Hallam Students' Union (Volunteering)

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Volunteering and Community Action opportunities run by Hallam Students' Union. These may take place at local schools, charities, community organisations...

Support Dogs Fundraising Challenge 2025

This opportunity takes place between 28 Apr 2025 and 16 May 2025 Closing date for applications is 21 Apr.

Are you in a sports team or a society? Or do you have a group of mates who like to get stuck in? Do you like a challenge? This year, Hallam SU are partnering with local charity Support Dogs on a brand-new fundraising challenge.

Overview of Project

If you and your mates are ready to get creative and competitive, we’re looking teams of students (this could be a whole society/sports team, or a smaller team of a few friends), to get involved and use their skills and strengths as a team to raise as much money as possible for Support Dogs. Support Dogs is a Sheffield-based charity which trains highly skilful assistance dogs to partner with adults and children suffering from life-changing and life-limiting disabilities and medical conditions. They run three programmes: autism assistance dogs for children, disability assistance dogs for adults and seizure alert dogs for people with epilepsy - they are the only organisation in the UK that trains seizure alert dogs to do this specialist work. From keeping children calm and safe to alerting their owners prior to an oncoming epileptic seizure, from raising the alarm in emergencies to helping open doors and helping to get dressed in the morning, support dogs transform the lives of their families.

This Role Involves

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to plan and deliver a fundraising event or activity that will raise money for Support Dogs. First, you’ll need to assemble your team and get them registered with us. Registrations are open between 1st April 2025 and 21st April 2025. You’ll need to select a “Team Leader”, who will act as a contact between us and your team. Your team leader must also be available to attend a briefing ahead of the challenge, and a debrief afterwards. Each team will be provided with a “seed fund” – a pot of £25 to be spent on whatever materials and equipment your team might need to pull of your fundraising idea. You will also be given some branded promotional materials from Support Dogs, such as collection buckets/tins, magazines/leaflets, bunting, stickers, balloons, posters, etc. You will then have between 28th April and 16th May to plan, organise and deliver your fundraising idea, with the challenge closing on 16th May You don’t just have to just engage with students – we encourage you to get out and about into different areas and communities, as well as getting your families and friends involved! After the closing date, we will confirm the total amount raised as well as the amount raised by each team, and the team who has raised the most money will win a prize! The Rules: • Make sure you keep hold of receipts for any purchases you make with your seed fund, as these will need to be returned to Support Dogs, along with any unspent money. • Don’t spend anything over your allotted £25, this is to ensure that the challenge is fair for all teams. • All events and activities must be approved by the SU Volunteering team and Support Dogs. • The maximum size a team can be is 10 people. • You are responsible for your seed fund of £25. If you spend the money and are not able to recuperate it through fundraising, your team will be responsible for paying back that £25 to Support Dogs. Want to sign up? The first step is to gather your team. Once you’ve got everyone on board, please complete the form linked below, where you will let us know your name and contact details, as well as the names of everyone in your team. Please note we only need one form returning per team, so elect one of your group to complete the form on behalf of everyone! Sign-up Here: https://forms.office.com/e/thiH68pwfm

Location

Sheffield

Skills/Experience Required

None! Just a willingness to get stuck in!

Benefits to Others

Want something for your team to work towards? Here’s what your fundraising could pay for: • £10 to provide 24 hours of vital care and assistance to someone affected by autism, epilepsy and disability by one of our specialist support dogs. • £35 to pay for the equipment needed to help a support dog keep a child with autism safe while on a busy street or crossing a busy road. • £75 to pay for a month of health and welfare costs for a rescue dog training to become a support dog • £100 could pay for a two hour training session for a disability assistance dog. Providing them with the skills to give life critical alerts to their client. • £500 will pay for a two day home matching session enabling a child with autism to meet their future support dog at their home for the first time. • £1000 could pay towards a week residential session for an epilepsy seizure alert dog and their new client. Providing them with the skills to give life saving alerts to their client.

Benefits to the Volunteer

You'll gain excellent teamwork skills, as well as having fun and being creative. Its the perfect chance to close off the academic year by taking part in a challenge with friends, all while raising money for a good cause.

Role Duration

28th April - 16th May, plus attendance to a briefing and debriefing

Time Commitment (hours Per week/month/year, etc)

Dependent on activity

Training Information

Someone from your team will need to commit to attending two briefing sessions

Expenses Information

Please ask a member of our team - travel expenses can be refunded in some instances.

DBS required?

No.
  • Area of InterestAnimal Welfare, Communities, Events, Fundraising
  • Academic Course RelevanceAccounting/Finance, Administration, Art, Business, Childcare, Communications, Computer Sciences, Education, English, Environmental Sciences, Events Management, Fashion, Film and TV, Health and Social Care, Humanities, Information Technology, Journalism, Languages, Law, Marketing, Maths, Medical Care, Music, Psychology, Research, Sciences, Sports Studies
  • One off / Give it a GoOne off / Give it a Go

Employability skills

  • Communication and Listening 0
  • Critical Thinking 0
  • Event Management 0
  • Financial Management 0
  • Initiative 0
  • Innovation and Creativity 0
  • Leadership 0
  • Marketing and PR 0
  • Networking 0
  • Organisation 0
  • Partnership Working 0
  • Problem Solving 0
  • Project Management 0
  • Public Speaking and Presentations 0
  • Session Planning 0
  • Team Work 0
  • Time Management 0
  • People Skills 0