Learn How to Make your Partnership with Milly’s Smiles a Key Component of your Business Strategy..
Mutually Beneficial
“Increasingly, businesses are seeing the benefits of working with Milly’s Smiles for multiple years, embedding the charity into their culture, which creates a mutually beneficial partnership and a lasting legacy.”
Lorraine Hargreaves – Charity Founder and Milly’s Mum
My daughter
Milly was filled with love, fun and laughter, and brought a smile to everyone who was lucky enough to know her.
I feel honoured and blessed to be Milly’s mum, I had 11 and a half years with her. It wasn’t and never will be enough. She is forever loved and endlessly missed.
10 Business Benefits of Partnering with Milly’s Smiles
In your office kitchen, canteen or breakaway area, you’re bound to see regular sponsorship forms or photos of fundraising initiatives that your staff have got involved with in their free time. But have you ever thought about making charitable support a key part of your business strategy?
- Increased visibility and revenue
- Brand recognition
- Business image and reputation
- Networking and marketing opportunities
- Exposure to different sectors
- Boost office morale and encourage teambuilding
- Defines corporate identity
- Improved public relations
- Enhanced employee relations and employee retention
- Donating goods or financial support to a charity is tax deductible
Getting Involved
Forward-thinking businesses are conscious of their social, moral and ethical responsibilities. And those are exactly the kind of companies we want to partner with, which is why we have a special team member who does nothing but work with businesses.
We have some great opportunities for your business in our information pack.
How we make a difference
Ten ways you can help us
01. Donate a percentage of your sales or profit.
You can set a time limit on how long you would like this to last for or implement a ceiling cap on the total amount.
02. In kind donations
Staff could hold collection drives for items that we need, ask customers to donate to a collection drive or donate unsold stocks. Bath towels, soap, shampoo, shower gel, toothbrushes, jelly babies and various stationary items are always needed.
03. Fundraising
Your place of work could organise a fundraising event to raise money such as a cake sale, raffle, sporting event or office challenge. The aim is to get staff involved to raise money to help support Milly’s Smiles, whilst doing some team building in the process.
04. Act as a charity Ambassador
A great way to raise awareness and support for the work that Milly’s Smiles does is by acting as an ambassador, where you tell others about our work and how they can get involved to help. This could extend to personal introductions to others in your business network.
05. Sponsor a specific project
You could ask us if there is a specific project which you can help support. There always is!
06. Provide business resources
We lease Milly’s Smiles HQ from the local authority, but we are responsible for its maintenance and upkeep. Current needs are: Roofing repairs, central heating, general painting and decorating and blown warm air heating for the warehouse area.
07. Invite customers to make a donation when making a purchase
At its simplest this may be a charity box at the checkout into which customers can put their spare change. Or you might add an optional donation to your checkout process where customers can add a donation to their purchase while paying; just as they would add a tip.
08. Single use carrier bags
If you supply single use carrier bags you could donate the profits from the 10p levy to Milly’s Smiles.
09. Volunteer a specialist skill or knowledge
Examples of volunteering that would currently help include bid writing, accountancy and logistics.
10. Regular donations
This is a financial donation that can be made to the charity to support our work from your business. To take this further, you could ask members of staff if they want to donate via Payroll Giving so they pay a donation directly out of their wage.
Why Partnering with a Charity is Good for Business
Most consumers think businesses should support charities.
When faced with a choice between two companies that offered products and services for the same price,
82%
said their decision would be affected by whether a company engaged with charities and its local community.
Foresters (2013) survey of 1,100 people from the UK
What’s in our roadmap?
- Sustain the current support we offer to Manchester, Alder Hey & Leeds Children’s Hospitals
- Create a sheltered garden sanctuary for families to use on waste land behind Milly’s Smiles unit on Alan Ramsbottom Way at Great Harwood. It would also be used as additional outdoor space for events and training
- Establish a network of trained volunteers to help bereaved parents, families and friends to very gradually rebuild their lives
What’s in a Milly Bag?
FAQ
How do you raise funds?
Milly’s Mum (Lorraine) runs the charity with the help of some amazing trustees and volunteers. As well as our own efforts, we’re fortunate that people decide to hold some brilliant fundraising events on our behalf, such as Afternoon Teas, Charity Balls, Run Events, Sponsored Walks, Family Fun Days, Cake Sales, Tombolas, Raffles and Car Boot Sales. Schools, local groups and employers have also supported us through various partnerships.
What payment methods do you accept?
We prefer Just Giving, PayPal or Bank Transfer.
If you are donating via Bank Transfer our details are: –
Account Name: Milly’s Smiles
Account Number: 17509696
Sort Code: 01-00-04
How can I contact you?
All our contact details are below. If it’s urgent you can always give Lorraine a call on 07555 541987. Leave a message if there’s no answer (Lorraine works as a full time MacMillan Nurse) and she will return your call ASAP.
Do you provide support?
Milly’s Smiles is always on hand to provide help, advice, support and signposting.
Contact The Team
If you would like to get in touch with us, please contact:
Milly’s Smiles HQ
Unit 4
Alan Ramsbottom Way
Great Harwood
BB6 7UA
Administration address
45 Lynwood Avenue
Clayton-le-Moors
Accrington
BB5 5RR
Lorraine: 07555541987
Email us: hello@millyssmiles.org
Or Complete the form below and someone will get back to you as soon as possible.
Contact Form
“God puts rainbows in the clouds so that each of us – in the dreariest and most dreaded moments – can see a possibility of hope. If you turn a rainbow upside down, it’s like a smile in all the colours of the spectrum, so the Universe is smiling on you.”