We are delighted to be able to restart some public fundraising, beginning with our volunteers returning to shops and public venues to empty full collection boxes from 12th April and face-to-face recruitment of new lottery members from 17th May.
We are an independent charity which relies heavily on public donations. The Coronavirus pandemic has meant that all of our face-to-face fundraising has been put on pause since March 2020, including lottery canvassing and volunteering activities, as well as multiple events being cancelled or postponed until 2021.
But we are delighted to be able to restart some public fundraising, whilst observing social distancing and following rules set out by government. We will continue to monitor the situation on an ongoing basis and in line with the government’s roadmap. The return to limited public fundraising follows extensive risk assessments carried out for each activity to assess the areas of fundraising that could be reintroduced safely.
In addition to volunteers emptying full collection boxes and the recruitment of new lottery members, carried out by Tower Lotteries on our behalf, we will be assessing further volunteer activities in the coming weeks, including attendance at events and manned store collections.
Lynne Harris, our Executive Director of Income Generation, Marketing and Communications says: “People are at the heart of everything we do at KSS, and so the health and safety of our communities is our top priority. We want to reassure our supporters that we are following all available advice and are only returning to public fundraising at a time that is safe and suitable to do so. We will follow updates from government closely and will re-pause our public activities if needed.”
“It has been over a year since we have been able to fundraise within our communities, which has had a huge impact on our income. We have more than 2,900 collection boxes across our regions, which generated more than £163,000 for us throughout 2019-2020. Our lottery scheme generates 51% of our annual income and canvassing is the most effective way for us to speak to our communities about how the scheme enables us to continue saving lives across Kent, Surrey and Sussex. We are incredibly pleased to be able to restart these two activities but will only do so in a way that is safe and appropriate.”
Steps have been put in place to ensure all activities are done in a safe, compliant manner, including but not limited to:
• All of our volunteers and canvassers will comply with social distancing rules, remaining two metres away from others, sanitise and wash hands regularly and will be wearing appropriate PPE, such as face masks, visors and gloves as needed
• Canvassers will use display boards with a visual reminder to maintain a two metre distance
• They will also follow all government advice surrounding symptoms and self-isolation
• Canvassers will have new, larger ID badges for easier identification from a distance
• Please note that canvassers will never ask to enter your home including porches or doorways – during Covid or otherwise
