We have grown as a charity so much over the last few years, that sometimes I find it really difficult to accept it is all real. To have a workforce and voluntary team, with premises we are proud of, is something I never thought we'd be able to afford.
Of course this has all come at a cost, and continuous fundraising is so vital to our prolonged existence.
To help us grow we are looking at creating a couple of new voluntary roles, solely with the emphasis on growing our fundraising activities and improving things even further.
One of the positions would be someone to act as a fundraising co-ordinator to support and encourage our existing supporters to actively fundraise on our behalf and take some pressure off the existing team. The sort of thing we envisage this role encompassing would include to harness the energy and goodwill of supporters and ask them to fundraise on our behalf. To assist in this role we are looking to develop a fundraising kit which gives suggestions to volunteers on how to raise funds in different ways, eg sponsored walk/run/cycle etc, coffee mornings, garden parties, whatever. There are plans for a monthly challenge for fundraising, whilst being able to keep a record of how much is raised and share how the money is spent to maintain enthusiasm, will be another exciting and fun part of the position.
This is a very important job and for the right person could be very rewarding, enjoying the contact with our supporters and sharing with them the enthusiasm for SHAK. You would need to be pretty competent on social media as that is the obvious way to both recruit people and then feed them ideas and challenges to keep them involved, whilst some experience of fundraising would also be advantageous.
The other role we have is for someone who might promote events to raise awareness as well as to fundraise. This would include stands at village & town shows, fairs and other events to both raise awareness and fundraise. Think up and promote events at our HQ premises in Alnwick and other fun activities such as an open garden which combines “meet the dogs”, maybe a promises auction; anything goes here, you will be limited only by your imaginaton.
If you would like more information on either voluntary position then please email office@shak.org.uk
Thank you for your support.