It’s all systems go on this year’s Big Give campaign and what better way to tell you more and encourage you to get involved than to ask one of our very own fundraising enthusiasts to answer our questions and tell you about their work. Enter James! James belongs to the DOG group (you’ll see…!) and here he sheds some light on what the group have been doing over the past few months and how their work is vital to keeping Bell House up and running for all to enjoy.
What is your role as a volunteer?
I work with the team that pursues any funding opportunities that go towards supporting the wide range of activities on offer and the upkeep of the building itself. Officially, we’re donations or grants but, affectionately, we’re known as the DOG group ... We will follow any lead!
How long have you been involved with Bell House?
Officially, I’ve been involved with the group since early 2020 and it’s included a lot of Zoom calls, but I first came into contact as a delegate – in a physical rather than virtual capacity – on a film-making for charities course back in 2018.
What do you do away from from Bell House?
Away from Bell House, I have fingers in several pies (both literally and metaphorically). I run a social enterprise called The Let’s Cook Project that seeks to facilitate improved outcomes through improved practical cookery skills and better nutritional knowledge. Alongside this, I support my partner with a riding school and livery business and 2022 should, hopefully, see me completing a Masters in Voluntary Sector Management. Less cerebral is a later-found interest in running, although lately my time has been occupied by a litter of stinky Labrador puppies!
What do you think you bring to Bell House as a volunteer and what do you get out of it?
The focus of the MSc this year has been on marketing and fundraising, The Let’s Cook Project is a social enterprise and not a full charity, so its been great to be able to apply very theoretical learning to a real world situation. It’s relatively early days for the DOG group, not helped by recent events, but we hope to be able to provide support for those running such an amazing and vital range of activities under the Bell House banner. Sometimes its hard to find the fun in fundraising, but seeing the impact that is driven by such passionate people certainly helps with fighting the fight.
What have you been working on recently?
Right now we’ve got the final push for this year’s Big Give campaign. Bell House has had some great success with this in previous years with support for the Dyslexia programme and the wildlife pond in the gardens. This year we’re raising funds to support production of more Bell Health films, which tackle some of the subjects that you may want to know about but are, perhaps, too shy to ask about. At a time when even getting access to a GP requires a herculean effort, they can offer sage advice from experts in their fields and reassurance when it is most needed.
You can find out more about Bell Health here and to support this year’s campaign go to the Big Give’s website. The best bit is that, thanks to the generosity of the Reed Foundation, when we reach our very conservative target they’ll match it £ for £!
Are there any forthcoming projects, events or initiatives that you are particularly excited about?
Working on the Big Give campaign this year has seen collaboration between the Bell Health team, the marketing team and our own DOG group. Hopefully this is just the start of a range of projects that bring Bell House volunteers together, especially when so many of us have been physically distanced for so long. There are lots of exciting things in the pipeline, which we’ll be shouting about soon, so keep your eyes and ears open for more. One of the hardest parts of fundraising is conveying to a funder the benefits of the work that we’re asking them to support. We always welcome stories and anecdotes about what benefits volunteering at Bell House brings both for the volunteers themselves and the people impacted by that work. We’d love to share these over a cuppa and definitely some biscuits (we are the DOG group, after all)!
