BBC Children in Need and Asda have launched their 2020 fundraising campaign to provide essential items to children experiencing difficult situations.
The retailer will be fundraising in-store as well as selling merchandise, including Pudsey clothing and this year’s official BBC Children in Need t-shirt.
The campaign will be raising money for Emergency Essentials, a BBC Children in Need programme that provides food and other essentials to children living in families experiencing financial, health and social difficulties.
This is the 20th campaign BBC Children in Need and Asda have launched together, with the partnership raising more than £25m so far.
T-shirt created by young people
The BBC Children in Need t-shirt (pictured above) was created by young people supported by The Garage Trust, a Norwich-based charity funded by Children in Need that runs creative programmes for children and young people.
Claire Hoyle, commercial director at BBC Children in Need, said: “It is great news that Asda’s fundraising this year will help to fund our Emergency Essentials programme, and provide support to individual children and young people across the UK who need it most.”
Jo Warner, senior director community & corporate affairs at Asda, said: “BBC Children in Need have been a partner of ours for 20 years. We are pleased that this year, with the help of our colleagues, suppliers and customers, the money raised will go towards supporting the Emergency Essentials grant programme providing children and young people living in severe poverty with the basic facilities which most of us take for granted.”
BBC Children in Need will host its telethon on 13 November. Last month, it also announced a partnership with Girlguiding for a fundraising challenge called Act Your Age.
Children’s charities renew partnership with Poundland
Elsewhere, children’s charities Make-A-Wish UK, Tommy’s and Whizz-Kidz have announced the renewal of their fundraising partnership with Poundland.
The partnership started in 2017, has raised £3.7m so far and is aiming to raise a further £2.5m over the next two years.
Fintech charity Pennies will provide the technology to collect micro-donations through a “digital charity box”, which will invite customers to donate an extra 25p if they are spending more than £3 and paying by card with chip and PIN. The technology has been trialled in the Midlands and wil now be rolled out in all Poundland stores.
The three charities will split the donations equally, receiving 30% each, while the remaining 10% will go to the Pennies Foundation.
Barry Williams, managing director at Poundland, said: “More than ever, charities need our support. During coronavirus our colleagues and customers, helped by our suppliers, have gone above and beyond to support national and local charities. The Pennies trial shows just how big-hearted people are and there could not be a better time to roll out Pennies across all our stores.
“We’re really proud to extend the relationship with Make-A-Wish, Tommy’s and Whizz-Kidz after three fruitful years, and we’re looking forward to building on the donations we’ve made up to now. These are causes that are very dear to the hearts of our colleagues and customers whose generosity is absolutely amazing.”
