Sign in here for Giving Week 2015: nominate your favourite organisation, charity or worthy cause

[JustineMumsnet]

Hello, hello

As (hopefully) lots of you will remember, last year we ran the inaugural Mumsnet Giving Week, raising nearly £23k (with MNHQ match-funding) for five MNer-nominated causes.

The idea is that you lovely lot use this thread to put forward the charities, organisations and good causes that you’d like to benefit - and we at MNHQ will pick five to be the focus of a week-long Mumsnet-wide fundraising drive in June. As last year, we will match-fund the amount raised by the end of the week (up to £25k, just in case any donors turn out to be Bill Gates).

A few principles: ideally the organisations chosen won’t be huge, national charities that already get a lot of coverage and fund-raising welly; they don’t have to be registered charities (our partners at JustGiving will do a bit of due diligence to make sure any that are chosen are legit organisations); and we’re on the lookout for a spread of organisations that reflect MNers’ concerns and interests. Last year the chosen organisations were the PDA Society (providing support for people with a little-known behavioural condition); the MNer-driven Woolly Hugs; Women’s Aid; Free Cakes for Kids; and Haven House Children’s Hospice.

And because we also want to make sure that the causes are ones that existing Mumsnetters have settled on, we’re only going to shortlist projects suggested by Mumsnetters who are registered as of now. (Apologies to newbies who join after this point, but there’s always next year.)

We’ll be partnering up with JustGiving, which will be organising the fundraising element and will also be making a donation to the chosen causes.

You’ve got until May 22 to nominate good causes, using this thread. So get cracking, and as ever do put any queries or comments here as well.

That's a fair point, tribpot. There are certain charities that I would probably want to support even if they had won in a previous year but people have nominated so many wonderful causes - and funds are so tight - that maybe no charity should hope to have more than one go at the MN pot. (After all, MNetters can always give or campaign privately if they wish.)

I don't know for sure - but I suspect that my ambivalence is more to do with the general lack of funds for many worthwhile causes rather than always thinking that one charity is immeasurably better than others. Other posters may have different views.

Rett UK are a great charity, retts syndrome is a condition which almost exclusively affects women and girls and causes profound, lifelong disabilities

Hello hello

On last year's winners: we're not pre-judging - if lots of you want to get behind a cause that was on the list last year then that's OK with us.

@cozietoesie

Justine

I have a fleeting memory from a previous Giving Week that the Shortlisting Group would be more likely to select nominations where donations would overtake a specific objective rather than just being thrown into general funding.

Is there any suggestion of that this time round?

We don't quite recognise this, although as ever do give our heads a wobble if you think we've forgotten something.

Thanks all - could we encourage you to vote for causes other posters have nominated as well as the ones you're nominating yourselves (if any take your fancy), otherwise we risk ending up with a list of two or three frontrunners and about 90 causes with one vote each and our spreadsheet will be sad

As I said, it was only a fleeting memory - and I'm not that bothered about the matter. It would be useful, though, to have an idea about the issue raised by tribpot regarding the status of organisations who benefitted last year?

Strike that last post. I should read before I think!

One thing I will always remember about Woolly Hugs last year is the great scad of colour on their 'page'. Like having your own rainbow. I'd have to support them as well.

(I'm using up my votes fast here.)

I would like to add my support for Woolly Hugs

But would also like to nominate

SWAN UK undiagnosed.org.uk/ they are a charity who support the families of disabled children who have undiagnosed genetic conditions.SWAN stands for Syndromes Without A Name

It is a term used to describe disabled children who are thought to have a genetic syndrome or condition that doctors have so far been unable to identify. Many of these children have had lots of tests including blood tests, microarray, lumber punctures, EEG’s, ECG’s and MRI’s but they have all come back negative.

SWAN is not a condition, it is not a diagnosis and it does not refer to one specific syndrome or condition. In fact, the reason that many children remain undiagnosed is because it is highly likely that they have a very rare syndrome or condition.

It is thought that about half (50%) of children with learning disabilites and in approximately 60% of children with multiple congenital problems do not have a definitive diagnosis to explain the cause of their difficulties

It can be very isolating having a child without a definitive diagnosis, and some of these children can be profoundly disabled. It can be more difficult to access support, and make things like statementing, hospital visits and getting DLA more difficult.

SWAN UK provides advice and support, and has a very active facebook forum and meetups for families. Whenever someone on Mumsnet is in those early terrifying days of realising that their child is disabled and the tests and meetings start, I always link them to the SWAN UK website.

Sorry this has been so long, but I would love them to get some support!

cozie, what you're remembering was a limitation of the website some of the charities used for fundraising. If they weren't registered charities they couldn't use JustGiving. And whichever site it was required them to have a specific project in mind.

