Charity drivers

Beverley Blin and Jackie Liddell should have teamed up long before they did. It’s only by coincidence that they eventually did meet, but it’s a happy coincidence for schools and a long-suffering parent body committed to raising ever-increasing sums of money. “We both lived in New Zealand at the same time, plus, our children are the same age,” explains Beverley, who is originally from the UK. “And our husbands were working for the same company,” adds Jackie, a native New Zealander.

There was one brief encounter through a mutual friend, but it wasn’t an event that stayed with either of them. Both women then moved to Sydney, where their husbands again worked alongside each other.

Jackie was the first to transfer to Sydney, making the trip seven years ago with daughters Hannah and Bridget, now aged 11 and ten, respectively. Angus (now six) was born soon after the family arrived. The Blins made the move four years later, bringing sons Tom (now 11) and Ned (now seven), with them. The children all ended up as students at Vaucluse Public School, which is really where the story begins.

Getting started
“I was on the school’s fundraising committee,” says Jackie. “And I was finishing my Masters in International Relations,” adds Beverley. Jackie continues: “When I realised I was swamped, I said to Bev, ‘Help!’, and somehow managed to con her into it.” The two worked together on the school’s Parents and Citizens Association for several years, becoming firm friends and fundraising experts in the process.

“We’d organised every kind of fundraising activity,” says Beverley. “Then we set up a walk-a-thon and were hooked.” The pair had been doing the job for long enough to know which problems recur time and time again. “It’s hard to get enough volunteers,” explains Jackie. “It’s not that parents don’t want to help, but the demands have gone up – schools need to raise more money and therefore need more help, and more families are dual income, so there are less helpers available.” Their first walk-a-thon was a fantastic success, particularly when the amount of money raised was compared to the number of volunteers required.

Doing it for the kids
“Volunteers aren’t the only issue,” adds Beverley. “It was also really important to us to put together an event that worked for the kids. It was good that this was a healthy event, but most importantly, it was fun.” Beverley and Jackie began to refine their system by introducing encouragement for the children involved. “Obviously, the further they walk, the more money they raise,” says Jackie, “but that can be just an abstract concept, especially for the younger kids.” Instead, the pair developed a system that directly rewards the individual – the further they walk, the better the prize – and if the school raises more money, then everybody’s happy.

A problem solved
“There’s this whole push to get kids active and that’s been an important starting point for us,” says Beverley. As the pressure to raise funds increases, so schools find themselves turning to a wide range of activities, preferably ones that come with simple programs. Variety is important, and with the growing concerns about childhood obesity, there has been increasing pressure from parents to move away from an over-reliance on selling food, especially chocolate. Familiar with the situation from their own involvement as parents, Beverley and Jackie saw there was a problem, and realised they might have a solution.

Back to work
“I’m a lawyer by training, but I didn’t want to go back to the law,” says Jackie. Beverley elaborates: “We were both ready to go back to work, but not sure what to do. Then we realised that we were pretty good at this fundraising thing and there was a real need for a better way of doing it.” The two women recognised that by refining and presenting the system they’d devised for their children’s school, they could take it into other schools and help simplify their fundraising needs. “We clearly saw that something was needed out there,” says Jackie. “We could also see other schools trying to do it, but not quite getting it right. We thought, ‘If we take it to them, then they don’t have to reinvent the wheel’.”

Fundraising Made Easy is run as a business and provides employment for both Beverley and Jackie. However, both were determined the business would take a minimal amount of the money raised. “We’re not doing this to get rich!”, says Jackie. Beverley adds, “Our aim is to bring in enough to cover our costs – things like prizes, forms and the guide – and a modest income for ourselves, while diverting as little of the funds as possible away from the schools”. They have found the best way to do this is by a simple adherence to the economies of scale. “By working with as many schools as possible, we can produce each walk-a-thon for a minimum amount,” explains Beverley.

Secrets to success
Both Jackie and Beverley are clear that the winning element for their business is the level of detail they cover. “We take feedback from each school,” says Beverley, “and use that feedback to make the system better.” They enjoy their work, and say that’s largely because they believe they are doing something to make a difference. “The last school we worked with ranked us as being as good as we could be on every point,” says Beverley. “That was a huge reward.”

Not every school has access to the same number of volunteers or level of commitment to fundraising, yet most schools are in a similar position in terms of desperately needing the extra funds. “We don’t just make it easy; we also spread the load,” says Jackie. “The system means that lots of people can give just a little, and the financial burden is spread across the community.” The children also figure highly. “It’s important to make sure every child can take part,” points out Beverley, “and that they are rewarded for their effort. Not just the five ‘best’, but everyone who hits the target.”

Walk-a-thons are nothing new – they’ve figured on everyone’s fundraising agenda at one stage or another. What is new is the system – the way Beverley and Jackie have developed a program that can work for everybody. They take their name very seriously – it really is fundraising made easy.

Fundraising resources
Head online for great advice on how to effectively fundraise:

• For a broad range of advice it’s worth trying The Fundraising Institute of Australia at www.fia.org.au.
• Most state governments run good websites, some of which are useful nationwide. Try www.community builders.nsw.gov.au and www.parentsandfriendstasmania.asn.au.
• Jackie and Beverley operate walk-a-thons across Australia and New Zealand, and can be contacted via www.fundraisingmadeeasy.com.au.

Childhood obesity
According to an article in the Australian Medical Journal in March 2003, the biggest health issues facing Australian children and adolescents are obesity, dental disease, emotional and behavioural problems, bullying and learning delays.

Overweight and obesity affects 23 per cent of Australian children, with 6 per cent obese, and the journal asserts that these are conservative estimates. The article also considers all of the above problems to be linked in one way or another.

There is no one cause for the rising problem of obesity in children, but the experts are united in considering it a ‘lifestyle’ disease – in other words it is directly caused by the way we, and our children, live our lives.

‘The overarching cause is energy imbalance’, states the article, which goes on to explain that eating too much of the wrong food and doing too little exercise will lead to children gaining weight. It seems obvious, but the complicated nature of family life – the time pressure of dual-income parents, the reduced opportunities for children to play unsupervised, and the increased reliance on convenience foods – means there’s no simple answer.

Many commentators are quick to lay the blame with the parents, yet children spend a large percentage of their time at school and doing extracurricular activities. The pressures and influences brought directly to bear on children have an influence on their needs and behaviours that cannot be blamed on parents. Parents also face the problem of decreasing influence as children grow older – you may be in control of your three-year-old’s entire diet, but it’s impossible to say the same for a 15-year-old.

Words: Francesca Newby. Photography: Sam McAdam