A Stark Reality

I have been doing some research into the size and scope of the challenge that I have set myself. It is certainly going to be a hell of a mountain to climb. The charitable sector is one of the most vulnerable to fluctuations in the economy and certainly my initial findings have been very enlightening. There is no doubt that we live in strained times, the onset of the worst recession in over half a century has already effected many of us and it is likely to get worse before it gets better. Not a day passes with out further news and analysis letting us know about the next failure and the actions of those the politicans have decided to blame that day. As a result we are hanging onto our purse strings harder then ever. We have reduced spending on everything from groceries to high street "luxuries" and "high ticket items". This has had a massive knock-on effect to the charity sector, already over 30% (CC Report 17/03/09) of charities have experienced a decrease in the levels of their donations and most of the rest are braced for similar. It certainly looks like it will be a bad year for charities as "Just £2 a week..." is now needed to feed the family or go towards the next mortgage payment and many just cannot "justify" giving it to a worthy cause. But this raises an interesting question - is charity a luxury? There are arguments to be made on either side of this question but it boils down to the fact that many charitable organisations rely either for the majority or even all of their funding on public generosity. Although times are tight, it would be a real tragedy to see many charities fail in the next few years. One sector of charities most at risk is Children's Hospices. There are a number of these amazing institutions throughout the country and they recieve a tiny amount of government funding, c. £100,000 a year to go towards their average running costs of c. £2million a year. The rest of their money comes from public contributions of all types. It is a real shame that these institutions that care for terminally ill children and their families are not deemed an integral part of our health system whereas adult hospices recieve adequate funding for their operations. They offer high levels of care to dying children and make them comfortable and allow them to enjoy their foreshortened lives as much as possible. If one of these charities fail it will be a tragedy! Therefore I have found the first cause for this blog. As and when we start to raise funds every penny will be going to Children's Hospices throughout the UK.

First Post

Hello and welcome to my account of what will, hopefully be a successful journey to a very ambitous target. Me - why am I doing this... My name is James and I am 26 years old. Since I was a small boy I had always said that I wanted to be a millionaire before I was 30 years old. I didn't really know why but it seemed a good way of sounding interesting, it showed ambition and drive plus I always thought that having that much money would complete me somehow. I suppose that I have grown up a bit and have learned the truth in the “old adages” that friends and family are most important. But I have also learnt that establishing any sort of career and financial position takes hard work, dedication and time – let alone accruing a net worth of £1million. However, I am stubborn as hell – so I have decided to see if I can raise £1million for Children’s Charaties before I turn 30 instead. How? I don't plan to run! This is a massive target and I don't plan to run, walk, eat, lose, play, sail or take on any physical challenges in the pursuit of this target. Instead I plan to make this an experiment in new methods of fundraising. The "economic crisis" has caused the public to cut back on charitable donations as people need that "just £1 a month..." for the mortgage payment or to put food on the table and many charities have not been able to convince them otherwise. To be honest I haven’t decided on how to even start on this task all I know is that the project’s aim is to raise money for a number of different Children’s Charities as this will throw it open to world forum. I have been a voracious “shadower” and sometimes contributor to the online world. This is my first blog as I have never felt that I had something worthwhile to say – this has definitely changed now. As a result this project will look to use as many internet tools as possible to essentially “Open Source” everything from fundraising ideas all the way through to meeting and converting potential donors into donators. When this is completed we will have a great case study, not only on charity but also on the power of online community building.