Easy ways to fundraise for your favourite M.E. charity | 28 September 2018

 

Fundraising without the challenge…

Russell Fleming, Content Manager, ME Association.

We are often asked how people can support the ME Association without needing to do a sponsored event.

For those who are unable to do a physical challenge, or for the times when you just want to help in an easier way; there are now valued alternatives that will still mean you can support your favourite M.E. charity.

We’ve listed them all in the Get Involved section of our website but wanted to highlight several of the newer and perhaps more appealing ways in which you can support the ME Association.

Online shopping:

• eBay,
• easyfundraising,
• Amazon Smile.

Recycling:

• Free postage and/or collection of broken and unwanted jewellery, foreign bank notes, mobile phones, printer cartridges, cameras, gadgets, computer games… even that unwanted car!

Regular donations:

• to the ME Association can still be made via direct debit to help support our main work or for biomedical research (via the Ramsay Research Fund).

Membership:

• Join the ME Association from only £2.00 a month.
• Receive our truly excellent ME Essential magazine.
• And, if you pay your subscription by annual standing order, you can choose 10 free £1 leaflets from the most extensive range on the internet!

Online shopping

eBay for Charity

We are thrilled to announce the relaunch of the ME Association’s charity page on eBay.

And what a colourful launch it is too, with Hatty Rickards selling some of her vibrant tapestry and cross stitch cushions and delightfully dressed rag dolls.

Hatty has generously offered to donate 75% of the proceeds of any sale she makes.

She says, “I have been making tapestry cushions for the last year to sell to raise money for the ME Association but because I am housebound I can’t do a craft stall myself. I would like to get my items sold to help your worthy cause.”

So now she’s set up her stall on eBay – and you can too – just visit our eBay page to review her wonderful crafts and make your purchases!

Donate when making a purchase:

By joining the eBay for Charity programme and making small changes to the way you use eBay, you can make a big difference to the ME Association. Make the ME Association your favourite charity on eBay today!

• You will then be able to directly donate to the ME Association at checkout when you purchase any item, and,
• As your favourite charity, you can easily donate a little extra if you want to do so.

Donate when selling:

You can now list items to sell on the ME Association’s charity page, and then decide how much of the sale price you want to donate to us. When finalising your listing:

• simply turn on the option “Donate a portion to charity”,
• select the ME Association as your choice, and,
• decide what percentage of funds you want to donate.

eBay have produced this short video to help explain what you need to do. All these efforts allow you to easily support our valuable work.

Your donations are tax-deductible and as a charitable seller, eBay rewards your support by offering a fee credit based on your donation percentage to ME Association.

easyfundraising

I don’t know about you, but I can’t get out to visit the supermarket any more, so I have my groceries delivered to my door.

Each time I log-in to my supermarket, easyfundraising is activated, and my grocery spend automatically results in a donation to the ME Association.

• To register: visit the ME Association easyfundraising page and enter your personal details,
• easyfundraising is great for most forms of online shopping so long as the retailer is affiliated,
• When you visit a connected retailer online, a prompt to activate easyfundraising will appear,
• If no prompt appears, you can select easyfundraising at any time from the icon which will be installed on your browser.

Amazon Smile

Having M.E. also prevents me from socialising unless it is online or the occasional phone call with a similarly affected friend or a family member.

I tend to rely on Kindle as socialising has been replaced with reading as and when I can. Kindle is so much easier for me than holding my once-cherished larger print, hard-back books.

Now, with Amazon Smile I can buy my books and support the ME Association. Each time I purchase something from Amazon – that book, special treat or gift for someone – a percentage of my purchase is donated to the charity.

• Visit Amazon Smile,
• You may be prompted to log-in if you are already registered with Amazon or be asked to register if you not,
• Enter ‘Myalgic’ in the ‘Pick your own charitable organisation’ box and press search when prompted,
• You will see the ME Association at the top of the list. Just click ‘select’,
• Ensure you visit Amazon Smile whenever you make a purchase in future (rather than the usual Amazon website). I find it easier to bookmark Amazon Smile on my browser.

You’ll find all the same products on Amazon Smile at all the same prices and Amazon will clearly mark which are eligible for their donation. You won’t need to make any further changes as your shopping cart and your wish lists will automatically be the same.

• If you would like to learn more about Amazon Smile and the opportunity that it offers for you to donate to your favourite charity at no extra cost to you, please click here.

Recycling

In association with

We all like to recycle where we can. If you are having a good clear out, please think about donating those used stamps, pieces of broken jewellery, unwanted foreign bank notes, mobile phones, printer cartridges, cameras, gadgets, computer games, or even your old banger of a car to the ME Association. It’s all pretty straightforward…

Recycling small amounts

We can recycle:

• Any jewellery – gold, silver, costume jewellery, watches, broken and damaged items (like odd earrings, snapped chains or items with missing stones).
• Any unwanted banknotes – old and new, UK and foreign banknotes, including all the pre-Euro notes that are now worthless to you. Please do NOT send coins.

Simply wrap, pack in your own envelope or jiffy bag, no bigger than A5, print and cut out this label and send your package – free of charge.

Recycling larger amounts

If you have larger items to recycle in bulk or wish to start a recycling project with your friends, school or community, then you can donate between 10-30kg free of charge:

• Jewellery & Watches (in any material even if damaged or broken),
• Currency – coins or banknotes, UK and foreign (even if out of circulation),
• Mobile Phones,
• Cameras – old film, digital and video,
• Stamps – loose, single, albums, first day covers, presentation packs, collections, postcard collections,
• Gadgets – Sat-Navs, Ipods, MP3 players, games consoles, games and accessories, Laptops and Tablet Computers.

Once you have gathered between 10-30kg of items, please contact Recycling for Good Causes to arrange for free uplift of items and state that you want proceeds to go to the ME Association.

And, if you want to see that unwanted car recycled – with free collection resulting in a donation to the ME Association – then these are the people to contact:

Give a Car

Have you an old banger that you need rid of? Or a car you no longer want? ‘Give a Car’ has raised more than £2 million for charity.

• It’s an easy way to get rid of your vehicle and raise money for a great cause – at no cost to you.
• Give a Car arrange free collection, then either sell your car at auction or scrap it – with the proceeds going to ME Association.
• Visit the Give a Car website or phone them (020 7736 4242), for more information.

Help and Support

However you choose to help the ME Association we are incredibly grateful for any support you can provide.

Helen Hyland, our Fundraising Manager, is here to help with whatever you decide to do. You can contact her by email or by phone (01280 838964). Or visit the Help and Support section for more information.

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The ME Association

Please help us continue our work

Please donate – whatever you can afford – to help us continue with our work to make the UK a better place for people with M.E. Just click the button below to visit our JustGiving page:

Or why not join the ME Association as a member and become a part of our growing community? For a monthly (or annual) payment you will not only be helping to keep us doing what we do best, but will receive our exclusive ME Essential magazine.

from ME Association
https://www.meassociation.org.uk/2018/09/easy-ways-to-fundraise-for-your-favourite-m-e-charity-28-september-2018/

from https://www.meassociation.org.uk

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