Scotty’s LITTLE Soldiers: The
charity for bereaved British Forces children
Corporate
PArtnerships
work with uS to care for our bereaved forces families
How we help: Read about the charity’s work & why we need your help A real impact: Find out how your support can make a significant impact Non-financial donations: Read how other organisations support charities without donating cash
Find out how your organisation can help the children of the fallen
FUNDRAISING
LATEST NEWS
Case studies
EVENTS
Sponsorship
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Fundraising Challenges in support of bereaved British Forces children
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ScottyChallenges .co.uk
www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk
CONTENTS Nikki’s note ................. 4 Corporate news........... 5 How scotty’s helps...... 7 Get involved................. 10
nikki’s note - 4
Delivered exactly: DX.. 11 have a real impact....... 12 non-financial support. 13
Your impact - 12
Case Study..................... 14 Tesco............................. 15 Sponsorship.................. 16 Scotty Challenges....... 17 FastAnt & Calteq.......... 19
scotty challenges - 17
Produced in-house by the team at Scotty’s Little Soldiers. Contact us Phone: 08000 928571 Email: hello@scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk
Web: www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk Facebook: @Scottyslittlesoldiers Twitter: @CorporalScotty Instagram: @Scottyslittlesoldiers
www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk
NIKKI’S note: Hi I’m Nikki, the Founder of Scotty’s Little Soldiers. The idea of Scotty’s came to me after the death of my husband, Cpl Lee Scott, in Afghanistan in 2009. I had witnessed the devastation his death had caused on our children, Kai aged 5 at the time, and Brooke, who was just 7 months old. I anxiously searched for support and was surprised to find that there were no charities dedicated to providing long term assistance to children who had lost a parent in the British Armed Forces. My initial objective was to raised funds to provide holiday breaks for the children and to give them opportunities to smile again. As these fun activities developed we began to realise these brave young individuals need so much more care and support than first thought. The charity has evolved to provide a wide range of support and development opportunities for bereaved Forces families and has become an integral part of our beneficiaries lives. In this newsletter you will read more about the work Scotty’s is doing to provide long term assistance to the children of the fallen and our plans for the future. You will see why this work is so important and why I’ve made it my mission to ensure that every bereaved Forces child has the chance to smile again. We can’t continue to do this important work without your support though. Scotty’s Little Soldiers is funded by the great British public. By individuals donating their hard earned cash or by raising sponsorship for performing all manner of crazy pursuits. The charity is also supported by a number of amazing organisations, both financially and through a wide range of non-financial activities. We’ve created this newsletter ourselves to help explain some of the ways your organisation could get involved and the huge impact you could have on the lives of some very special young people. We can’t thank our fallen heroes personally for making the ultimate sacrifice but through Scotty’s Little Soldiers we can provide care and support for the children they leave behind. I hope you’ll join me on our journey to #HelpTheirChildrenSmile
Nikki Love
Founder - Scotty’s Little Soldiers
www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk
NEWS Book a table, give a free donation! The next time you book a table at a restaurant would you like to give a donation to Scotty’s Little Soldiers without any cost to yourself? Sounds like a no brainer to us. Well now you can through Charitable Bookings. Just download their app from the App Store or visit Charitablebookings.org to register. They have almost 5,000 restaurants across the UK signed up and every time you book a table through Charitable Bookings, the restaurant will make a £1 donation per head to Scotty’s Little Soldiers.
Incentive fm choose scotty’s
Scotty’s has been announced as the chosen charity for national Facilities Management company Incentive FM Group for the next three years. Employees were encouraged to put forward their most deserving charity to be short-listed as one of the potential beneficiaries. Once the shortlist was drawn up, the charity’s “champion” gave a presentation on the charity’s’ work to secure the selection. Scotty’s champion gave a rousing presentation which was well received by all. As part of the three-year partnership, Incentive FM Group will encourage its UK sites and subsidiaries to fundraise on behalf of Scotty’s and they are already planning the first of many events. You can find out more about Incentive FM on the website by clicking here.
duff morgan get scotty’s moving!
