Get Involved

Discover how you can get involved with STRM – SEND the Right Message Charity, from Volunteering to fundraising to raising awareness.

Fundraising News

We are thrilled to share the launch of our eBay Seller Platform dedicated to Fundraising!
Sell for a Cause
What’s in it for you?
You can boost your sales while supporting your favourite charity, SEND the Right Message Charity.
Did you know that items benefiting charity often sell quicker, sometimes even at a higher price? By donating 10% or more, your listing will showcase an eye-catching charity ribbon and may even appear in the Charity Shop. Additionally, you can lower your seller fees.
One dedicated parent has begun selling Pokémon cards that belonged to her neurodivergent child to raise funds for STRM.
This inspiring initiative helps with fundraising and teaches her child valuable lessons about money and math.
They are learning how to buy and sell items on eBay and other online platforms safely, emphasising the importance of considering shipping charges alongside the item’s price and how to calculate the total cost (including shipping) to secure the best deal.

Why volunteer with us?

Here’s a unique opportunity to volunteer with SEND the Right Message Charity.

We are looking for friendly and passionate individuals to join our team.

Volunteering can be a fantastic way to learn new skills and boost confidence. It’s a significant step towards discovering your potential and making connections, so why not try it?
Whether providing peer-to-peer support at our sessions, supporting with the daily running of our office, or working directly with the people we help through our outreach programmes, our volunteers make a massive difference to the community. 
To become a volunteer, you must be willing to learn new things and flexible enough to adapt to growing charity. You can choose how much time you give; we’ll provide ongoing training and support.
Joining the SEND the Right Message Team is an inspiring opportunity, especially for those who share our mission. 
Having lived experience, or you may identify as neurodivergent would be favourable but not essential.

Apply here

Why volunteer with us?

  • Make a difference in your community and the lives of other neurodivergent and/or disabled families.
  • Meet new people and join a friendly team.
  • Gain valuable work experience.
  • Grow or develop new skills, knowledge and experience.

Volunteering to develop your skills

Volunteering for charity opens doors to meaningful experiences, from administrative tasks to fundraising events and community support.
Finding suitable employment can be challenging if you have little to no work experience. Working may feel overwhelming, whether you’ve never had a job, been out of work for a while, or find it challenging to be around new people. Regardless of your situation, volunteering can be an excellent way to acquire new skills and build confidence.

What are we looking for?

We are seeking people who are friendly and passionate, share our mission, and support our purpose.
Do you have strong communication skills, creativity, problem-solving abilities, sales experience, and resourcefulness, or excellent organisational skills?
These positions are community-based and home-based.
Take a look below at our opportunities below.

Activity Support

• Support the STRM Team by setting up our monthly activities and sessions.
• Provide peer-to-peer support for families.

Community Events

•Promote STRM at community events.
• Set up a stall, engage with community partners and families, and champion our mission, aims, and activities.


Attend meetings

Attend meetings or forums to raise awareness and champion STRM’s mission, aims and objectives.


Social Media

• Foster connection, inspire engagement on our social platforms.
• Offer emotional support to families on the STRM online forum.
• Champion our platforms through dynamic social media interaction.

Administration

Basic admin duties at our community office.



Fundraising

• Organising collection boxes for local businesses.
• Plan campaigns and events to raise money for our organisation.
• Write to donors for corporate sponsorship or raffle prizes.
• Thanking donors, families and supporters for their donations.

Preparing for the workplace

• Volunteering is a great way to build confidence and engage with people.
• It can help to foster friendships, enhance social skills, and give back to your community.
• It can empower you to build vital interview skills and gain work experience.
• Get references from SEND the Right Message to help you apply for paid work.
• Volunteering is also a way to show that your skills are up to date. This could reassure an employer if you’ve not worked for a while.

Volunteering and your benefits

 
 Will volunteering affect your benefits? Sometimes.
 You can volunteer and get Income Support and Jobseekers’  Allowance (JSA), but there are rules about:
  • What counts as volunteering
  • If your volunteering counts as looking for work
  • How many hours you can volunteer
 To count as volunteering, what you’re doing needs to be:
  • For someone who is not a family member
  • Unpaid
  • Done without a contract
 To count as looking for work, it can help to show that:
  • Your volunteering is likely to help you find a job
  • It’s reasonable that you’re not being paid (check with your work coach)

Apply here

 If the volunteer role shows you can do things that you could   not do in your Work Capability Assessment or PIP   assessment, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)  could decide to reduce your benefits.
 Always get permission from your work coach before you   start volunteering.
 Be:
  • specific about the kind of volunteering that you want to do
  • consistent when you’re talking about the activities that you can do
  • clear about how many hours you will be volunteering each week

Why we need to fundraise?

