New shirt sponsor

[Ste Story]

Charities are run as a business and need to secure as big a share of diminishing public donations as they can and I'm sure the Hospice couldn't get better vfm for the 8.5k they just spent in terms of exposure etc

All fair points in theory but to take a random comment on the EM page:
I often support the hospice as i believe they are a good cause. However if they can afford to give £8500 away to get there name on the shirts then the cant need money that much - think i will be giving to a charity that really needs it from now on

I think both parties will have to be very careful as whether that is a flawed view or not, it's one that many observers on the side lines may think.

[HarryWiggins76]

Is any money from the sale of the shirts going to the hospice?

[Jonty]

Clearly the hospice have sanctioned this outlay as part of their fundraising initiatives. Problem with the Evening Mail reporting it is that the view of Audigex is how many picking up the paper will perceive this partnership.

As Harry mentions above, perhaps a % of shirt sales will go direct to the hospice and this will help the cause and promote shirt sales.

[Wintergreen]

It does seem a queer set up and make no mistake; but lets just support both institutions as well as we possibly can next season and let the number-crunchers tell us if it has been a worthwhile exercise for the Hospice 12 months hence.

Modern day charity is a funny business nowadays - I did a 'text HAT to...' type donatiion having watched a TV appeal with Michael Sheen in it. Next night I got a super-slick telesales guy on to me, very polite but quite pressurising looking for more money and could I possibly afford to donate £40 a month, then £30, then £20 and so on; I won't be doing that again; I'll concentrate on the Hospice!

[barrowaberdeen]

^ sense

[PRR]

Charities are run as a business and need to secure as big a share of diminishing public donations as they can and I'm sure the Hospice couldn't get better vfm for the 8.5k they just spent in terms of exposure etc

All fair points in theory but to take a random comment on the EM page:
I often support the hospice as i believe they are a good cause. However if they can afford to give £8500 away to get there name on the shirts then the cant need money that much - think i will be giving to a charity that really needs it from now on

I think both parties will have to be very careful as whether that is a flawed view or not, it's one that many observers on the side lines may think.

Agreed, a better launch highlighting the benefits would have been preferable to an Evening Mail article. I would expect 8.5k is a drop in the ocean compared to the running costs of the hospice per year. Also because of the type of charity it is and how many people in the area have benefitted from their service it is even more sensitive and open to scrutiny. Charities pay and budget for all kinds of overheads; utilities, building maintenance, labour etc but we wouldn't expect any charity to get everything for free (although that would nice of course). I don't think the charity should receive any criticism as I'm sure they have 'promotion' in their budget to spend as they see fit. Should we have accepted the money? On a business point of view probably and it still a good deal for both parties, but there is certainly room for us to be more philanthropic in the future.

[Ste Story]

Aii on a business point of view if both sides are happy then fair enough, I just think it's been perhaps badly judged and could have the opposite of the desired effect in terms of PR and exposure.

I've spoken to four or five people today about the issue, none of whom are barrow fans or even football fans really and all took the exact same point of view, so it's definitely something worth considering and not just dismissing as moaning football fans or whatever

[Gen Man]

Aii on a business point of view if both sides are happy then fair enough, I just think it's been perhaps badly judged and could have the opposite of the desired effect in terms of PR and exposure.

I've spoken to four or five people today about the issue, none of whom are barrow fans or even football fans really and all took the exact same point of view, so it's definitely something worth considering and not just dismissing as moaning football fans or whatever

Plus 1

[spongebobsquarepants]

If you take the time to look at the accounts for the Hospice you will see that £8,500 is a relatively small amount considering they had £1,873,766.00 in the bank as at 31 March 2014.

The club aren't taking advantage of a Charity that is skint, they are forming a partnership with them to raise awareness of the Hospice, the work they do etc.

The fact that the deal has created pages of discussion on here and elsewhere in the town could viewed as it already having the desired affect.

[tictactoe]

Both parties are obviously happy so fair enough. I personally don't agree with a charity paying to sponsor a football team.

the thing is with charities nowadays, money is spent on different things. On job websites you see adverts for fundraisers for different charities and they get paid for it. I don't agree with that either, but then again, they don't always get the volunteers to do it. When you give to charity now you don't know that they are getting all the money etc.

