Saint Catherine’s Hospice Launches Week Long £40,000 Appeal to Mark 40 Years of Care

Saint Catherine’s Hospice in Scarborough has launched a Christmas appeal, aiming to raise a substantial £40,000 during a focused week-long fundraising drive which will see donations doubled through a match funding scheme.

The ambitious goal is designed to celebrate the charity’s 40th anniversary of providing specialist palliative care across the region.

The campaign, titled '£40K for 40 years’, is being run in partnership with Big Give, a national match-funding provider, meaning that all donations received during the campaign week will be doubled.

Saint Catherine’s offers essential specialist care, free of charge, to adults suffering from life-limiting conditions, as well as providing crucial support to their loved ones, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The hospice's services, which are delivered in people’s homes, the community, and within the hospice itself, rely heavily on fundraising, needing £6.5 million annually to continue their work.

The campaign runs from Tuesday 2 December to Tuesday 9 December, specifically from midday on the first day to midday on the last day.

Susan Stephenson, the hospice's fundraiser, articulated the excitement and the scale of the challenge:

“We’re really excited to be launching our £40K for 40 years’ campaign. By linking up with Big Give, it means that with just one donation, you could have twice the impact. We know that this is a huge amount to raise in seven days, but with our community’s support – and with the match funding on offer – we believe that together we can make this happen. Every £1,000 raised will represent a year of care at Saint Catherine’s since the very start back in 1985”.

The match-funding element is critical to reaching the target. The hospice has successfully secured £20,000 worth of match funding, which guarantees that every public donation made via the campaign link will be doubled. This funding has been pledged both nationally and locally.

Fundraising Manager Susan Stephenson explained the origins and logistics of the vital appeal:

"It's the hospice's 40th anniversary this year. As it was coming towards Christmas, we wanted to do a campaign with the Big Give. The Big Give is a national organization that finds match funding for people. So, with it being the 40th year, I decided it would be a good idea to go for a big target of £40,000.

We've been fortunate enough to find 20,000 worth of match funding. So, that's come from the Reed Foundation, which is a national match funder, and then a lot of it actually has come from local match fun. So local businesses, local individuals in and around Scarborough and beyond in our patch north and east Yorkshire who have kindly said that they will double people's donations this week through the campaign."

Susan says that this is only the second time the hospice has run a campaign of this nature with match funding. The team built upon the success of their previous drive:

"It's an amazing opportunity. We actually did this for the first time last year with the big give. We went for a target of 18,000 last year because that's roughly how much it costs to provide all the services for one day. So we did it as pay for Christmas Day and we did really well. We actually raised nearly 19,000.

So we we were thrilled, absolutely thrilled with that and that was our first time doing it. Yeah. This is just the second year of doing this kind of campaign with the match funding. But it's just it is an amazing opportunity and I think people have been asking about it on the run. up saying when does it open? Because they really want to get their donation doubled and basically double the difference they can make with that one donation."

The focus this year remains firmly on maximizing the impact of every contribution:

"It's from the 2nd to the 9th of December from midday on the first day to midday on the last day.

There's a live link that we'll be making people aware of through our social media. We've sent out emails. We've got flyers with a QR code round and about as well. And it go it's a link that goes through the big give, but it connects to St. Catherine's so that enables the everything that's raised during that week on that link to be matched.

So basically, if you give £10 during this week through that link, it will become 20 thanks to the match funding and hopefully by At the end of that week, we'll have the total of £40,000, which is to represent our 40 years of care."

The fundraiser also made sure to express deep gratitude to those who made the campaign possible:

"We've had a lot of support on the run-up to the campaign. Obviously, it's a big target and it can be a bit daunting. Even getting the match funding was was was a kind of a big push really because it's such a lot of money.

But I just want to say thank you to the match funders. So, we've got the Reed Foundation nationally and then there's loads of people locally and everybody knows who they are who have pledged and they've done that just to support the hospice which is absolutely amazing.

So, just thank you and thank you to everybody that donates during the week. We can only do it as a team effort with everybody's help. So, yeah. Everything makes a difference."

Saint Catherine’s emphasises that its vital palliative services continue without pause, even throughout the festive season. The trained specialist staff, which includes doctors, nurses, therapists, and counsellors, work to enhance the health and wellbeing of every individual they serve.

Susan Stephenson reflected on the dedication of the hospice team, especially at this time of year:

“Our care does not stop on Christmas Day, or any other day throughout the year. Our aim is to be there for those who need us, when they need us, at the most difficult time of their lives. Saint Catherine’s staff are often called ‘angels’ by patients, and this is particularly apt at Christmas time”.

To support the campaign visit the Saint Catherine's Big Give link at https://donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05WS000005f4RNYAY before midday on December 9th