Charity Update by Davey Newth

by Davey Newth

This month the Mob breaks yet more new ground. Always the innovators in terms of marketing poker, the lads have asked the charity Game for Life to provide a monthly article highlighting its work and its upcoming fundraisers. Not only that they are also making a monthly donation to the charity in exchange for publicising its work! Each month Game for Life will endeavour to provide a piece worthy of inclusion on www.thehendonmob.com which will prove to be useful in keeping its supporters up to date with activities of the first registered charity to be founded and funded by the poker community.

First things first, I can’t really go on without thanking everybody for their support in 2005. It was always going to be a tough year. The first year of any business, let alone a charity is always a tough one. However, with the strong foundation provided by the campaign Poker4Charity, Game for Life entered 2006 in a strong condition. To be frank it needs to be. Every successful business needs to set targets and to attain them; charities are no different in this respect. Game for Life has set a target this year of raising £110,000 of which £88,000 (80%) is targeted to be distributed by way of service delivery and grants awarded. If we achieve these targets it will be no small feat! When we achieve these targets think how much difference it will make to so many people! To put these targets into some perspective consider the following; many established ‘high street name’ charities work towards a 60% return in service delivery and a high profile children’s charity with a television presence in the North East has awarded £160,000 in grants in the last thirteen years, although this a large sum and greatly needed it is a figure Game for Life is targeting within year two.

As you can see exciting times are ahead. The bottom line though is that we must maintain our growth and attract more supporters. Game for Life is not my charity or the trustee’s charity; it strives to be the charity of both those it helps and those who support its aims. Whilst we appreciate many people have a ‘designated charity’ many do not, if you fall into the latter category why not consider making Game for Life your charity. In my role as Chief Executive I am always open to suggestions on how the charity should best operate, to a very large degree it is Game for Life’s supporters who shape the charity, not me. It is vital that all supporters of Game for Life feel a sense of ‘ownership’, how many national charities can claim that?

Now you are convinced you wish to support Game for Life you are perhaps wondering how to go about giving your support. There are more ways to support Game for Life than there are WSOP bracelets in Vegas pawn shops, but listed here are a few that maybe of interest:

• Direct financial donation. There are many ways to directly donate money to Game for Life. Check out www.game4life.org for more details and for information on tax efficient giving
• Becoming a member of Poker4Charity. For £25/year or £150/life you can become a member of Poker4Charity and support the work of Game for Life. You even get a FREE copy of Poker Europa posted to you each month (UK mainland only). Details at www.poker4charity.org.
• Volunteer your time. Voluntary workers are required in all fields including Trustees, managers, fundraisers and regional organisers. If you feel you have something to offer please email [email protected].
• Arrange a fundraising event, whether it is a Cordon Bleu meal accompanied by a string quartet or a sponsored pub crawl or even the old trusted charity poker tournament, just do it. Whatever support you require just ask and we will do our best to make your event as fun as possible. Poker4Charity can help with poker events by supplying tables, chips, cards and Tournament Directors.
• If you are a director or manager of a business consider corporate sponsorship of Game for Life or one of its campaigns (The Hendon Mob did and are proud corporate sponsors!). If your company does not have a social responsibility policy, we can help.
• Collection Tins. Game for life is about to complete phase 1 of its on going program of siting collection tins. Already newsagents in areas as diverse as Newcastle and Chester have collection tins in place, raising funds for Game for Life on a daily basis. Additionally there are tins in The Hendon Mob offices, The Equal Chance Club as well as the 100 (one hundred) tins being rolled out in offices run by Jennings Racing. If you feel you can site one or more tins once again email me.
• Purchase a shirt, cap, car sticker etc. from our online shop hosted on the Poker4Charity website.
• EBay. If you are auctioning items on EBay you can click the charity button and select game for life to receive a percentage 10 – 100% of final selling price. If the item is sold EBay will match the donation!
• Take part in one of our online events. We have a number of events planned with VC, BluSq, Eurobet and William Hill. Don’t forget the last Thursday of the month on VC you can accumulate P4C ranking points in the $2.50+$2.50 ranking tournament with £1500 to the end of year winner. P4C ranking points are also awarded at P4C live events.
• Come along and have a lot of fun at one of our live events.

If you can think of some other way that you wish to contribute or you would like to discuss anything further please contact me [email protected].

Upcoming live events include:

• 25th February – Poker Tournament – Harlow, Essex. NOON
• 1st April – Poker Tournament – Cardiff, Wales. NOON
• End of April – Clay Pigeon Shoot – Nr London. Details TBC
• August – Annual Dinner Dance – Central London. Details TBC
• September – Evening of Spiritual Mediumship – NE England. Details TBC

As you can see there is ‘something for everyone’. This list is being added to all the time, but details of every new event will be published on The Hendon Mob Forum as they become available. In the meantime we are looking to organise further poker tournaments, a golf day, a pool tournament, 5-a side football tournament and a birthday party. The birthday party is an important event that I am looking for some help with. Game for Life became a registered charity (Charity No: 1108681) on the 22nd March 2005 so it would be fitting if we could hold a birthday party / fundraiser on 22nd March this year, anyone with any suggestions / offers of help please contact me.

In future articles I hope to cover specific topics including how the funds raised are spent, reports from major fund raising events and detailed progress reports on some of our more ambitious projects.

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT