Sterling News
Charity Fair – Prize Draw Winner
Sterling held a prize draw whilst exhibiting at the Charity Fair in Central Hall, Westminster. The exhibition was attended by over 800 charity and fundraising professionals.Unique were the lucky winners of the prize draw and the donation will enable them to continue their work supplying voluntary services to people with Chromosome Disorders and their families.
Julie Griffin, Finance and Fundraising officer for Unique said “The donation will be put towards the cost of our family conference held in Daventry in November, where over 200 families will be able to meet up and learn more about rare chromosome disorders in a relaxed and social setting. To help raise funds for the conference and for our other many services, we were already considering setting up a charity lottery, so winning Sterling’s free prize draw is a wonderful added bonus”
Come and Meet Us
Sterling will be exhibiting at two prestigious third sector exhibitions this summer. The first is Charity Fair on the 10th & 11th June 2008 at Central Hall in Westminster, London. We will be located in the resources area, and delegates can come and visit the stand for an informal chat in between workshops.
Sterling will also have a presence at The Institute of Fundraising National Convention in July. The event running from the 7th - 9th July is the largest event for fundraisers outside the USA.
Sterling hopes to raise awareness of the concept of fundraising membership lotteries and share their 25 years experience with charities and fundraising organisations of all sizes.
Sterling Donates £10,000 to Nominated Local Charity
In 2007, a conscientious decision was made by Company Director, Richard Dixon, that on behalf of his staff, he would make an annual donation to St Mary’s Hospice in Ulverston, Cumbria. On the 18th March 2008, staff from Sterling were delighted to handover a cheque to staff from the Hospice for £10000 and became Platinum members of the St Mary’s Corporate Scheme.
Mr Dixon said "We work with over 100 charities throughout the UK and we were keen to support a local charity which many of us have an affinity with. St Mary's Hospice plays an important part in our local community and we are pleased to support their valuable service".
Zoe Guest, Business Development Manager from St Mary's Hospice stated "We really appreciate the continued support we receive from Sterling. We must thank Richard and the team for their generous donation and for becoming corporate members of St Mary's Hospice. Our Corporate Scheme is a very easy way for firms to show their appreciation for the value the Hospice holds in the community. We hope that other local businesses will follow their lead in the future."
National CSR Conference
Sterling were pleased to be involved in the inaugural National CSR Conference which took place on the 27th November 2007 in Westminster, London.
The event was attended by national and multi-national companies as well as charities and social enterprises. Key speakers included cabinet ministers, the Bank of America and the Shell Foundation amongst others.
Sterling's staff traveled from Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria to attend the event. Lorraine Pickavance, Project Co-ordinator at sterling said "The conference was a fantastic opportunity for us to showcase our range of lottery products. Our payroll Lottery Admin Service received a lot of interest from delegates representing charities and companies. It was a privilege to be involved in the first ever CSR conference held in the UK".
Sterling took the decision to exhibit at the conference as they realised there was an opportunity for companies to integrate a fundraising lottery into their CSR Strategy.
I T Investment
Sterling have recently invested over £35,000 on new terminal, back up and proxy servers. This will greatly speed up our newtwork system and clients using our pathway lottery database via our desktop will notice an improvement in speed.
As we handle vast amounts of data the new servers will ensure that all data is backed up and stored in a secure manner both on and off site.
Sterling Welcomes New Client Account Co-ordinator
Sam Finan has recently joined Sterling taking over from Melissa Blanchard as Client Account Co-ordinator. She is on hand to assist clients with the growth of their lotteries and guide new clients through the lottery start up process.
Unity - A unique fundraising lottery scheme
In May 2007 Sterling launched a new national charity lottery scheme - Unity Lottery.
Unity has been designed to make it easier for charities to run their own lotteries, Sterling handle all of the administration leaving the charity free to focus on recruiting supporters.
Richard Dixon, Managing Director of Sterling said "We have received a positive response to the Unity Lottery scheme from a wide range of charities, voluntary organisations and sports clubs. Many fundraisers think it is a fantastic idea and are in the process of consulting with their trustees and directors. We have several organisations that have joined the scheme and they are currently in the process of recruiting supporters to play their Unity Lottery".
For further information on Unity Lottery visit www.unitylottery.co.uk
Open Day Success - 2007
Sterling's annual Open Day was held in July and proved to be as successful as ever. Clients travelled from all over the country to Sterling's offices in Barrow-in-Furness to attend the day.
The Open day carried the theme of Retention and Growth with presentations and discussions focussing on potential activities and strategies to address these common issues.
The sessions included topics such as positives from the Gambling Act; retention through communication and education; creativity in promotions; widening audiences and the assistance of technology; and finally an open discussion where clients were able to share common problems and best practice.
All in all the day went very well with excellent feedback received and we look forward to welcoming more clients at the next Open Day.
Anniversaries
We would like to say "Happy Birthday" to a number of our clients who have special birthdays this year.
1st
Cornwall Hospicare
Earl Mountbatten
Children's Trust
10th
St Davids's
St Gemma's
St Giles
St Margaret's
Congratulations to these hospices who are still going strong after 10 years in operation, again may their success continue.
FSB Scheme
The Fundraising Standards Board launched to the public in February, with an increasing number of charities signing up for the self-regulating body. Members of the FSB scheme commit to the fundraising promise, which is based on six key pledges that centre on honesty, accountability and transparency. The scheme is aimed at fostering public confidence in giving, whilst membership and display of the logo illustrates the organisation's commitment to the highest standards of good practice.
Many large national charitable organisation's have signed up to the scheme and many smaller charities are also taking advantage of this opportunity, with one of our hospice clients recently committing. The issue of self-regulation has been gaining in momentum over recent years and it seems that this route, despite initial set backs, is favoured by many as opposed to the alternative of more stringent Government regulation.