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card sized card in a purse or waller where the holder can actually track unnecessary spending appeal to many people? If it means that the person is more aware of where their money is going on a daily basis that has to be beneficial to the person's finances long term as well as for the charity.

If it inspires a cut down sugary snacks, the intake of fizzy drinks, alcohol and strong coffee it is also helping create a more healthy lifestyle too. Therefore this campaign could be promoted alongside personal health or money management targets in addition to a person's community contribution goals. Encouraging the population to eat less junk food and be more aware of everyday expenditure can only be a good thing.

LARGER GROUP INVOLVEMENT

Additional funding targets with comparable daily spending values could be listed on the charity's website. A printable sheet with check boxes could, for instance, be used for larger groups of people such as office workers who could work together as a team to complete the whole funding list and raise larger sums of money.

CARD DISTRIBUTION

The challenge is the distribution of the card. How this would be done would need to be carefully considered as there is evidence that there is some reluctance to take any form of direct mail.

Cards could be displayed with point-of-sale charity boxes which can then be picked up or be given out through promotions with exhibition stands at shopping malls. Another option would be to give them out instead of stickers at collection points.

A batch could be mailed out with copies of charity publications and passed to family and friends of those affected. This may yield a high return but this would also be comparable to preaching to the converted - they already know about the cause and what means.

Ideally the charity needs to reach members of the population who do not know of the work of the organisation so they can better understand the needs of those with the condition and why funding is so important.

IN SUMMARY

This campaign is not designed to make an individual feel guilty for treating themselves to everyday luxuries. It's just a case of being aware of what anyone can do on a daily, weekly, monthly basis and redirecting some of that money to where it can be used more effectively.

If we did nothing else but skipped just one glass of wine or bottle of beer over the course of a seven day period we would contribute more to charity coffers than most people ever do in their everyday lives. If 100 people make that sacrifice that's 250. If 1,000 did that it's 2,500 and that's out of a UK population of 60 million people.

...and that's just for ONE sacrifice in seven days...

Imagine if 2,000 people each saved a fiver - that's 10,000! As I said: "Small Change / Big Difference!"

Learn more about this author, Jeremy Orbell.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

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