£400 from second hand clothes!

So as I have mentioned before, I am going with the charity HCPT (handicapped children's pilgrimage trust) to Lourdes, France, next week and as I mentioned in my Just an UPDATE post we have only just reached our target amount of £9500 between the group of us (19 people)! Anyways I managed to raise my share of the money, by doing events like holding coffee mornings, babysitting and house sitting etc and also by running a clothes sale!

We managed to persuade most of the people in my year to donate clothes and items like scarves and jewellery pieces and then organised the event at school to be held over a week at lunch time breaks. It took lots of organising and preparation but we managed to raise around £400 !! And we actually have a lot of stock left over and much of this we will be taking to India to give to the children at our sister school so even more people can benefit from the donations! The event was much like a charity shop at school. A little like the photo below but a little neater and in a smaller classroom! But you get the idea!

If anyone is looking for fund raising ideas this is defiantly a good idea and with the right pricing can raise a lot of money! My tips would be to keep pestering people until the stock is brought in, I managed t annoy many friends by my constant texts and emails reminding people to look through their wardrobes and bring in items to sell but I'm sure they will tell you it was worth it in the end as it got the job done! Also ensure everything is in good condition and try and get some higher end brands like Hollister, Jack wills and Topshop because these are the items that will attract the students and the names are great to put on the posters! Another tip is be prepared to lower your prices! I would defiantly recommend starting at a low to reasonable price to draw in the crowd and you don't want stock left over if you don't have anywhere to keep it!

Anyone else fund raising for anything? Let me know! And remember what is one persons junk is an others treasure! LOVE LIBBY X 

Not my images - credit to google images to represent my similar event!

Can I persude YOU to donate blood with economic or moral incentives?

Many millions of people spend time, effort and money into helping others and taking part in voluntary activities, myself and I can imagine may of you included. We help by donating what we can, usually time and money but why not try something new and give other life changing things...such as blood!

The supply for blood simply does not cover the demand and since there is no alternative for real human blood that is so vital in saving many lives it is up to you to help and get involved to help give others a second chance! It is so wonderful the way humans can help each other out and it is wonderful how today's technology can help us to save others and we don't have to all be doctors to do this!

Only 5 - 10% of eligible individuals do donate blood (in the western world) (and this number is only 3% in the US) and I would really love to see this number increase so lives aren't left hanging on a thread waiting for a blood donation that can be easily given by another healthy human.

If YOU needed blood you would expect  some to be there ready and waiting to save you. So do most people, but for some they will be forever waiting for a donor like you. Blood can save lives. When I'm old enough to donate I know I will because if I ever need it, I want blood to be available to help. Give blood now. Save lives now. 

As I am currently only 16, in the UK where I live, I am not yet eligible to give blood for another few months but I can assure you as soon as I can.. I will. I don't see a valid reason not to! But until I turn 17 I am here to persuade those of you who are eligible to give blood and to briefly discuss whether economic incentives can encourage people to donate.


So why do we do any deed? Well the simple answer is to get something in return. ie. there is no such thing as a selfless deed (in my opinion). So when we give blood not only do the patients receive a second chance at life but YOU also benefit! usually just the fact that ou are interally happy that you can help others. Economics would suggest that as reward increases, so does supply, but also on the other hand psychology suggests that economic incentives can destroy the sense of 'gift' which actually reduces the quantity of blood donations.

EVIDENCE:
In Italy, donors are all entitled to have a paid day off work on the day of donation. The data shows that employees ( those eligible for benefit) make an average of one extra donation per year. This results in a 40% increase of supply! I personally feel this incentive gives people a benefit to donate without it feeling like they are only giving blood in order to gain themselves as really they aren't gaining anything in terms of pay (they just aren't loosing pay by donating!).

However another Italian study showed hypothetical rewards such as a direct cash or a voucher to the same value could stop a small percentage of donors donating ( 3.5% would stop if a voucher was issued and 13% is cash was given). I feel these results show that most donors are not deterred by material rewards and hopefully the gain would be more if rewards such as vouchers were given. Comment below on how would you would respond?

 Medals could also be used as a non economic but rather social reward with some donors receiving medals in public. This award is much more effective than cash/voucher awards suggesting that social image is more important in motivating potential donors. Personally this would have no effect on my frequency of donating but how do you feel?


US studies show that any promotions can increase the number of donors by 15-20%. supporting the theory that economic incentives do increase the amount of people willing to give blood.


I can't wait to give blood and I hope I have managed to persuade some of you to donate too. Please comment below on what you views are on rewarding donors and what would put you off or encourage you to donate!

Go on to http://www.blood.co.uk/ if you live in the UK to find out information and where your local center is!

THANKS FOR READING! PLEASE FOLLOW AND COMMENT <3 Libby! XXXX


I would like to give credit to my economic review magazine for the data I have quoted in this post but I can assure you that the post is still in my own opinion and nothing was directly copied from the article by Nicola Lacetera and Mario Macis.

£200 for a mornings work!?

I have mentioned this before but for anyone who is not aware, I am currently doing heavy fundraising for a charity called HCPT - or the handicapped children pilgrimage trust (click to website link). I have already raised a lot of money for this charity and I will hopefully be accompanying the charity and many children during my Easter holidays to Lourdes for a week to spend time caring and enriching the lives of the people there. Please have a look on the website if you are in the UK and would be interesting in joining the organisation next year on the annual pilgrimage! You can join whether you are religious or not even though it is catholic charity! I did!

Anyway.... I managed to organise and hold a coffee morning and invited my mums local friends over for hot drinks and cake. It was even more of a success than I had hoped and I raised £200 by donations!! with some people who could not make it offering to donate next time I see them anyway! And the cost for the coffee morning was only just over £10 which my mum kindly paid for as her contribution.

My fundraising profits!!! :D

I chatted to each of my mums friends and ensured they knew what they were giving their money to and told them about the charity. If you are thinking of doing a coffee morning or event similar which will rely on donations this is a must, as the people do not want to feel you mum or someone else is doing all the work and talking for you! Emphasise the effort you put in for the preparation and baking etc involved and show you know what the charity is about and the good it does! SELL THE CHARITY!

 I was frantically baking all Monday for it. I made a batch of white chocolate chip brownies, which all went so sorry I forgot to photograph them! A Victoria sponge cake, which so many people said it was one of the best cakes they had ever tasted! And finally I made a batch of flapjacks!

This is the only food that was left plus a handful of biscuits! SUCCESS!

As pictured below, I had this money box on the table with a post-it saying 'any donations are greatly appritiated'. This is a good technique to use as it reminds them to donate and also 100000x better than not having one and people awkwardly handing you the money or leaving it on the side! Also this money box ensured that people didn't have to worry about others seeing what they put in and feeling bad for only donating a small amount, I would rather people felt happy about the morning and be looking forward to another!

My collection pot!

 If anyone has any other fundraising ideas defiantly let me know! And if you have ever done any fundraising events comment too! Please feel free to ask any questions on my fundraising in general or the coffee morning if you were thinking of holding a similar event yourself! I hope this post has inspired some of you to do a mornings work and help a good cause!

XO Love Libs! XO