It was extremely confusing last year trying to understand how the match funding was going to work. Did the charities have to raise a minimum before they qualified for any match funding?

@cozietoesie

One thing I will always remember about Woolly Hugs last year is the great scad of colour on their 'page'. Like having your own rainbow. I'd have to support them as well.

(I'm using up my votes fast here.)

Vote early, vote often and vote as many times as you like (tho obviously we'll only count one vote per poster for each individual cause, if you see what we mean)

@tribpot

cozie, what you're remembering was a limitation of the website some of the charities used for fundraising. If they weren't registered charities they couldn't use JustGiving. And whichever site it was required them to have a specific project in mind.

It was extremely confusing last year trying to understand how the match funding was going to work. Did the charities have to raise a minimum before they qualified for any match funding?

As you say tribpot, think this was to do with the crowdfunding site that was involved last year. We don't think there are restrictions or minimum amounts this year with JustGiving, but we will check.

I would like to put forward..

Lewis-Manning Hospice

Julia's House Childrens Hospice

SwanUK for conditions with no diagnostic name

[[http://beta.woollyhugs.com/ WoollyHugs]

WoollyHugs

Another vote for Woolly Hugs from me too.

And Little Havens Hospice, in Essex

We bloody LOVE everyone for our nominations and we are truly grateful, thank you everyone for thinking of us, valuing what Woolly Hugs does and taking time to post

Knots and I have spoken this morning, and think it's only fair that other causes should have turn this year.

As much as we would be grateful for additional funds, there are so many other deserving charities that need support. Especially in this current climate.

So we are ruling ourselves out, lovely Justine and Rowan, or anyone, please don't think we are not grateful for our nominations, we really are.

Is it possible to nominate Foodshare Maidenhead? They provide meals for the Homeless Community/Community meals for older, lonely & isolated people, as well as operating a foodbank.

The lady who runs it, Susan Brett is totally amazing, and earlier this year even gave away her car to a family 'that needed it more than she did'.

Silver Star in Oxford - special care for women with difficult pregnancies. A number of MNers (including me) have been supported by the fantastic team here who are almost always at threat of closure.

That is very noble of the Woolly Hugs ladies

Can I nominate Women for Refugee Women who try to give a voice to female asylum seekers in the UK. These women are often fleeing violence, rape or other sorts of trauma, and then when they get here they're turned back in the most callous way. If they're given leave to remain they're often isolated and living in poverty with few family members or friends around them.

When we've just watched thousands of would-be migrants drown in the Med, and seen 4m people vote for UKIP, and heard Theresa May refuse to take the UK's fair share of asylum seekers, it would be nice to do something positive.

Of those already nominated I'd like to vote for

manchester action on street health (support for street sex workers)
The Carers centre
Rise UK
Freedom from Fistula
Leeway Support
COMAS
Refuge
IPSEA (have helped so many families on MN)

...what you're remembering was a limitation of the website some of the charities used for fundraising...

That makes sense - as I said, it was only a fleeting memory.

Could I also say that while it's wonderful of you Woolly Hugs people to take that stance - and it shows what sort of people you are - I don't think you should underestimate the regard in which you're held on MN. Myself, I think you should let things go as they will.

I would like to nominate The Grandparent's Association. Their aim is to support grandparents to retain contact with their grandchildren when the family breaks down or there is conflict.

As a parent I know how much benefit my children get from their grandparental relationships, yet I know that sadly many grandparents (and grandchildren) don't have that contact.

They also support grandparents that care for their grandchildren when the child's parents aren't able to.

The GPA are small yet last year they answered nearly 10,000 calls on their helpline. They have a small staff team which is supported by an 'army' of 1000 volunteers which is amazing but also takes management and nurturing.

www.grandparents-association.org.uk/

I would like to Nominate Magic Breakfast, a charity supporting over 400 schools (where children with FSM entitlement is over 35%) by providing free breakfasts for children who may not otherwise eat in the morning.

www.magicbreakfast.com/

I've already nominated once, I was coming back on to vote for Woolly Hugs as I think MN really should support their own unofficial charity, but I see they have declared themselves out

Would also like to nominate SANDS - the stillbirth and neonatal death charity. They are supporting a friend of mine, the sense of cruelty and loss must be overwhelming.

www.uk-sands.org/

That's very nice of you, Knotty

I will always vote for Women's Aid and Refuge. Also the CAB, but I'm not sure if it falls within Mumsnet's remit. It relies on charity and local authority grants since government funding was axed.

But the Biscuit Fund isn't creepy! It's just that they're too small to vet applications for genuine need, therefore they don't invite any. They help a lot of desperate people in numerous ways :)