The Fire Fighters Charity has launched an urgent appeal for new donors after its usual fundraising income fell by around £200,000 a month during the lockdown period.
The Charity, which offers specialist mental health, physical health and social wellbeing support to members of the UK’s fire services community, receives no government funding and relies on its fundraising income to raise the £10m it needs each year to operate its national services.
However, the cancellation of all face-to-face fundraising and mass participation events over the past few months and for much of the remaining year, means that the organisation’s income is falling short by hundreds of thousands of pounds each month.
Chief Executive, Dr Jill Tolfrey, explained why the Charity decided to launch an urgent appeal to all those across the fire services community, as well as to those who admire and support it: “This is an unprecedented time for The Fire Fighters Charity. We have never before faced such an extended period of time without any traditional fundraising activity and, for an organisation that is almost entirely funded through the generosity of its supporters, we need to find a way to turn this around.
“I am therefore hoping that this urgent appeal will strike a chord with those generous individuals and every member of our incredible fire service family. From frontline firefighters to support and control staff, retired personnel and everyone for whom we provide our services. We will always be there for you when you need us, but right now we need you. Please start donating today and let’s get through this together.”
The Charity’s Urgent Appeal film (below) and its dedicated Urgent Appeal website page asks its supporters to set up a new regular donation, to uplift an existing one or, if not possible, to consider other ways in which they can help it through these challenging times.
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