Charity of The Year – Why We Bother – And Why You Should Too
Every year the BWN year is choosing a charity to give a little extra love to.
If you are a charity that we haven’t chosen this year, that doesn’t mean we don’t love you. As a charity you will always get to attend our events for a discounted rate (even on the day on the door!)
We will retweet, like and share all of your content that you share with us.
(All of our social media is accessible via our website – top right.)
And when we have room we will happily let you bring your banner along to our events.
You can also write for our blog whenever you wish.
(Just ping us the details)
Got an event coming up? We are happy to mention it in our business ops slot. Just email it to your local coordinator.
(Because we really do love everything local!)
However we want to do more (well that’s typical us!) and so we thought how great it would be if we could make every business woman from across a whole county talk about one charity. One charity that works tirelessly to make a difference. As founder of the BWN Mandie Holgate has worked with lots of third sector organisations and so knows first hand the obstacles that they face. And the pots of cash are not so easy to get to any more.
But fear not, charities don’t want just your money. Here’s our top ways to support our charity of the year. If you attend our events we would adore it, love it, and thank you forever if you would do the following for our charity of the year in your county;
Retweet, like share and talk about the charity of the year on line. That way we can like your comments, and share them too. That way your followers and your brand awareness goes up too!
Want to get in the local press? (The answer to that one is yes you do!) Raise a few quid for our charity of the year, mention us and together with the charity there is good chance your smiley face and your bit for charity could get your business in the press. And that is not just good for them, its good for you too. Charities aren’t daft, they know why businesses get involved. Yes we love the warm fuzzy feeling that it gives us, but its also good for business, stands your business a part from the rest, shows you care, and a ton of other things. All good. All worth doing. So fancy sitting in a bath of beans? Giving a £1 for every sale next month? Doing a nude calendar? (We’ve done that…twice!) then go for it!
And its worth remembering your gestures don’t need to be huge. Just talking about the charity, really does help them.
Attending an event? Could you carry a few fliers for our charity of the year?
What about having a 1 2 1 with a member of the charities team, so you could understand what they do, what they need, who the would love to talk to. Knowledge is power and big powerful networks are very good for charities. Could your network be helping our charity of the year?
Add a logo to your website? Remember for charities if you knew the extent of the work that they did you would probably want to be able to do more. Could you add a logo, a mention of The BWN’s charity of the year to your website, social media, business literature. Help us, help our charity of the year.
Write a blog article? Could you write an article sharing what you know, care about? Anything. Remember a charity is not just after money. It’s after staying power. Charities are created all the time, which means that the ones that are already here have to work twice as hard. What could you write about to support our charity of the year? Raise their profile and give them staying power and ensure their future? Charities live on a knife’s edge, never knowing how they will fund the following year. Scary right?
Every £1 spent on a charity in the UK is being fought fiercely over, so if you can raise the profile of a local organisation that is helping in your community you just became a really nice person. Good feeling right?
And here are our loved up Charites of the year;
Essex – Colchester Community Voluntary Services – CCVS
The title may suggest they only work in North Essex, however their work supports groups 
and organisations across Essex. So by supporting them it means Essex business women really are supporting community groups. And get to attend events meeting third sector, public sector and private sector. Their Banking on business events are proving a great success and Dawn Moss our Saturday Essex events coordinator is already signed up as a Volunteer. And with over 600 volunteers, that’s a lot of good happening in Essex. Can you feel how good that is!
Shirley is the business woman from CCVS that you can expect to see at our Marks Tey Hotel 
events. Get in touch with us to share your ideas to raise money, raise their profile and get your warm fuzzy feeling that makes Essex that much better.
Suffolk – Age UK Suffolk
Our Bury St Edmunds events are hosted at Age UK Suffolk’s HQ and so how perfect to support them.
Kinsey Foster and Susan Pope host our Suffolk events and would be happy to talk about how you could get involved to support Suffolk’s charity of the year
Learn more about Age UK Suffolk here and please do let them know that we said they were awesome and deserve your support. You can contact your local Suffolk coordinator direct via your page. However feel free to contact us if you wish to.
So Happy I Brought The Business, Twice!
Following our new series of interviews with BWN member’s (to be a member you just have to turn up every month. Learn more here ) here we meet new Saturday North Essex Coordinator Dawn Moss.
What made you join Utility Warehouse as a partner?
I signed up as a customer with Utility Warehouse (The Discount Club) in March 2014 having just started my first home based business (Your Interview Coach!) because at the time it was extremely important for me to reduce my outgoings. I was so happy with the savings and service that I decided to join The Discount Club as a 
partner because I wanted to share all the benefits with my personal network.
I immediately saw the benefit of a business model that builds a residual income. Longer term this residual income will create more time for me to do the things I’m really passionate about (volunteering, coaching, training, horse riding, travelling across Europe and beyond!!)
I’ve always enjoyed supporting people to improve their lives in some way – so for me it was a no brainer to show home owners how they too could reduce their household bills with little effort on the services they already use – so they can spend their hard earned income on the nicer things in life (holidays, weekend’s away, family days out, meals out, etc).
How many years have you been in business?
I’ve been a business partner with Utility Warehouse since September 2014.
What do you love most about running your own business?
I like meeting new people and its rewarding being able to share the benefits of the business with my friends, family and business associates alike and there are lots of benefits – Savings, Simplicity, & Award Winning Customer Service.
What do you hate most about running your own business?
I’m not very good at cold calling – luckily there are lots of other options to grow a business that don’t require making those dreaded calls most people hate receiving!
What benefits do you get from networking?
I really enjoy building long term relationships and getting to know people in both formal and informal environments. For me networking is the best and most effective way of building trust and credibility. I’ve also been lucky enough to make some very good friends through networking.
What was the reason that you decided to be a member at The BWN?
The BWN has gained a very good reputation over the years (all credit to its founder Mandie Holgate) and I’ve always heard good feedback from the women who have attended the events.
What really works for me is that there is the right balance between having a structured format and time to have genuine conversations and network informally.
There’s always a slot for personal development and a chance to gain valuable information for running your business from the wonderful expert speakers.
The BWN events also offer a variety of options to promote and present your business – from a 60 second promo slot, to sponsoring an event or having your own stand.
There is also a guaranteed warm welcome to everyone attending the events – I like that too!
What do you see the future holding for your business?
I’m very excited about the future (putting the BWN Saturday Networking Events aside!) I’m very much looking forward to growing my business and showing as many people as possible the benefits of joining the discount club and I’m also very focused on recruiting more driven and enthusiastic people to join my existing team.
All members are welcome to answer these 7 questions and feature in our blog along with on our social media and you may even get a mention in our newsletter too. Just send your answers to us at info@thebusinesswomansnetwork.co.uk