Children’s Bereavement Charity Challenges Local Businesses

The UK’s first children and young people’s bereavement charity, Winston’s Wish, is encouraging local businesses to take part in a special team-based challenge designed to raise funds for grieving young people while bringing colleagues together.

Race to Raise: The Multiplier Challenge is a new charity workplace initiative designed to strengthen teamwork, boost office morale and connect colleagues, all while raising funds to help ensure that no child is left to grieve alone.

Race to Raise challenges teams to turn a £50 starter loan into as much funding as possible over 31 days in March, which will help to support grieving children and young people across the UK.

Along the way, teams compete in a friendly challenge against other organisations and businesses, encouraging creativity, collaboration and a healthy sense of competition.

The initiative offers a flexible and inclusive way for colleagues to connect, whether teams are office-based, hybrid or remote. Teams of colleagues work together to plan fundraising ideas, problem-solve, share skills and celebrate successes, all while having fun and making a meaningful impact on the lives of bereaved young people.

Teams are also placed on a leaderboard, in competition with other businesses across the UK who are also taking part in the Race to Raise challenge.

Last year alone Winston’s Wish supported 95,744 bereaved children, young people and their families last year, but demand for services continues to grow.

An estimated 127 children and young people are bereaved of a parent every day in the UK and during the Race to Raise challenge, estimates suggest that a further 4,000 children in the UK will be told their parent has died, alongside the many others coping with the death of a friend, sibling or another important person.

Once registered, teams receive access to an online portal filled with fundraising ideas, tools and resources to support collaboration throughout the month. The challenge works for organisations of varying sizes.

Louisa Hancox comments, “We are so excited to be launching the first-ever Winston’s Wish Race to Raise: the Multiplier Challenge. Race to Raise is designed to engage staff teams in a shared challenge that encourages collaboration, creativity, and purpose.

“From inventive fundraising activities to collective participation, teams play a crucial role in raising funds and generating support that enables Winston’s Wish to continue its work with bereaved children and young people.”

Teams sign up via the charity and receive a £50 starter loan, a digital fundraising pack and access to the Partner Portal alongside support from the charity’s dedicated Corporate Support Team. To add an extra layer of competition, teams will compete in a national leaderboard, as part of the race to the top of the fundraising initiative.

In March, colleagues are encouraged to work together to multiply their £50 through fundraising activities. £216 could fund a bereavement specialist for a day, £533 could provide eight one-to-one sessions for a child, giving them a safe space to process their grief, £1,014 could fund six volunteers for an entire year as they work alongside bereavement specialists to support the UK’s bereaved children. 

Companies are encouraged to shape the challenge around what works best for their people. What matters most is teamwork, creativity and inclusivity. Teams may decide to host special remote or office events and challenges, share on their social media channels, take part in sponsored activities or find other creative ways to grow their initial starter fund.

Winston’s Wish is hopeful that companies will feel inspired to employ their blue sky thinking by brainstorming outside of the box and maximising their fundraising successes without reinventing the wheel by taking part in the special team building Race to Raise charity challenge in March.

For further details, please visit the dedicated webpage on the Winston’s Wish website.