From small potatoes to Jazzy fun walks – a year of fundraising by Jancett Childcare

Why did you decide to fundraise for The Fostering Network?
Jancett Childcare celebrated our 50th year in operation (1969-2019) and for our anniversary year we chose to sponsor The Fostering Network – a charity whose cause meant a lot to our founder directors who had personally fostered children for many years.

Talk us through your fundraising plan.
We originally had a fundraising target of £700 in mind. Our plan was that, rather than one ‘big’ fundraising event, we would hold smaller fundraising events every month of our anniversary year. This meant that we could include everybody’s fundraising ideas and suggestions and reach all our stakeholders: our staff, students, parents and guardians and of course, the children. When our first fundraising event for The Fostering Network took place – our nurseries’ Christmas fairs – we soon realised we would be able to raise more than we’d originally hoped and that was very motivating. We were so pleased and thankful when we ultimately raised over £2,300 for The Fostering Network.

What were the highlights of your fundraising?
Seeing how much our staff, students and our nursery and club families embraced the cause was inspiring. The generosity of our nursery parents and carers was wonderful. A highlight was when our 50th anniversary working party first met to share ideas for fundraising activities each month of our 50th year. From a potato growing competition (yes, really!) to a Culinary Challenge, to free First Aid courses for our club and nursery parents, to our beloved mascot Jazzy’s ‘Fun Walks’ for the babies and children, everybody could get involved in the fundraising activities. Knowing that everything
we did was helping us fundraise for The Fostering Network
was a huge driving force for us behind the scenes.

What would you advise to anyone thinking of fundraising for The Fostering Network?
We would advise anyone to fundraise for The Fostering Network. A highlight for us was the contact from the charity and the support we received around our fundraising ideas. The fundraising team were encouraging and helpful, checking in with us regularly and following and sharing our 50th Anniversary related social media throughout our fundraising year.

What were the benefits for your organisation in fundraising for The Fostering Network?
For us fundraising for The Fostering Network reminded us all of the incredible work foster families do every single day. It allowed us to reflect on the work of our founder directors and the many children they personally fostered through the decades. Our company values include ‘nurturing’ and ‘partnership’ and The Fostering Network’s vision to bring everyone who is involved in the lives of foster children together, strongly resonated with our values and our vision ‘where every child comes first.” We also knew that the money raised would help the charity’s mission to create change, lead practice development, promote fostering, and offer advice, information and support to fostered children, foster carers and the community of support around every child.

We’d like to say an enormous thank you to Jancett Childcare and Training for all their continued dedication to fundraising throughout the year and congratulations to them on their 50th birthday!
If you’d like to get involved with fundraising for The Fostering Network, either as an organisation, or as an individual, please get in touch with our fundraising team: fundraising@fostering.net/020 7620 8403.