Building a sustainable charity inevitably means there will be costs associated with running the organisation. We love it when businesses offer to help with our core costs as it means more of our fundraising can be used directly on providing support to our beneficiaries.
Duff Morgan citroen
Citroen dealer Duff Morgan have sponsored our DS3 car, allowing us to economically travel to events and meetings with minimal cost to the charity. www.duffmorgan.com
www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk
CSIS funds website
The charitable arm of the Civil Service Insurance Society recently provided funds to update the charity’s website and implement a search engine optimisation project. This optimisation means potential beneficiaries will be able to find the support they need much easier than before when searching the internet. The site is also much simpler, hopefully making it easy for all visitors to find out about the charity’s work. www.csischarityfund.org
Click here to visit the site
Under armour’s three year support Sportswear giants Under Armour are the official suppliers of Scotty’s Little Soldiers fundraising sportswear. The sportswear is sold via the charity’s online shop and includes a range of technical clothing ideal for fundraising challenges. Registered fundraisers who raise £250 or more online are also eligible for a free Under Armour running vest.. As part of the deal the charity is provided with an annual ‘gift of kit’ for the team to wear at events and whilst promoting the charity. Long term corporate partner DX also sponsored a selection of clothing for the Scotty Team. www.underarmour.co.uk
Monopoly network ball raises £20k for scotty’s Scotty’s Little Soldiers were once again the beneficiaries of the annual Monopoly Network Gala Ball at Leicester Squares’ Cafe de Paris. The Monopoly Network is a property networking group based in London and members get together every year to support good causes at their Gala Ball. Scotty’s Founder Nikki Scott gave a speech to guests who’s generosity raised almost £20,000. monopolynetwork.co.uk
www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk
How Scotty’s helps... Scotty’s Little Soldiers is a charity dedicated to supporting children & young people who have lost a parent whilst serving in the British Armed Forces. Inspired by the experience of Army widow Nikki Scott following the death of her husband Cpl Lee Scott in Afghanistan in 2009, the charity is currently providing assistance to hundreds of bereaved Forces children around the UK. Support offered to the children includes fun activities such as holiday breaks and group events, personal development assistance through educational grants and access to professional bereavement counselling
Our mission is to #HelpTheirChildrenSmile. The charity provides its beneficiaries with support and guidance throughout their childhood and offers a respite, however brief, from the daily ups and downs of coping with the loss of a parent. Assistance is available to families from the British Army, Royal Navy or RAF and is not limited to those killed in action. Children who have lost a parent through illness or accident are also eligible as long as their parent was a serving member of the British Forces at the time of their death, or was medically discharged due to a condition which eventually led to their death. Both Regular and Reserve (TA) forces are catered for.
Our Vision: “We want every bereaved British Forces child to have access to the very best emotional support, outstanding development opportunities and the chance to smile again” The charity’s assistance is divided into 3 distinct programmes. ‘Smiles’ offers the children the opportunity to smile again through a wide range of fun activities and gifts. This includes holiday breaks, group events, special experiences and gifts at difficult times of the year. The ‘Support’ programme aims to assist with the more emotional side of bereavement and includes access to professional counselling and a family support network.
www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk
Finally, the ‘Strides’ programme is designed to help with the charity’s beneficiaries’ personal development and includes a range of activity and educational grants. You can read more detail about the three programmes and the work of Scotty’s Little Soldiers at www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk.
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Clockwise from top left: 1. One of 6 Scotty Lodges around the UK and available exclusively to bereaved Forces children & their families. 2. Group events such as the annual Christmas party create special bonds and build confidence. 3. Special experiences provide plenty of smiles. 4. Small grants provide opportunities to learn new skills and build confidence. 5. Access to professional bereavement counselling helps with more emotional issues.
