If you have any questions about Charity Challenge that haven't been covered in any of the obvious areas of the website there here is the place to be. We've tried to compile as many of the most frequently asked questions that we receive on a regular basis but if you don't find your question listed here please get in touch by emailing james.hayward2@baesystems.com
Sections:
- Partner Charity
- Matched Funding
- Involvement
- Reporting
- Charlie Challenge
- History of Charity Challenge
Q – Do I just have to raise money and do involvement projects for the partner charity?
A – Not at all, Charity Challenge is there to help every charity. The partner charity chose for each 18 month campaign is picked because it gives the campaign more focus and because every site in that area of the world is working together it means we benefit from the charity giving us our own team to solely work with us and tailor fund raising events and involvement projects exactly to our needs.
Q – I do a lot of work with one charity and wondered how can they get nominated as the partner charity?
A – Each campaign last 18 months so you’ll have to wait until the near the end of the partnership to vote. The voting process is completely employee driven so it is hard to influence the process. However, we’re always looking for opportunities so if the charity has any events coming up get them to let us know as we can work with them in many other different ways.
Q – I’ve heard that if I raise money for the partner charity the amount I raise gets matched by the company, is this true?
A - Charity Challenge has a budget for partner charity matched funding which is divided amongst participating partner charities in their respective countries. The budget for 2008/9 is likely to be close to £1million. This money is split between our main regions with the amount dependant on how much they have raised compared to each other. For example the allocations for campaign in 2006-07 were:
UK £560,000, USA £335,000, Australia £47,000 with the rest of the money being given as prizes for the award winners at the end of campaign Award Ceremony.
These allocations are based on previous campaigns and are believed to be sufficient. In the case of fundraising for partner charities exceeding the allocation, then funds may be made available from any of the other allocations that were not exceeded. These figures are subject to review as part of the internal budgeting process.
It's all worth noting that all matched funding will be completed at the end of the current campaign and cannot be claimed or publicised to be as part of your total, as we won’t be sure of the exact figures until the end of the campaign. For example at the end of the last campaign the company matched every UK £1 raised for the partner charity with 93p. You also cannot rely upon matched funding to make up for any shortfall in your fundraising – for example if you are running a marathon and you need to raise £2,000 and you only raise £1,000 you will need to raise the rest and cannot rely on the matched funding.
Q – Do involvement days for the partner charity benefit from any matched funding?
A – No, due to the amount of money raised being bigger than the matched funding budget we are no longer able to offer any matching for involvement hours. However the budget is reviewed every campaign so this could change.
Q – What would you class as involvement and can I include our team meetings?
A – Involvement is anything where you have volunteered your time to directly help a charitable cause but haven’t raised any funds, as you can’t claim both the hours and the funds for an event or activity. It has to be one or the other. For example helping out and being a marshal at a charity fun run is involvement but including the hours it took you to organise a fundraising event like a summer ball doesn’t count. Team meetings cannot be included as your not directly doing any involvement – you can’t count time where you are discussing or thinking about doing involvement projects.
Q – A colleague on my site has been has been volunteering as a youth worker, can I claim these hours?
A – Yes, even if it’s not involvement organised through Charity Challenge it still counts, just as long as they are a BAE Systems’ or one of its joint venture employees.
Q – How can I report involvement hours and funds raised?
A – You will need to contact your site’s Charity Challenge Coordinator. If you do not know who this please email james.hayward2@baesystems.com and we’ll put you in contact with them. If you are a Coordinator and would like to know please also contact James and we’ll send you the forms.
Q – Does the activity I’m involved in have to have a registered charity number to be considered for involvement? For example a lady on my site is part of a Parent, Teacher Association?
A – As long as you are volunteering your time for free and helping out in a charitable way – this includes work for the good of your community – then yes it does count.
Q – I am a coordinator and I am not sure why or how to go about reporting to you how much money we've raised?
