Hello from Give Blood 4 Good!
Can you believe that there are only two months left of 2023? We know that it’s been a little while since we last shared a newsletter with you all, but with this year flying by, we’ve got a lot of Give Blood 4 Good updates for you, so stay tuned!
Our team has been working hard over the last couple of months to line up our Bloody Brilliant Uni Squad (BBUS) programme for the 2023/24 academic year, launch year two of our Young Ambassador Programme, as well as continue to support companies organise blood drives.
You may have also seen that Give Blood 4 Good turned three in May, for which we wanted to do something special. To celebrate, we worked with Bone Monkey (see more of his work here https://www.bonemonkey.uk/) to create a lovely new logo and suite of materials to give our charity a refresh and whole new brand identity. We hope you have noticed this across our social media channels and website, and that you love it as much as we do!
Finally, one of our biggest achievements this year has to be completing #Challenge10000 in April. This was a huge milestone for us, and we can’t thank everyone who has supported us and donated blood enough for us since 2019 - we wouldn’t be where we are today without each and every one of you.
To hear more about all the great things we’ve been up to in 2023, read on!
But first, an important update - Blood Ball 2024!
We are already SO excited for Blood Ball next year, and hope that you can all join us for a wonderful evening to celebrate Give Blood 4 Good. Check out all the important event details you need to know below:
- 🗓️ Date: Saturday 4th May 2024
- 🏰 Location: Prestonfield House, Edinburgh
- 🎟️ Tickets: available to purchase in packages of four, six and 10 at £85 per person. We have also recently released individual tickets, however please note if you decide to purchase one of these, it does not guarantee that you will be able to sit with someone you know.
- 🏆 Sponsorship: two packages available.
- 💃 Good times: guaranteed!!!
Purchase your tickets here to make sure you don’t miss out: www.giveblood4good.org/bloodball2024
We would love to have as many corporate sponsors for the event as possible. If you, or anyone you know, would be interested in purchasing a corporate package or providing sponsorship for the ball then we would love to hear from you! We are happy to provide details of our corporate packages on request. Get in touch at hello@giveblood4good.org.
It’s going to be a fantastic evening of celebrating and raising money to help our team continue our work to inspire more young people to start donating blood from a younger age. We can’t wait to see you all there!
Our #BloodyBrilliant Uni Squad is smashing it!
We are so proud of our Edinburgh and Aberdeen Bloody Brilliant Uni Squads (BBUS) for everything they achieved during the 2022/23 academic year. They did an incredible job raising awareness of blood donation among their peers, with a few of their top highlights being that they:
- 🩸 Encouraged a total of 310 blood donations, saving or improving up to 930 lives
- 🎤 Hosted a pub quiz in Edinburgh raising £146 for #GB4G
- 👩🏫 Held presentations with sports clubs and societies to reinforce the importance of blood donation
- 🏢 Organised a stall at Edinburgh University library, encouraging 70 students to book an appointment to give blood in one day
We are so excited that our BBUS has already kicked off their work for the 2023/24 academic year. At the beginning of September, we held our induction for the new and continuing BBUS team members. It was a fantastic day where our volunteers got together with some great ideas, but more importantly enthusiasm, for their work this academic year. We are also very excited to be expanding our BBUS programme to also include Glasgow, so that we can continue to raise awareness of blood donation and support more young people start their blood donation journey sooner.
It's no surprise that our BBUS has already hit the ground running this year. They’ve already organised a stall at the Edinburgh University Library to tell their fellow students all about blood donation, and to encourage them to book an appointment to donate. Over the course of the day, our BBUS helped an outstanding 76(!!) students book their appointment to give blood, which could save or improve up to 228 lives - incredible! We can’t wait to see what else they do to encourage more students to donate blood!
It's been a great start for our Young Ambassador Programme
Over summer, our Communications and Engagement Officer Megan Petursdottir visited The Glasgow Academy, Jordanhill and the Anderson High School to speak with their S5/6 students and tell them more about why blood donation is so important, and encourage them to take part in our Young Ambassador Programme. So far, we’ve had a total of 60 students sign up to take part. They’ve already made great progress on the programme, and we’re so excited to hear how they get on!
While Megan was in Shetland, she also spoke to BBC Radio Shetland about the launch of our Young Ambassador Programme at the Anderson High School (AHS), Lerwick. To listen to her full interview, go to: https://www.giveblood4good.org/press-releases
We can’t wait for more students across Scotland to learn more about why donating blood is so important through our Young Ambassador Programme, so that more people feel well-informed about the process and are empowered to start their blood donation journey as soon as they’re able to at 17.
If you would like to discuss running our programme at your school, we’d love to hear from you! Contact mpetursdottir@giveblood4good.org for more details.