The Charity’s vision is delivered through 3 key Assistance Programmes; Smiles, Support & Strides.
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Get your fundraising gear: www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk/webshop
www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk
Get Involved
We need your help to provide long term support to the children of our fallen heroes. We’ve made a commitment to our beneficiaries to be there for them throughout their childhood when they need us most. To keep this promise we need your help.
If your organisation is interested in working with Scotty’s Little Soldiers please contact us by phone or email and one of the team will be happy to discuss how to proceed.
Your organisation can help us on our mission in a number of ways. We’ve listed the key ways most businesses like to get involved and some of these are explored more throughout this newsletter.
If you’re keen to just crack on you are more than welcome to register your activities on the Fundraising section of our website.
Most popular ways to support; 1. Financial donations 2. Workplace fundraising 3. Fundraising events/functions 4. Sponsorship 5. Pro-bono support & services 6. Volunteering 7. Raising awareness
We can send you a dedicated ‘Workplace Fundraising’ guide and organise collection pots, flags, banners, posters and even online fundraising pages to help. For major events we may be able to call upon our high profile ambassadors or our Founder to speak to your guests about our work. For more help please contact us at hello@ scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk or on 08000 928571.
www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk
DX: Delivered exactly
When DX promised to deliver support to the children of the fallen, they did exactly that... Leading mail, parcels and logistics specialist DX has been supporting Scotty’s for the past three years. As a key sponsor of Premiership rugby club Leicester Tigers, DX were introduced to Scotty’s when the charity was selected as the club’s Charity of the Year.
a key challenge is always raising enough awareness to develop and grow. DX recognised this and re-branded a number of it’s trailers in the charity’s branding - creating a mobile advertising campaign to build awareness up and down the UK.
Since then DX has thrown it’s full support behind Scotty’s, collecting parcels and delivering to beneficiaries on a daily basis completely free of charge.
Charity representatives have been invited to speak at a number of customer and supplier events hosted by DX and several of these have led to Scotty’s being adopted by other businesses as their Charity of the Year as well.
If this wasn’t enough the Senior Management Team led by example, taking on a physical challenge each year to raise funds and encourage colleagues to do likewise. In the first two years of fundraising the group had raised almost £120,000! The support the charity has received from DX didn’t end there though. For a young charity
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at DX for their amazing support over the past 3 years. They truly have ‘helped their children smile’. For more information about DX visit www. dxdelivery.com
www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk
A real impact As a young and developing charity, our corporate supporters have an opportunity to make a huge difference to our beneficiaries. Read how your organisation’s support will deliver tangible help to bereaved children. Despite significant changes since Founder Nikki’s original dream of raising enough money to buy one holiday home for bereaved families to enjoy, Scotty’s Little Soldiers remains a small, agile charity with strong core values.
successful charities have these essential costs in order to continue their work. Funds raised can be ‘unrestricted’ allowing the charity to spend them where it sees fit.
If an organisation is keen to support a specific Building a sustainable charity which is able to project, activity, event or even beneficiaries from make a long term commitment to our beneficiaries a particular geographical area, these funds can is important to us but so to is ensuring we remain be ‘restricted’ so they are only spent on activity lean and efficient. meeting the specific criteria. Despite the support already on offer from the charity we have witnessed the need for additional help and advice for bereaved Forces children and have a wide range of additional support activity already planned for the next 2-3 years. This additional support includes dedicated Family Support Workers, a Peer Mentoring Scheme, Work Experience Opportunities and GAP Year Scholarships. Our clearly structured Assistance Programmes, future planned activity and lean structure mean that partner organisations are able to have a significant impact on the development of the charity and in turn on the children’s lives. Funds raised for Scotty’s can be easily allocated to a specific project or activity rather than simply ‘dropped into the pot’. Our range of existing activities are communicated transparently allowing companies to target specific fundraising amounts. Alternatively, future projects which require additional funding before they can be implemented can make a great fundraising incentive. Some organisations are happy to contribute to core running costs, understanding that all
An organisation can still make a huge difference to the charity without making a financial contribution. There are several examples within this newsletters of businesses which have done just that. Communications experts Calteq have supplied a complete phone and broadband system free of charge within the charity’s office. Prior to this the team passed a cordless phone around the office! The new state of the art system was a significant step forward and has saved Scotty’s thousands of pounds. If you would like to talk to us about raising funds for a specific project or providing a core service for the charity free of charge please call on 08000 928 571 or email hello@scottyslittlesoldiers. co.uk. Find out more about the support on offer in the How We Help section of our website.
