Nine fabulous festive campaigns from charities

Civil Society News is bringing you a festive countdown in the run-up to Christmas. On the ninth day Leon Ward picks his nine favourite festive campaigns this year.

It’s been a fantastic year for charity appeals. This Christmas we are bestowed with a wide range of choice. This list (not ranked in any particular order) includes some of the typical contenders, some tear-jerking entries and one appeal that has absolutely no fundraising ask.

1. Bobble Hat Day by NSPCC

The NSPCC has asked people to tweet a selfie showing off their bobble hats. Social media users are encouraged to use the #BobbleHatDay and text to donate. The minimum ask is £2 – it is the first time the charity has run this campaign and it was supported by children’s television presenters Dick and Dom.

2. Christmas Chain Challenge by Get Connected

Helpline charity Get Connected is seeking to create the world’s largest paper chain, in an effort to highlight that its services will be available and open to people who need help during the Christmas period. It has had connections in Chinese, Welsh, Spanish, Urdu, Farsi, Korean, Thai, Japanese and Italian added to the chain, making it probably the most multicultural paper chain the world has ever seen.

It is a first for the charity which is close to raising £1,000 and beating the target for London’s longest paper chain of 325m (the length of Millenium Bridge). More details and instructions on how you can add your link can be found on its website.

3. The Big Give Christmas Challenge

The Big Give Christmas Challenge has to feature somewhere on this list. While it isn’t particularly quirky, it is powerful and far-reaching. It’s also unique in offering donors the chance to have their donations doubled by the Big Give ‘Charity Champions’ and charities’ own major donors.

In this year’s challenge there are 367 charities participating that are divided into 14 different sectors. At the time of writing the grand total raised stands at £11,207,174. Online donations racked up to £5.2m and #TBGchallenge was trending on Twitter for two days with help from the likes of Stephen Fry and Sting.

4. Christmas Jumper Day by Save the Children

The much-anticipated Christmas Jumper Day by Save the Children launched with a spectacular amount of support. In fact, scrolling through the hashtag it’s difficult to distinguish whether it stopped from last year. Last year it raised £1.3m. It will be helped by UK aid-matching donations up to £5m and its corporate partner George, by Asda who will also be fundraising in-store.

Congratulations to Save the Children for creating the charity sector equivalent to the John Lewis advert and for managing to rope in celebrities from across the spectrum to support it. I had to feature it this year due to their added OAP Christmas Challenge - Nigel Hague, 86 (father of William) and David Powell, 79 (oldest man in the world to jump out of a plane from 30,000 foot, go skydiving and wing walking. Amazing.)

5. Getting Stuffed this Christmas by the British Dietetic Association

The British Dietetic Association has gone to task on bringing us crashing back down to earth by releasing a helpful, guilt-tripping but healthy guide on how to enjoy the Christmas period without gaining too much weight.

The ‘Getting stuffed this Christmas’ has calls to action, or inaction perhaps, for you to cut down and/or avoid unhealthy foods. Do not indulge in that sausage roll – opt for skinless chicken instead. Moderate the sugary and calorie laced drinks you have and cut off the top off of the mince pie to save calories.

A slightly depressing list – but ignore it at your waistline's peril; and seriously no-one should consumer 6,000 calories on Christmas Day. For more tips visit the website.

6. Macmillan Cancer Care’s DRTV advert featuring the late Lynda Bellingham

Macmillan has launched a rather sweet Christmas campaign featuring the late Lynda Bellingham who was a longstanding ambassador for the charity. Lynda recorded the voiceover before her death and had a Macmillan nurse.

Her husband, Michael, notes that Macmillan provided "great comfort and support for us all at such a difficult time and we are extremely grateful for this".

So far the campaign has raised £20,000 in text donations alone and the charity expects to recruit thousands of new donors.

You can view the advert below:

7. Adopt-an-Activist by People and Planet

People and Planet have taken sponsorship one step further. You can now ‘Adopt-an-Activist’. For £3 a month, the charity claims that "your chosen activist will tackle the root cause of social and environmental injustice".

If that isn’t enough, you’ll get a personalised adoption certificate, a bag of Fairtrade chocolate, regular updates about your activist (hopefully this includes updates on their new year resolutions), membership of their fan club and a People and Planet badge and sticker. What a bargain at £36 a year. Adopt yours online.

8. #HomeforChristmas by Missing People

Stephen Fry has lent his voice to a joint appeal between Missing People and A+E Networks UK. They have released a collection of stories from people who have had family members missing for many years for the #Homeforchristmas appeal.

The touching collection opens with Peter Boxell, father of Lee Boxell who was 15 when he went missing in 1988; 26 years ago. If you want to follow the progress of this appeal follow #Homeforchristmas, follow @MissingPeople and read more or donate online.

9. Xmas Challenge by Marie Curie Cancer Care

Marie Curie is calling on supporters to go to a random location shout "it’s Christmas" at the top of their lungs and then nominate three friends to do the same. Those in the video are wearing a Marie Curie hat; without you may just look a bit odd screaming the opening line to Slade’s festive hit, but it can’t get any dafter than throwing a bucket of icy cold water on your head, so what are you waiting for?