Charities rely on fundraising to support their work and achieve their goals. Fundraising helps charities to raise awareness about their cause, generate donations, and fund their programs and services.
The money you raise goes straight back into the charity’s work in supporting some of the most disadvantaged people in society.
Without fundraising, it can be challenging for charities to raise the necessary funds to operate and to aim to make a difference to the families we support.
Before raising funds for STRM, you must read this information, as charity fundraising is regulated by law.
We are registered with the Fundraising Regulator, the independent regulator of charitable fundraising. The regulator sets and promotes the standards for fundraising practice.
As registered members, we aim to adhere to the Fundraising Promise and the Code of Fundraising Practice, ensuring our fundraising is;
  • Legal
  • Open
  • Honest
  • Respectful
Please also refer to www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk and www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk to ensure you comply with any fundraising codes of practice relevant to your event.
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£5 donation provides the membership fee for one family for a year.

The £10 donation provides the membership fee for two families experiencing financial difficulty for a year.

£15 provides a parent carer with an online or in-person support session

£30 provides a parent carer with specialist talk or training session

£60 enables us to provide one-off support sessions like the Cost-of-living Crisis Sessions

£75 provides a parent carer with a Disability Benefit appointment or Family Remedy appointment

£156 provides a child or young person with a place at our Bouldering Club for eight weeks.

• Staff engagement and morale
• Positive brand association and Corporate social responsibility
• Increased networking opportunities
• Team building

Put charitable giving at the heart of your workplace. Give As You Earn is simple to implement and enables employees to give straight from their salary before tax, which means each donation goes a little bit further but costs your employees less.

Sponsoring one of our events is a fantastic way to support us with excellent brand awareness amongst your customers and our supporters.

Here are our top corporate fundraising ideas to engage your team and raise money for a good cause.
• Raffle
• Bake sale
• Bingo
• Pub-style quiz
• Auction
• Shave your head/wax your legs challenge
• Sponsored silence
• Fancy dress/dress down day
• Manager baby photo competition
• Office sweepstake
• Sports day
• Film night
• Spare change bucket
• Guess the number of sweets in a jar
• Bring lunch to work – donate what would have been spent eating out
• Foreign coin exchange

Get in touch if you would like to support us

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Raise funds for STRM when you shop online!

Is there an easier way to support us?

If you shop online with retailers like Amazon, Argos, John Lewis, Tesco, iTunes, or eBay, then why not sign up for easy fundraising and raise money for STRM at no cost to you or us?

Supporting STRM could not be easier; it takes just three simple steps:

  1. Join – Go to org.uk and sign up for free
  2. Shop – Whenever you shop online, head to easyfundraising first. There are more than 7,000 brands available, so pick the one you want and start shopping
  3. Collect – After you’ve checked out, that retailer will make a free donation to STRM – it doesn’t cost you a penny extra.

Use Easyfundraising’s Donation Reminder!

This is a browser extension plug-in that, once you have downloaded it, pops up automatically when you shop to let you know when a donation is available on a brand’s website.

To get started, click here!

Facebook covers all donation processing fees when you start a non-profit fundraiser on Facebook.

Note: If you have blocked the Meta page, you won’t see the Meta donation on your fundraiser. The donation will still be made.

  1. On your computer, log in to Facebook.
  2. In the promotion in your Feed, either:
    • Select one of the non-profits we’ve suggested
    • Type into the search bar to find STRM – SEND the Right Message Charity
    • Select the STRM – SEND the Right Message Charity
  3. Under “Let’s start with the basics,” enter:
    • The name of the non-profit you are raising money for
    • How much do you want to raise
    • The currency you want donations to be in
    • The date you want the fundraiser to end
  4. Click Next.
  5. Under “Tell your story, “Enter:
    • A title for your fundraiser
    • A brief explanation for why you wanted to create this fundraiser
  6. Click Next.
  7. Under “Pick a cover photo,” choose one of the suggested photos.
  8. Click Create.

A message will pop up that congratulates you on creating your fundraiser. From there, you can invite your friends to donate, share your fundraiser in your Feed, or donate to the fundraiser yourself.

First, thank you’ for choosing to fundraise to support STRM – SEND the Right Message Registered Charity.

If you want to raise money, we can send you our fundraising pack and support you in raising awareness of your event.

We can also provide collection buckets and sponsorship forms to help you with your fundraising activities.

An easy way to raise money and support for STRM is by placing one of our collection pots in your workplace or a restaurant, pub, or hairdresser you may visit regularly.
Get in touch on [email protected]