News / Jessie May
Jessie May raises £232,649 in urgent appeal
Children and young people’s hospice care-at-home charity Jessie May has raised more than £200,000 during its urgent ‘Your Community Needs You’ appeal.
In light of recent cuts to the care sector, the month-long campaign called on the local community to contribute to the £300,000 funding gap so they can continue to provide crucial care for service users.
In the end they raised a total of £232,649, which was supercharged by the matched funding period which saw donations of £180,000 in 36 hours.
CEO Daniel Cheesman said: “We’ve just been amazed by the level of support that we’ve seen from our communities.”
He added that Jessie May have been “inundated” by responses from the community, who have all been fundraising in many different ways through the appeal – whether it’s been supporters doing a cake sale on behalf of Jessie May, or becoming a regular donor or just talking about the charity to their friends, families and neighbours.
Jessie May have also seen an increase in people who are going to be running next year’s Bristol 10k in their name,.
The campaign has piqued the interest of 23 MPs, with five local MPs asking to visit the office to find out more about what they do, including their MP, Damien Egan, the Labour MP for Bristol North East.
Daniel said, “He’s committed to raising questions in the House of Parliament, specifically around the Children’s Hospice Grant — a crucial source of funding.”
He explained that the team had never done fundraising at this level so they were really nervous about launching the appeal: “The minute it went live it was so addictive seeing the donations coming in by the minute.
“I wasn’t the only member of the team that kept waking up in the middle of the night, looking at my phone to see where we were at.”
“It’s something that really, really paid off and showed how loyal people are to this local charity.”
CEO of three years Daniel Cheesman
The charity doesn’t receive any funding from the NHS.
They receive 18 per cent of funding from the government, but the rest of the 82 per cent comes from fundraising that they do all year round.
Daniel said that while fundraising remains a challenge, its part of life as a charity and “that’s never going to change.”
But he was keen to emphasise that long-term change needs to happen in order for charities like Jessie May to be able to sustain their vital care; the NHS 10 Year Health Plan for England is crucial to this.
“The heart of the ten-year plan is about choice that we always provide; we’re about providing the choice of families to stay at home – which ticks another box in terms of the NHS ten-year plan that focuses on the community and preventing unplanned trips into hospital.”
“That’s something that Jessie made for 30 years.
“We know the value of keeping a child where we can in the home, surrounded by its family, siblings, toys, pets, in a place where they feel safe and loved, and that’s really important to us.
“So, we’re quite encouraged that the ten year plan really plays to the strength of Jessie May.”
Jessie May are currently lobbying the government to ensure ongoing commitment to the Children’s Hospice Grant (the government funding Jessie May uses) as, at the moment, that grant is only guaranteed until the end of March 2026.
They’re asking the government to commit to that grant on an ongoing basis, so they’re not worried every year about whether they will meet their financial needs.
At the moment it’s £26m pounds for the whole of the children’s hospital sector, and they’re asking the government to inflate that by 2030 to £30m pounds.
“If our Jessie May didn’t exist, the nursing that we provide through charitable fundraising mainly, would need to be met from the NHS purse,” Daniel said.
“So the fact that the Hospice Grant that’s shared across all of the hospices, it really is value for money and really is reaching some of the most vulnerable children within our society.”
Baby Jessie May who the charity is named after – photo: Hannah Massoudi
If you want to support Jessie May, there are a number of ways to do so including via donations, payroll giving and fundraising packs. To find out more visit their website at jessiemay.org.uk/support-us/
Main photo: Jessie May
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