THOUSANDS OWED TO AYRSHIRE HOSPICE

Oct 7 2011 by Jennifer Buchanan, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

SO called charity fundraisers have failed to hand over thousands of pounds they claimed to have raised for Ayrshire Hospice.

More than £30,000 is still outstanding from hundreds of people who took part in the Midnight Walk but never stumped up the cash.

The shocking news comes months after the charity’s biggest fundraising event of the year chalked up its third year.

And now the unpaid pledges look set to be written off.

Louis Jardine is the hospice’s fundraising manager.

He said: “Many people come along on the night and hand in their funds straight away, but some fill in the form and say they have raised X amount to be handed in later. These are what we call pledges.”

In 2009, the debut year for the Midnight Walk, 67 people failed to hand in their pledged funds meaning the hospice had to write off £8308.

In 2010, 80 participants didn’t hand in £7313 of pledges.

And so far this year 148 people have yet to donate their pledges – an outstanding total of £15, 930.

The news comes after Cancer Research UK posted an advert in the Daily Record appealing to those who took part in a similar Glasgow event to stump up cash they raised.

Mr Jardine explained: “We do understand there can be many reasons why people haven’t handed in their pledges yet. Sometimes they are still waiting on some money coming, they’ve been moving house or sometimes it’s just as simple as forgetting about it.

“We try to remind people by sending out letters, and we are about to start phoning round to remind everyone who still has outstanding pledges. This normally brings in about 50 per cent of the money but we can’t chase it up forever.

“After about six months we have to move on and we end up writing off thousands of pounds.”

It costs Ayrshire Hospice £25,000 every year to host the Midnight Walk but the turnover makes it their biggest and best annual event.

In 2009, approximately 1700 people took part in the walk and raised £240,000, while in 2010 the 1600 participants raised £210,000.

And this year £190,000 was donated by 1300 walkers.

But the hospice needs every last penny it can so that it can continue to provide care to those who need it.

It takes £17,260 every day to run Ayrshire Hospice, and for the last financial year it cost £6.3 million to run.

Mr Jardine added: “In the current economic climate we have to work even harder to raise money.

“Our care and services still have to be provided and we rely on the community to help us.

“The vast majority of people hand in their funds no problem and for others there can be legitimate reasons why they haven’t.

“But now that it’s four months after the event we really need to be getting the outstanding balance in.”

Anyone who still owes the money is urged to contact the Ayrshire Hospice fundraising department on 01292 288488.