www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk
Non-Financial support
Here’s how your organisation can have a huge effect on the lives of bereaved British Forces children without donating cash...
Today’s competitive marketplace doesn’t always allow for businesses to make large cash donations to good causes. At Scotty’s Little Soldiers we’ve seen an increase in organisations providing much needed non-financial support to the charity. Product donations are one way businesses can help the charity. This might be in the form of items which can be given directly to the children supported by Scotty’s, for example both Kinnerton and Thornton’s have provided chocolates to be used at the annual Scotty’s Christmas Party. The charity needs all the usual equipment required by a small business in order to run on a day to day basis, so even items such as paper, Scotty’s Founder Nikki with chocolates donated by Kinnerton. stationary and general office supplies are greatly raise the profile of the charity. Our long term appreciated. partners DX redesigned a number of their vehicle trailers to incorporate the Scotty’s name and In recent years Scotty’s has benefited from local logistics company LynnStar feature large the offer of free services including; phones ‘In support of Scotty’s’ stickers on the back of and internet, photography, courier deliveries, their vehicles - all helping to promote the charity marketing materials and web design/hosting. to potential donors, fundraisers and even new beneficiaries. Another non-financial form of support is help to Contact: hello@scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk
Top 4 non-financial support 1. Donating products for beneficiaries 2. Donating office supplies/equipment 3. Providing Pro-Bono services 4. Raising awareness
www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk
CAse Study: Jess Amy Lawrence’s husband Philip was 22 when he was killed in Afghanistan in 2009. She’s mum to Jessica, seven, and they both live in Norfolk. Amy tells us how the loss of her Dad has effected Jess and why Scotty’s means so much to them now… “We met in September 2006, we met just out drinking but a couple of months later Phil went to Afghanistan on his first tour so we just stayed friends. He came back at the beginning of 2007, and we got more serious, and then we decided to get married in February 2008, in Norwich. He was 20 and I was 21. “We had Jess in the November and then he was deployed again to Afghanistan in April 2009. He came home on his R&R in June and then went back out for a few more months, but he was killed before I got to see him again. It was July 27th and he was killed by an IED after his convoy got stuck out overnight. “I went into shock when I was told. Jess was eight months old. I didn’t know what to say or do or how to react but for some reason I knew I needed to get home and take the medals off Phil’s uniform before they took it away. He’d told me that. “If I look back now I can’t really remember anything to be honest. You go from being married and having a family and making decisions together and then suddenly that person’s gone and you don’t know which way to turn, where you’re going to live. It’s changed us an awful lot. “Jess gets frustrated because she can’t remember her daddy and she’s only got a few pictures of him with her. She only knows what people tell her of him. It’s little things like going to parents evening without both parents there, and when other children have their daddies visit who are firemen and policemen and she wants
her daddy to go in as a soldier. “Phil and I had only been together three years before he was killed and it’s taken me four or five years to get my head straight and make sure Jess is still happy. Phil’s friends have been great, she idolizes them. I had a tattoo for the first anniversary: angel wings and a wedding band on my forearm. As Jess gets older we tend to do something together like go to Cheshire zoo, because Phil was from Birkenhead and he liked going there when he was growing up. “We’ve started making happy memories through Scotty’s Little Soldiers. Jess has been a member since 2011 and her face lights up when she sees the Scotty’s sticker on a letter or parcel in the post for her. “For her it’s also knowing that there are other children who know exactly how she’s feeling, she made some great friends over the years which has helped build her confidence. They all know what she’s going through and they can all support one another. It’s the little things that make such a big difference to us. “Jess has had some fantastic experiences thanks to Scotty’s. We were both invited to Norwich City Football Club a few years ago and Jess walked on to the pitch before kick off with the match ball. This was a big moment for her, walking out in front of thousands of people but she thoroughly enjoyed it. She also got to meet other Scotty’s members. It was just really nice, all the children of all different ages. We love Scotty’s and it’s not just Jess, it’s helped me a lot as well because I’ve met a lot of friends who are also widows and they really understand.”