A fantastic fundraiser - Katie and Ben’s Head Shave
Earlier this year, Katie and Ben completed a full Head Shave to raise money for Give Blood 4 Good, while improving awareness of the impact blood donations can have on people living with cancer. In total, they raised a phenomenal £2,700 for Give Blood 4 Good.
We are so grateful to Katie and Ben for choosing us as their charity to fundraise for. The money they have raised has gone directly towards our educational initiatives surrounding blood donation, helping us to encourage more young adults to start their blood donation journey sooner, ultimately saving and improving more lives across the UK. The money Katie and Ben raised from their fundraiser has been fundamental to helping us fund our work this year - we can’t thank them enough!
If you’re interested in running a fundraiser for us, we’d love to hear from you - get in touch at hello@giveblood4good.org!
Raising awareness through corporate presentations
We were recently invited to speak to staff at Lloyds Banking Group to give an informative presentation on blood donation, with a focus on the interaction between blood donation and people from ethic minority backgrounds. Our Compliance Officer Leigh McLevy covered important topics such as who may receive a blood transfusion, what determines your blood type and the importance of encouraging people from ethnic minority backgrounds to become regular blood donors. It was a great session with lots of engagement from the attendees and we received some really positive feedback from the event.
If you are a business or organisation who would benefit from having a seminar from Give Blood 4 Good then we would love to hear from you!
Our first meeting in person - AGM 2023!
In June, we had a very special AGM as it was the first time all seven of us have been in the same room since we officially set up the charity in 2019. It was fantastic to host this year’s AGM in person at Rolls Royce Edinburgh and spend some quality time together, where we discussed all of the great things we achieved last year, as well as what’s to come in 2023/24.
We had a four-hour long meeting where we discussed our successes and challenges, as well as brainstormed what we hope to achieve over the next year.
While working virtually has been beneficial for us in so many ways, all being in the same room reminded us how incredibly valuable face-to-face time is, and we’re already looking forward to the next time we can all get together!
Leigh’s Robertson’s Trust talk
In July, our Compliance Officer Leigh McLevy had the honour of giving the keynote speech at The Robertson’s Trust event to celebrate 30 years of their incredible Journey to Success programme.
Having been part of the programme herself, Leigh has brought invaluable experience to the work we do at Give Blood 4 Good, and we are so grateful that she had the opportunity to share our mission with some of the inspiring people who were in attendance at the event. Leigh talked about how the Robertson Trust have supported her in her professional journey over the years and how the work of Give Blood 4 Good interacts with the Robertson Trust’s values.
How else could you support us in 2023?
Would you be interested in joining our team as a Fundraising Officer?
We are still looking for a dynamic, ambitious and motivated Fundraising Officer to join our team and deliver the planned increase in income required to execute our growth strategy. The Fundraising Officer’s main responsibilities will be to raise core and restricted income from charitable trusts and grants, develop corporate and strategic partnerships, as well as manage the personal donations we receive.
Interested in learning more? Get in touch at hello@giveblood4good.org.
We’d love for you to consider fundraising for Give Blood 4 Good
If you have an idea about how you would like to raise money for Give Blood 4 Good, we would love to hear from you.
If you do decide to fundraise for us, we can provide you with a fundraising pack which will include a number of goodies, such as a Give Blood 4 Good t-shirt (this could be a running vest or normal t-shirt – you get to choose!).
To find out more, please email us at hello@giveblood4good.org. We look forward to hearing from you!
How to organise a blood drive
Blood drives are a fantastic way to have a positive impact, save lives and support your friends, family and colleagues in doing something amazing. We are currently in the process of developing blood drive packages to suit any group, from a sports club to a large company. These packages will come in different sizes, and include different amounts of merchandise, information leaflets and other exciting incentives to help encourage your group to donate.
If you are interested in running a blood drive, no matter how big or small (remember, three’s a crowd!) we’d love to hear from you. We can provide resources about blood donation, social media assets, as well as a booking link to track the number of people who sign up to donate. This way you can get people from all over the UK and the world to take part in your blood drive. If you would like to organise a blood drive, please complete the following form and we will get in touch: www.giveblood4good.org/organise-a-blood-drive
Monetary donations
Give Blood 4 Good is a not-for-profit charity run by the goodwill and support of our volunteers. Monetary donations allow us to produce marketing and education materials in order to spread our message and increase the number of people donating regularly, as well as develop initiatives such as our Young Ambassador Programme. There are so many reasons why someone might not be able to donate blood. If you can’t contribute through a physical blood donation, you could consider donating money to Give Blood 4 Good as an alternative. To donate, please go to: https://www.giveblood4good.org/support