A year is not a long time. It can whizz by in a shot. And you're busy, yeah? A few other things on? So you need a bit of a helping hand to make sure working with CALM really works for your team. We asked some of our good mates at LNER and Simons Muirhead & Burton to reveal the ingredients of a great Charity Of The Year partnership. And sound as they are, they give us a year-full of ideas. Ideas that helped them raise thousands, make a splash in the media, and most importantly have a crackin' time.
JANUARY is for just do it!
CALM will do all we can to give you the tools and inspiration you need to get going, but the best partnerships work well when someone passionate at your workplace takes the bull by the horns and just goes for it. Call them your CALM Champion!
FEBRUARY is for fundraising (feel free to do this all year round).
From bake sales to biking across Europe. From the simple and daft to the difficult and terrifying – you can do anything. Set yourself a target early on (aim high!), and then get a brainstorming session together to map out an action-packed calendar that will help you achieve it. Decide who's organising the pub quizzes, who's aggressively enforcing Dress Up Fridays and who has the courage to suggest a sponsored silence for your CEO. Oh, and make sure you ask your workplace about matched giving. Double your fundraising total for nothing!? Yep.
MARCH is for move your arse.
Movement and exercise is not only amazing for physical and mental health (and the productivity) of your team. Movers raise loads of cash for CALM too, as exemplified by Jonny here. Did you know that runners make 20p of every pound that runs our life-saving helpline? And there's thousands of cyclists, walkers, climbers, boxers and swimmers too. For all your social, motivational and sometimes even technical needs we have the warm and friendly CALM Runners Crew and CALM Cycle club. And there's 5-a side tournaments you can join. And you can obviously set up your own. Finance Vs HR – the grudge match everyone's been waiting for.
Check out our full events calendar >
APRIL is for awareness.
LNER set the bar high with a partnership campaign that got their staff, customers and wider industry engaged in the issue with great storytelling and loads of activity.
Get involved in helping us spread the CALM message and reach new audiences with our campaigns throughout the year.
MAY is for momentum.
Keep the energy up with a drum beat of constant activity! Make sure your CALM Champions are rallying the troops with regular inspiring updates, celebrating your successes along the way and badgering Nigel in accounts about the fact that everyone thinks he'd really suit a shaved head, especially one that saves lives.
JUNE is for joy! This is all getting a bit Hallmark init?
But we're quite serious, working with CALM should be most of all fun. Table tennis tournaments, pub quizzes (and crawls) always go down well. Go further, organise a gig, or a comedy night. The subject of mental health and suicide can feel solemn serious but having a right laugh is core to what we do. Make sure you're doling out the praise like on overly enthusiastic Soccer Mom too. Everyone should feel like heroes, because you are heroes.
JULY is for JustGiving.
Because online fundraisers raise more. Loads more. Setting up a team page takes just minutes. Tell your story, add some flattering pictures, then all you have to do is spread it through your networks on every platform possible! Make sure to update everyone on your progress and thank, thank, thank.
AUGUST is for away days.
Get out of your office! Or your shop. Or site. Just get out! Try something new. Go on a #ManYourLocal pub crawl. Blast each other with nerf guns in a forest and make the losers pay a donation fine. Or like the LNER lot above, if you've always wanted an excuse to dress in weird clothes and approach strangers, but never had a reason to...
SEPTEMBER is for skillzzz. You have them, we need them.
Always remember to give yourself a break. It only takes 15 minutes to improve yours or someone else’s day.
Volunteering your time time and skills is just as important as fundraising. If you and your team have an idea or some extra brain power lying around that you can pour into cheering, talking, data-mining, editing, film-making, packing envelopes impressively fast... we want to hear from you.
OCTOBER is for Organisational Buy-in. Catchy!
This is Craig. CALM loves Craig. Craig loves the fact that his staff love CALM. Watch this film where Craig talks about how LNER's culture has become more open and engaged with the subject of mental health through our partnership. Thanks Craig.
NOVEMBER is new ideas
Surely we've given you more than enough now!? What are yours? Keep sharing 'em with us. Never be afraid to get in contact for more. Contact us right now.
DECEMBER is for Do It All Again.
Obviously.