Yorkshire club raise over £1,000 from Covid-19 fund

24th July, 2020

Boroughbridge BC has raised over £1,000 in just five days after signing up to the Active Together joint initiative between Sport England and Crowdfunder, to help clubs financially during the coronavirus outbreak.

The Yorkshire club received support from 36 pledges, which includes £500 of match funding from the Active Together initiative.

Local businesses including a garden centre, butchers and a pharmacy all came forward with donations to support the club’s campaign.

Club representative Brian Johnson, who took on the project for Boroughbridge BC, said: “We saw the project promoted on Bowls England’s Twitter feed and recognised the importance of what this could mean to a Club like ours. As a committee we agreed to aim for £1,000 and to our delight we reached our target in just five days.”

One of the key supporters of Boroughbridge’s campaign was the local Morrisons supermarket, who assisted the club as part of its ‘Community Champions’ initiative which plays an important role in connecting stores with their surrounding communities by leading on local and national charity fundraising.

“Morrisons donated hampers containing children’s toys and chocolates as well as a number of bottles of wine as part of our appeal. They were really helpful to us and it’s certainly worth other clubs making the most of similar initiatives with their local supermarkets,” Brian added.

Brian also approached various local independent shopkeepers including a pharmacy, gift and framing shop who donated items such as fragrance gift sets, a framed 1930s sheet music display, a Katie Loxton reed diffuser and an animal print design pashmina.

“We were overwhelmed at the support we received from the local community, particularly during the current situation” Brian added.

“The great thing about the initiative is that by offering gifts in return for donations, people were getting something they could put to good use as well as supporting us at the same time.”

Brian also praised the support received from Sport England and Crowdfunder for their assistance in setting up the campaign.

He said: “Sport England and Crowdfunder were really helpful to us when we were setting up our page. They offered us advice on how to improve various aspects including uploading photographs before going live, in addition to giving us guidance on how to approach companies for donations. I can’t thank them enough for the support they offered.”

The Sport England initiative aims to help community sport and physical activity organisations who are experiencing short term financial hardship or the ceasing of operations due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

For more information, visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/funds/active-together to start setting up a crowdfunding campaign and apply for up to £10,000 match funding today.

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