The impact our supporters make is, in a word, huge. They have continued to fundraise, send in donations, buy goods in our charity shops and online, purchase Christmas cards and gifts, and attend our events.
Most of the events our supporters took part in throughout 2021-22 continued to be online, with our popular pub quiz, our art events and a new pet show helping us stay connected to our amazing supporters. These events provided important chances to engage with our community of supporters.
Although income generation has been greatly impacted by the pandemic, and is significantly down on pre-pandemic levels, we did see an increase in voluntary income, and shop sales, as compared to the first year of COVID restrictions in 2020-21.
Voluntary income started to develop again across almost all areas, and we were delighted to be able to welcome supporters back to Charlotte Square Gardens, and to St Mary’s Pleasance Gardens in Haddington, for the lighting of our Christmas Trees as part of our annual light up a life appeals. Although a little smaller in number than previous years it was wonderful to see our community around our tree in Edinburgh and Haddington, and our Facebook Live coverage of our Edinburgh lighting attracted a large audience.
2022 saw a new patient transport vehicle arrive at the Hospice.
Trusts and Foundations were also hugely supportive of us throughout the year, raising vital funds for core funding, and for significant projects to support our growth and development. One of these projects was the funding for a new Patient Transport Vehicle. This important new vehicle will help us support patient transport to and from hospital and also from other care settings.
Our shops had a more stable trading period throughout 2021-22. Despite COVID restriction closures at the beginning of the year the teams worked incredibly hard to ensure a safe, welcoming and happy shopping environment. This hard work helped us exceed our income budget for the year by over £20,000 – no small effort in some of the most challenging circumstances many of our shop managers and volunteers have worked through.
The shoots of recovery were certainly starting to show throughout 2021-22. Across our community more collecting can income started to come in, our supporters were starting to organise initiatives to raise money for us, and we were talking to far more donors about their plans and activities. Corporate income started to come back too, with new partnerships formed with businesses across our area that continue to grow and develop.
Our supporters will always be part of the backbone of our Hospice services, as without them we simply couldn’t provide the services that are so important to the families we support. Throughout another year filled with changes in restrictions, uncertainty and challenge, our wonderful donors, supports, shoppers, runners, walkers (and everything else!) were there with their support. It was, as always, incredibly inspiring.