www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk
Every little definitely helped. When we approached the UK’s leading retailer about designing and selling a Scotty’s range of kids clothes we thought it might be a bit of a long shot! Amazingly though the retailing giant loved the work Scotty’s was doing and our ideas for an military inspired range and they ran with it. Launching the range on their F&F clothing brand website. The team at F&F took our original concepts and created a full range, involving the charity every step of the way. Using their established supply network they manufactured, stored, sold and distributed the range donating 100% of profits made (at least 40% on each item) to the charity. The 3 year deal which ran from 2013 to 2016 included a significant guaranteed minimum donation from the retailer and saw two complete ranges launched. Items included joggers, hooded tops and t-shirts for both boys and girls as well as a range of baby grows all with a military style twist and Scotty’s Little Soldiers branding. Not only was over £80,000 raised for the charity but a significantly increase in the level of awareness through the promotion of the Scotty’s Little Soldiers name was also achieved. Tesco is a signed up member of the Armed Forces
Corporate Covenant, an agreement where organisations pledge their support to our Armed Forces community.
www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk
Sponsorship We have a wide range of sponsorship opportunities for organisations and brands for both charitable and fundraising activities. Charitable Sponsorship: Sponsoring events or other activities directly supporting our beneficiaries is a great way to support the charity and get some brand recognition at the same time. Each year we run events such as our magical Christmas party or our summer social BBQs which often receive national press coverage and provide some great brand awareness opportunities. Sponsorship of these events helps the charity to cover the costs involved in running them and allows us to ensure the children are treated to the most amazing time. Throughout the year we supply a number of vouchers to our beneficiaries - always on the anniversary of their parents’ death and at Remembrance. We’re looking for corporate partners to sponsor the vouchers and the branded holders we send them out in. As part of our Strides Programme of personal development we are planning to add Gap Year Scholarship opportunities for our older beneficiaries. The scheme will offer some truly amazing opportunities for 17 and 18 year olds and we’re looking for corporate sponsors to help make this concept a reality.
Fundraising Sponsorship: Without fundraising we’d be unable to do all the great charitable work with our beneficiaries. Unfortunately there’s always a cost involved in fundraising so the more of this we can cover with sponsorship the better. Fundraising sponsorship includes covering the cost of marketing materials like banners, displays, event gazebos, leaflets, posters etc - all featuring the sponsors logos. These materials help us to raise the funds we need to provide ongoing support to the children. Our team and our volunteers need to stand out at events so the sponsorship of team clothing helps us to look professional and keep warm! All these sponsorship opportunities provide the chance for organisations to include their branding on the items creating some great viability and CSR awareness. Other forms of sponsorship include covering the cost of vehicle leasing, travel, IT equipment,
There are many other charitable activities we undertake each year which lend themselves well to sponsorship from organisations so please get in touch to find out more.
To make sure you hear when tickets are released for the 2017 #ScottysBall, sign up to our email newsletters via the website.