Strange one, but its done

[mickmike wilson]

Now that's enough of a rant, I'm off to rob my Nan's life savings. It's okay, though, because I've just got her name tattoo'd across my chest.

If your Nana sadly passed and willed you 10k are you implying you wouldn't take it as it's taking money off a dead person?? FYI my wife was a clinical nurse specialist at St Mary's for 14 yrs until we emigrated, her words are " They wouldn't part with sponsorship monies if they were not happy with the deal & by reading the press releases it appears they will be spreading awareness further into the community & if it encourages more men to seek assistance earlier more lives could be saved" That will do for me.

[stmaryshospice]

Hi, I'm the CEO of the hospice and would like to thank forum members for the really kind comments here about St Mary's Hospice . The relationship between the community of Furness and South Lakes and St Mary's Hospice has long been a huge source of support to us.

We thought hard about this partnership with Barrow Club before signing up and have more than one reason for doing it. Of course, as suggested by people here, we're convinced we'll be the financial winners because of the different kinds of support we'll get back. This investment is a similar risk to the one we take every time we put on an event - we put in time and money in an effort to get back more money than we put in.

But there's more to it than that. At every hospice event someone will say to me, 'I wish my mum/ dad/ gran knew about you when they were ill.' No matter how widely we advertise our services, some people still don't hear about us. We hope that by targeting a different audience, in a different way, we can encourage people who wouldn't usually use us to try our services.

And we had noticed that football has a lot of male supporters and men have a pretty poor reputation when it comes to looking after their health (hope you don't mind me saying) - so we hope we might be able to offer services like our Positive Living Groups to any supporters living with non-curative illnesses too.

Nothing in life is guaranteed but if we get more advertising, attract more patients, make a difference in more people's lives and make more money - it sounds like a good deal?

But if you think we've made a mistake please phone me and talk to me about it. Val Stangoe CEO ST Mary's Hospice

[McMark]

Fantastic response that should help to put some minds at rest! Keep up the amazing work and the best of luck in your new venture.

[barrowfan]

That's a very positive response Val and I thank you for it.

I think most of the negative thoughts come from people who think that the Hospice is spending money it may not get back, and I understand that school of thought.

However if you are also looking on it as an exercise to raise awareness then that is something you would normally have to pay for in much the same way as taking out an advert.

It's a new venture for both parties so perhaps those who feel a bit negative should reserve judgement to see what actually happens in the next 12 months. It could be that you attract more income and raise awareness which to me would be win/win.

Good luck to both parties in the next 12 months.

[DaveP]

Hi, I'm the CEO of the hospice and would like to thank forum members for the really kind comments here about St Mary's Hospice . The relationship between the community of Furness and South Lakes and St Mary's Hospice has long been a huge source of support to us.

We thought hard about this partnership with Barrow Club before signing up and have more than one reason for doing it. Of course, as suggested by people here, we're convinced we'll be the financial winners because of the different kinds of support we'll get back. This investment is a similar risk to the one we take every time we put on an event - we put in time and money in an effort to get back more money than we put in.

But there's more to it than that. At every hospice event someone will say to me, 'I wish my mum/ dad/ gran knew about you when they were ill.' No matter how widely we advertise our services, some people still don't hear about us. We hope that by targeting a different audience, in a different way, we can encourage people who wouldn't usually use us to try our services.

And we had noticed that football has a lot of male supporters and men have a pretty poor reputation when it comes to looking after their health (hope you don't mind me saying) - so we hope we might be able to offer services like our Positive Living Groups to any supporters living with non-curative illnesses too.

Nothing in life is guaranteed but if we get more advertising, attract more patients, make a difference in more people's lives and make more money - it sounds like a good deal?

But if you think we've made a mistake please phone me and talk to me about it. Val Stangoe CEO ST Mary's Hospice

Val this is really helpful and informative. Unfortunately there has been a lot of misunderstanding following the Evening Mail article and it would be really helpful to the entire community if this statement could be posted in the Evening Mail as a follow up article as I'm sure it will allay many peoples concerns.