Support Us
We’re incredibly grateful that you have chosen to raise money for Watford Women’s Centre. Your donations are crucial to the continued work of our charity. They mean that we can provide more support to local women who are in need and enable us to provide a lifeline to those women who have very few personal resources.
Your donation could help pay for specialist personal development courses that demonstrate excellent outcomes for women leaving domestic abuse. Or it could help prevent a woman experiencing domestic abuse from mental health crisis by providing counselling. Or it could contribute to our crisis fund and help a woman with children meet immediate needs for food, clothing and other essentials.
To help with your plans, we have developed this guide to give you lots of ideas and tips to kick start your fundraising.
Our domestic abuse service relies on donations. Watford Women’s Centre has been providing life-changing support to victims of domestic abuse for over 30 years. Your generosity can help us to keep women safe when they most need our support.
Fundraising ideas
There are lots of ways to raise money – if you’re stuck for ideas have a look at our A-Z list here Go for it! Run, walk, swim or cycle and raise money through sponsorship from friends and family. Create, bake or make items to sell in order to raise money. Wear purple. Hold a day at work or school wearing purple in exchange for a small donation. Play. Set-up an online game event, board games night or game of golf and invite people to pay to play!
Plan and spread the word.
Plan a date and time for your event and find a venue if you need to. Then tell everyone about it:
Use your social media pages to let people know why you’re raising money for Watford Women’s Centre and to share details about your event. Post photos and videos, use Instagram or Facebook stories and ask for donations by sharing links to online fundraising pages like JustGiving. Set up an event or group in Facebook or start a hashtag on Twitter to spread the word. Give regular updates to let people know how things are progressing. Don’t forget to use local Facebook groups in your community to help the spread the word with the @wwcplus tag across all social media platforms.
Make it local. Use our posters to promote your event wherever you can – at work and in your local community. Download a blank poster template or bunting from our website. Get in touch with your local newspaper and tell them all about your event. Your story has a greater chance of success if sent with a photo, so make sure you take some high-quality photos before, during and after your event. Use our press release template to make sure you share all the information. Don’t forget to contact local community magazines and websites too.
Paying in your fundraising
Once you’ve collected in all your fundraising, send it in to us in the following ways:
Online Fundraising
Setting up a JustGiving page is an easy way for people to donate. Money raised comes straight to us, all you have to do is spread the word and share the link. Set your page up at justgiving.com.
Paying in online
If you’ve collected money, you can make a payment to us online via our website at wwcplus.org.uk/donate
Paying into the bank
You can pay your fundraising directly into our bank account. Just give our fundraising team a call on 01923 816 229 to get our bank details.
Paying in by cheque
Send a cheque made payable to ‘Watford Women’s Centre’ along with your name, address and a short message about your fundraising. Enclose any sponsorship forms so that we can claim any Gift Aid.
Please send your cheque to: Watford Women’s Centre, 83 Market Street, Watford, WD18 0PT
If you’re holding an event or being sponsored for a challenge, you can ask your sponsors to Gift Aid their donation if they are a UK tax payer. This boosts their donation by 25% as we can claim 25p from the Government for every £1 donated. This is really simple if you’re using JustGiving to collect money as there is a simple "tick box" as part of the online donation page. If you’re using our sponsorship forms, just ask your sponsors to read the Gift Aid declaration on the form, and tick the box if they’re eligible. We’ll do the rest!
Other ways to raise money
Here are some other ways that you can help Watford Women’s Centre:
Play The Giving Lottery
The Giving Lottery costs just £1 per ticket, per week, to play.
Watford Women's Centre will receive 40p from every ticket bought from our The Giving Lottery page. 20p from every ticket sold goes to support all good causes signed up to the The Giving Lottery. Every month, there is a prize draw. If you match 6 numbers, you win a guaranteed £25000.
Set up a regular donation
By choosing to give us a regular donation, you will be helping us to plan ahead and make an ongoing difference to the lives of women in need. To set up a direct debit, visit wwcplus.org.uk/donate.
Leave a legacy
By leaving a gift in your will, you can help create a better future for women in our community. We are truly grateful to all those who consider leaving a gift in their will to Watford Women’s Centre. To find out more, please read our guide here.
Shop online
Join thegivingmachine.co.uk and choose to support Watford Women’s Centre. Every time you shop online through their link we will receive sales commission as a donation, at no extra cost to you.
Make purchases via smile.amazon.co.uk and we’ll receive a donation every time you shop – just select Watford Women’s Centre as your chosen charity.
