Eight ways to support a charity that won’t cost

The cost-of-living crisis is taking its toll on many of us. As bills continue to rise, millions of people are cutting back, reassessing, and prioritising their financial outgoings. This for a lot of people may be cutting back on the luxuries they love, reassessing whether they can get cheaper essentials elsewhere, or for some, rethinking their direct debits or regular donations to a charity.

We understand that this is a difficult decision and something that won’t be taken lightly. Supporting a charity that you care deeply about may bring you comfort. Cancelling a direct debit or stopping your regular donations does not necessarily mean that you don’t want to continue supporting our charity. Charitable giving is a great way to support a cause you trust, but you don’t always need to donate money to give back. Therefore, we have put together a list of eight ways that you can support us without it costing you.

Volunteering

Volunteering is a great way to support your favourite charity, whether it’s an hour a week or three hours a day. You may even be able to offer specific skills that you have. Volunteers are the heartbeat of our charity. Quite simply, we could not operate our services and continue to save lives without the support of our volunteers. The Air Ambulance Service offers a range of volunteering opportunities, learn more about volunteering with us here.

Raising Awareness

Raising awareness can be one of the hardest activities for any charity. So, helping a charity get its message across is valuable and important for them to succeed. If you can’t afford to give money regularly, perhaps someone else can. If you feel passionate about our charity, making people aware is a great way to help increase donations. You can spread the message by talking to your friends and family, your hairdresser, your colleague, or anyone that you wish. Engaging with a charity on social media is another great way to amplify its message, which costs nothing. Simply following, liking, commenting, and sharing our social media posts will greatly increase who we are able to reach. Your share could get us new followers, donations, and supporters!

Facebook: @WNDLRAirAmbulance @TheChildrensAirAmbulance
Instagram: @wndlrairamb @childrensairamb
Twitter: WNDLRAirAmb @ChildrensAirAmb

Including a gift in a Will and our National Free Wills Network offer

Including a gift in a Will is a way that someone can support a charity without it costing them anything now, and it’s something that everyone can consider. We receive gifts of all sizes from people from all walks of life. Gifts in Wills have a profound impact on our charity. Did you know that one in seven of our missions are funded by gifts in Wills? A gift in a Will allows your values and support to live on long past when you are gone and is an opportunity to have a lasting impact on the world.
A professionally written Will kept up to date, is the only way to make sure that your wishes will be carried out when you’re no longer here. However, half of UK adults don’t have a Will. Yet writing a will need not be complicated, nor expensive, especially with our partnership with the National Free Wills Network. Through our scheme, the National Free Wills Network can write or amend a Will at no cost to our supporters and volunteers, and our charity will pay a discounted rate. Our partnership with the Network ensures that our supporters’ and volunteers’ estates will be dealt with as they intended.

Whilst there is no obligation to do so, we hope that you might consider including a gift to The Air Ambulance Service in your Will to help us continue to be there for people and children in their greatest hour of need in the future.

If you are interested in finding out more about gifts in Wills or our partnership with the National Free Wills Network, please call 0300 3045 999 or email [email protected]

Shopping at a charity shop

This one will technically cost but it will be of financial benefit if you are looking for cheaper alternatives. Charity shops provide high-quality items at affordable prices – a fraction of the cost of new items. Not only do they have financial benefits, but shopping second-hand also has environmental benefits by reducing waste through the reuse and recycling of unwanted goods and slows down fast fashion by reducing the demand for new goods. In our shops and online shops, you can find all sorts from clothes, accessories and bric-a-brac and books, to records, board games, furniture… and much more!
Find your nearest TAAS shop, or check what we have on our web shop or listed on eBay.

Donating old goods

Plenty of us forget that one of the simplest ways of giving to charity without parting with cash is to donate possessions. When you have a spring clean, instead of throwing out clothes that don’t fit, why not drop them off at your local charity shop? Not only is preloved better for the environment, but you’re also providing someone else that may be struggling financially a cheaper option. Your unwanted goods can help keep us flying by raising vital funds through our many stores nationwide. You can drop your preloved items off at one of our stores or find your nearest recycling bank.
If you have items that could be loved by someone else, donate today. If you are a UK taxpayer, make sure you ask for the Gift Aid form to make sure we get the most from your donations, adding 25% to the value of what you give. Once the items you donated have sold, they will tell you how much they raised, and you then confirm that the money can be treated as a Gift Aid donation.

Stay informed and sign up to our newsletter

Many charities provide the opportunity to sign up for news and alerts via email. This allows supporters to stay up to date with everything that is happening with the charity, as well as providing additional ways to get involved like volunteer opportunities, campaigns or social posts to share. To stay up to date on our charity’s news and stories, sign up to our newsletter.

What to use when shopping

Even when saving money, everyone needs to shop for something at some point. But did you know that you can do good whilst shopping for all your essentials online? Many websites offer users opportunities to raise money for charities by using their platforms. EasyFundaising allows you to choose a charity and through shopping on their website or app, they will make a small donation to your charity of choice. Just start your online shopping first at EasyFundriaisng, then shop as normal, it’s simple.

Help from your employer

Many businesses choose to partner with charities. If your employer isn’t already partnered with a charity, speak to your boss, CSR or HR colleagues about getting involved and supporting our charity. Let them know that they can contact us for help with this. Some employers even provide paid time off for volunteer work. It is worth asking about and this way it allows employees to donate their time without sacrificing their pay wages.

– Piece by Katie Salisbury, TAAS Legacies and In Memory Executive