A year of fundraising at In-house!

In early 2025, In-house Research were looking for a charity to support for the year. We wanted to choose one that was not only doing good work in the local community, but one that resonated with us as well.

Who did we choose and why...

The Kelly Foundation (4kelly) is a mental health charity based in Swindon that provides practical support and help to adults that are experiencing mental health issues.

This is a subject that In-house Research takes a proactive approach to, with 6 members of the team trained as Mental Health First Aiders and ever-evolving ideas on how best to support each other. As a member of staff many years ago also attended college with Kelly (who the charity was started in memory of), it felt like a fitting charity to support.

What did we do...

We took a gentle approach to our fundraising; we wanted to make it fun, engaging, and bonding for the team too.

To start things off, we have our Copper Pot that has spent a year sat in the office. Many people do not carry cash anymore, but on the off-chance anyone had any weighing down their pockets, here was a pot to lighten the load! Adopting the saying 'small change, to make a small change' was the idea here and was a great way to keep the pennies trickling in throughout the months.

Step into Spring was perhaps our favourite challenge, bringing team members that are office based and working from home together. It saw the sun shining bright, trainers laced up, and a competitive edge emerging from even our quietest teammates! An entrance fee to participate, and bragging rights up for grabs for the team that recorded the most steps, made this a fun challenge.

Sunflower Power - Next stop was a good old bit of nature for the feel-good factor. Sunflowers were for sale in the breakroom for a donation into the pot and another £21 was raised. It turns out that we have some super sunflower growers in the team!

We do like our food here at In-house Research and so our next fundraisers included a Curry Night and a Cuppa and Cake Morning. We ate far too much, caught up with colleagues, and probably put a few pounds on as well as raising a few for charity.

The final push came at our Christmas Party, which saw the team fishing in their wallets for change to enter a raffle.

How much did we raise?

We are very pleased to announce that with our little activities across the year, we raised a total of £1,076.86!

We had an inspirational visit from John and Emma at the Kelly Foundation, who told us more about the amazing work that they do. We were over the moon to learn that our fundraising efforts will be able to provide help for 4 people.

What we raised went beyond money for the charity though. It gave a reason for staff to come together, a reason for the quieter members to join in and get involved, it linked home workers and office-based workers, and gave us all a common goal. We can't wait to see what this year brings!