Why does the Cobalt Appeal Fund have special significance to you and your staff?

Statistics prove that 1 in 3 of us will have an experience of cancer, either personally or through a close friend or family member, during our lifetime. This means that potentially 1 in 3 of your staff members will benefit from the services provided by the Cobalt Appeal Fund - a local charity, working predominantly in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire.

How we can work together

Regardless of how large or small your organisation is we would love you to get involved.

We would welcome staff’s greeting cards once the occasion has passed, for our volunteer supporters to re-cycle into new ones. Perhaps a collection point could be made at your reception area?

A great way to offer your support could be by covering mailing and/or printing costs, sponsoring one of our events or seconding an employee for a specific project.

You may wish to take part in one of our annual or ongoing events, see our link to Events or read on.

Dress UP for Work Day

Thanks to Zurich Financial Services, Zurich Cares for stepping in to help us with some pre-publicity for the event, I think everyone enjoyed themselves. It’s surprising the number of different ways in which you can offer your support.

We promoted our very first Dress UP for Work Day through the media in January 2006 and really appreciated the involvement of Badham Pharmacy, In2Print, Keith Holland Opticians, the Echo, Somerfield in Charlton Kings and Cotswold District Council on the day. Everyone had great fun “going glam’”, the outfits certainly brightened up a very cold winter’s day at work and we raised almost £800.00 which is a great start.

But come on corporates, let’s see even more of you joining in! It’s a great way to raise money for your local cancer charity and your community.

You can hold your Dress UP for Work event on any day you choose during any month you would like - but please let us know and we will lend our support. When is your Dress UP for Work Day?

Click here for the Dress UP for Work Day poster.

19th Cobalt Relay Marathon Challenge - Midday on Sunday 29th April 2007

Taking place at Cirencester Park, courtesy of The Earl Bathurst. Teams of 10 compete for the awards of Fastest, Slowest and Best Dressed team, each team member running 2.6 miles in relay. You are guaranteed a fun day with refreshments and bouncy castle for the children.

This is a sponsorship event with each runner collecting sponsors or donations in advance and paying a small entry fee which will entitle them to a free t-shirt and goody bag. Great team building, great fun. Register your interest any time, we’ll be ready for you!

Pot Your Pennies – Crack Cancer

We encourage people to save their loose change to make a BIG change by potting their pennies and donating them to our Crack Cancer Campaign. Since Bette and Peter Pickstock started the scheme in 1986 a phenominal £315,012.42 has been raised to benefit cancer patients locally. (correct as at 4th August 2006)

Who’s your office Potty Penny Pincher?

Cheltenham Circular Challenge

organised by Cheltenham Cleeve Vale Rotary Club

Sunday 24th June 2007

How about getting together a Corporate team to walk and collect sponsorship for the Cobalt Appeal Fund in 2007? Where you own t-shirts or ours and spread the word.

For more information and entry forms, contact the fundraising team or visit the Events listings.

Or Organise your Own Event

Something you could have some fun with is best – go on, organise a fundraising event for our benefit.

• You might prefer the old favourite, a dress down day when you can come to the office dressed just as you please
• Or perhaps you could set a theme for a day, Vicars and Tarts, School Pupils, Cowboys & Indians, or less risky maybe, just come in your holiday gear or dressed all in one colour
• Hold a post Christmas raffle of unwanted gifts
• Offer your car parking spaces up to the general public for the day on a Saturday. Get a rota of staff to collect reasonable donations in lieu of the parking charges in the town centre car parks. That would go down really well, especially if your office is close to town
• Get everyone to make a special sandwich, bring them into work and “sell” them to each other with the proceeds to the Cobalt Appeal Fund

Promote your organised event through your intranet or your sports & Social Committee. We guarantee you will all have great fun and if you let us know about your event, we can get in touch with the media and you could receive plenty of publicity, always a good thing, for both of us.

Please take a look at the links About the Charity and also How You Have Helped, I hope that you will feel compelled to promote the Cobalt Appeal Fund’s events or any in-house activity, to your staff and that someone special will pick up the gauntlet.

Chosen Charity of the Year

Companies and organisations are currently more and more aware of the part which Senior Management and their staff can play in the community, through fostering support of charitable organisations and causes.

Many companies choose to support a given charity or charities throughout the year. Often these relationships develop into long term partnerships.

Please take a look at the links About the Charity and also How You Have Helped; we hope that you will feel compelled to consider the Cobalt Appeal Fund as your company’s Chosen Charity of the Year.

Cancer Prevention talks to your staff

Support is not a one way street, we can offer you and your staff something in return ~ our Cancer Prevention Team offers local awareness talks on a wide variety of cancers, those which can affect either women or men as well as general cancers. We know that many companies have found this service of great value and importance to their employees.

Please contact us for more information on this free service provided by the Cancer Prevention Team.

Corporates – where would we be without you!

We are hugely grateful for the support we receive from companies, thank you. If you and your company would like to join us and help us support cancer patients locally please contact the fundraising team, we would love to hear from you.