of showing care and concern.
• Donated goods from your company can help boost our income through sales in our network of charity shops.

GIVE opportunities:

• Can your business offer a work placement or work experience to one of our young people? They need opportunities to get a taste of real work, and one of them may be your next new employee if it works out well!
• Your organisation could support us by providing pro-bono services such as legal advice, marketing and design expertise or facilities for corporate hospitality events.

What can you do next?

Get in touch with us! We would love to show you what we’re doing in your area and explore ways of working together.  We will do whatever we can to support you so that your fundraising initiative gets off the ground well and is effective.

Email us at [email protected] with your contact details and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. If you already have an idea of what you want to do include that too.