Flags - Badges - T-Shirts - Hooded Tops - Sportswear - Lanyards - Pens
show your support with our charity merchandise
Available online at www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk/webshop
www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk
SCOTTY CHALLENGES
Why not get your colleagues involved in a Scotty Challenge? Of course your welcome to come up with your own crazy fundraising ideas but if you’re looking for a challenge and need some inspiration why not take a look at our Scotty Challenges website.
will fine not only a range of cycling challenges but also our overseas treks. These include epic adventures such as Everest Base Camp, the Great Wall of China or the Inca Trail.
We created the site to show all the charity places This is where you will also find details on our we currently have available at different events skydiving and bungee jump activities! both in the UK and overseas. Our challenges are a great way to get your The site is split into 3 areas; Running challenges; teams involved in fundraising and events like Mud/Obstacles Runs and Cycling and Other. ROCKSOLID RACE encourage working as a team to complete obstacles. Within the Running section you’ll find all the usual subjects with everything from 5k fun runs to full As with all fundraisers any individual who raises on ultra distance events (100kms anyone?). more then £250 will receive a free running vest. If you have a large team and are interested The Mud/Obstacle section has become our organising dual branded event tops please let most popular challenge area and includes our us know. favourite ROCKSOLID RACE as well as other well known events such as Spartan Race, Bear Grylls Survival Races and Toughest. To see the full line up head over to The Cycling and Other category is where you scottychallenges.co.uk today!
www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk
Looking the part thanks to our partners at FastAnt Presenting a professional image at events can be expensive business but thanks to some amazing support from FastAnt over the last few years, Scotty’s has had some amazing point of sale material to dazzle fundraisers.
atmosphere at events.
Founder Nikki Scott, who organises the Scotty’s Ball herself said “many of the items FastAnt produce for us for free would either eat into the profits we make on the night or we simply wouldn’t be The charity’s show-piece event each year is the able to afford but they Official Scotty’s Ball in October and every year help create an event FastAnt out does the efforts of the previous year which is unmistakably - turning fairly bland hotel conference rooms into Scotty’s. We can’t unmistakable Scotty’s Little Soldiers branded thank them enough experiences. for such a creative way to support the From signage to printed programmes, lifesize charity.” Scotty characters made from foamex to floor graphics, FastAnt has a comprehensive range www.fastant.co.uk of branding options and has supplied them all to Scotty’s free of charge to help create a wonderful
Communications experts Calteq come to the rescue. A major transition for a charity is when the time and cover all the ongoing expenses completely comes to up grade it’s communication systems. free of charge which means a reduction in core running costs and more funds raised able to be Since the charity moved into it’s first proper office spent directly on the children of the fallen. a hand-held phone with one line had been the full extent of the comms system. Then Calteq, Scotty’s CEO Stuart Robinson said “The team having heard about Scotty’s at an event and at Calteq were almost apologetic about not keep to get involved, offered to install and run handing over a large cheque. I’m not sure if an internet based phone and broadband system even now they realise what a dynamic effect with multiple lines and a dedicated phone for their support has on the charity. We are able each member of the team! to provide our beneficiaries and our supporters with a significantly improved service and the Over night the charity’s communications moved conferencing services we now have mean we can from, at best, an engage with our Trustee board more frequently. average domestic Not only this but it has saved us significant costs set up to a state in line rental, broadband and support services.” of the art system most established Find out more about Calteq at www.calteq.co.uk businesses would be proud of. Of course Calteq kitted Scotty’s out
Scotty’S LITTLE SoldierS The charity for bereaved British Forces children
Scotty’S LITTLE SoldierS was founded by Nikki Scott following the death of her husband Cpl Lee Scott in Afghanistan in 2009. Nikki and Lee had two young children so Nikki saw first hand the effects losing a parent can have on a child. She decided to set up Scotty’s Little Soldiers to support all children and young people who have lost a parent serving in our British Armed Forces.
Find out more about Scotty’S LITTLE SoldierS at www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk Follow us at: scottyslittlesoldiers scottyslittlesoldiers @corporalscotty