A – On the 10th of each month we expect each site's coordinator to report how much they have done during the previous month by informing us how much they made for the partner charity, how much they made for other charities and also how many involvement hours they have done for the partner charity and how much they have done for other charities. There are a number of reasons we do this, one is because we need to monitor the progress of Charity Challenge throughout the campaign and report back to our sponsors within the company to justify our existence. The second is that every Charity Challenge bank account has to be kept in good order as it could be inspected by the Charity Commission at any given time and if your site is investigated then we may be called upon to verify your accounting. If you haven't got the relevant forms please email james.hayward2@baesystems.com.
Q – I have seen that there is a big purple heart type character in many of the pictures, what’s the deal with him?
A – That is none other than Charlie Challenge, the Charity Challenge mascot. If you’re holding an event and would like to invite him along for publicity or to promote your day then just email james.hayward2@baesystems.com.
Q – How can I get my hands on one of those fantastic Charlie toys that everyone seems to have?
A – Either drop us a line by emailing james.hayward2@baesystems.com or contact your site’s Charity Challenge Coordinator. They are free but we do ask that you make a donation to charity.
Q – I'm really interested in the history of Charity Challenge, when did it start and how has it evolved?
A – It all started way back in 1989 when Charity Challenge (or the Roland Smith Challenge as it was once known) was launched by Roland Smith, the company Chairman at the time, as a UK only under 25's development tool to help provide opportunities to develop skills in communication, team working, networking, negotiation, leadership and project management. As you can imagine it wasn't long before everyone wanted to join in and so it was decided that Charity Challenge would offer these same opportunities to any employee that wanted to get involved.
The first partner charity we worked with was the the RAF Benevolent Fund back in 1990. Back then the charity changed every year with NSPCC being the partner charity in 1991. Then 1992 was Action Research while 1993 was the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. 1994 saw Macmillan come on board and raise a phenomenal £650,000. 1995 was ChildLine. In 1996 Charity Challenge really started to evolve into the format that we have today with an 18 month partnership being inaugurated instead of a 12 month one. The reason for this change was because everyone felt that 12 months wasn't enough to fully maximise the relationship, as barely had the momentum gathered when the charity changed.
The 1996/97 campaign was with Marie Currie Cancer Care. Then 1997/98 was the Multiple Sclerosis Society. 1999/00 was Leukaemia Research and it also saw the start of Charity Challenge going global in January 1999 after British Aerospace merged with various other companies including GEC Marconi to create the now global BAE Systems. Other countries quickly grasped Charity Challenge and it wasn't long before we had coordinators based at some sites, with others just participating in ad hoc activities. Yet, it would continue to grow and grow.
The 2000/01 campaign with Help the Hospices also saw another Charity Challenge milestone. In previous campaigns volunteering and involvement were always something important to Charity Challenge but during this campaign the campaign leader (Louise Barrett) had a big push to maximise the volunteering opportunities and thus involvement became an even more integral part of Charity Challenge.
We now enter the modern era of Charity Challenge with its now familiar structure. The UK campaigns in 2002/03 and 2003/04 were both with the National Children's Hospices, with North America working with the American Cancer Society in 2003/04 while Australia worked with the Cancer Council in the same period. In 2005/06 and the UK worked with the Stroke Association, North America - American Cancer Society and Australia - the Heart Foundation. This campaign saw a huge amount of Charity Challenge develop, most notably with the use of the website and the introduction of Charlie - the Charity Challenge Mascot. The end of the campaign also saw Charity Challenge smashing the previous campaign's totals and raising over £8 million and 10,444 volunteering days worldwide!
The last campaign saw Caroline Hanmer take the helm and also some new charities. The UK worked with Macmillan Cancer Support, while North America worked with the Alzheimer's Association and Australia welcomed back the Australian Cancer Council for another term. It was a great campaign and raised £6 million and 8,700 days of volunteering.
The latest campaign sees Kim Phipps take over at Campaign Leader with the charities being the Leukaemia Foundation in Australia, Sue Ryder Care in the UK and America Supports you in the US. We are hoping that this campaign will be our best ever, especially as we'll be celebrating 20 years of Charity Challenge in 2009! We hope that we can count on your support during this campaign and that you'll also help us celebrate 20 years of this fantastic initiative that has raised millions for good causes around the world!