What people think about Dial-a-Journey

Hello, my name is Julie and I'm the Fundraising Officer for Dial a Journey and Shopmobility.

I joined Dial-a-Journey after many years of working alongside them in another local charity because I believe in the work Dial-a-Journey does and the real outcomes its delivered for so many in its 30 year history. My role is to raise much needed support (both financial and in kind) to allow us to re-instate services that have had to be reduced in recent years, and to develop new services that meet the needs of existing and future service users. It's also my role to raise funds to continue our programme of vehicle replacements to ensure that our customers continue to have the safest, most modern and reliable vehicles.

Dial a Journey is truly a local charity, where people know that the donations that they make stay in local communities throughout Forth Valley. By boosting services, we ensure that everyone has the opportunity to be participate in everyday activities within their community and reduce isolation.

That's why I am looking for your help to raise funds and I'm seeking suggestions for the type of activities that you would like to see funds used for.

Dial-a-Journey Trust is a charity and the vital support we give to people with mobility needs would not be possible without our generous supporters. Dial-a-Journey Trust appreciates the long-standing financial support provided by our local Councils, but this income does not fully meet our costs. We always need additional funding, especially to renew our vehicle fleet, and to pay for new and innovative services. We welcome financial help or benefit in kind from trusts, individuals and commercial bodies. Some examples of costs for operating a single minibus are;

Cost of purchasing a new wheelchair accessible Mercedes Sprinter £50-60,000 (lifespan 8-12 years)
Set of 3 replacement wheelchair and passenger restraints - £2500
Set of tyres - £700

Annual Minibus Running Costs

Annual provision for replacing a minibus	£7000
Fuel - based on 25,000 miles per annum	£5900
Insurance	£1500
Maintenance, MOT and safety inspections	£3500 rising to £10,000 plus as the bus ages

The Order of Malta Dial a Journey is delighted to have been chosen as one of 3 nominated charities in Stirling to receive support from the Tesco Bags of Help scheme. The charity with the largest number of tokens will receive £4,000, second place will be £2,000 and the third placed charity will receive £1,000.

The funds raised from Tesco Bags of Help comes from the sale of carrier bags in Tesco stores and helps to support charities and community groups across the country. More information about Tesco Bags of Help can be found at www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp

Throughout September and October, anyone who makes a purchase in either the Tesco Stirling Superstore or Tesco Express in Bridge of Allan will receive a token which can be used to vote for the Trust. You do not need to buy a carrier bag to receive a token.

The funds that we receive will help us to continue to fund the excursion programme for future trips as well as provide training for volunteer escorts to help us to be able to support even more people who would like to come on our trips but don’t have anyone to travel with.

Support For The Trust's Excursions Programme

Each year, Dial-a-Journey Trust organises a programme of day trips and outings to supplement our door to door services.

This allows some of our users who can’t get away on holiday the opportunity to get away from their door for a pleasant day out to different places. One member once said that she used to go on as many of the day trips as she could afford as they were her summer holidays.

While we aim to keep fares as affordable as possible for service users, it costs significantly more to operate the day trips than we receive in fares, so each one generally runs at a loss.

We recognise the wider benefits that having the programme of outings has for our users, and through the donations received from various groups we’ve been able to sustain a programme of excursions this year. Where there’s high demand for a particular outing, because we’ve received these additional funds, we’re now in a position to consider operating a second bus, or additional venues. Dial-a-Journey Trust is extremely grateful to those who have given their support, but our service users are even more so.

Local community groups and supermarkets have helped to fund the Trusts popular excursions which run throughout the year. Dial a Journey Trust relies on the support of the generous people who live and work within the Forth Valley to make this a reality. We would like to give a big thank you to the following groups and businesses that have helped us so far. Thank you to the following groups and organisations who have already supported the excursions programme for 2018.

Waitrose Stirling – Thank you to the customers at Waitrose who chose to put their green token into the ‘Community Matters’ box for us. We received a £450 cheque from the stores Community Champion, Elaine Hunter.

Scotmid – The Trust was presented with a £250 cheque from Yvonne Goodfellow, the Membership and Community Officer for Scotmid Community Grants scheme, West Region.

Stirling and Bridge of Allan Round Table – Thanks to the hard work of the Round Tablers fundraising, we received £500 towards the cost of the excursions.

Carse of Stirling Rotary Club – The Rotarians have very generously donated £250 to support our excursions, presented by Mike McCormick, Rotarian and driver for the Trust.

How you can help us with the excursions programme:

We need your ideas! We are always looking for new ideas for places to visit on our excursions programme.

By supporting us financially Every donation that we receive helps us to run this vital service to continue to provide our users with happy memories.

Please contact us at the office on 01786 465355 for more information about the excursion programme, or to help us financially.

Knights Of The Ball

Each year, the Order of Malta hosts a fundraising Ball to support a number of different projects that the Order is involved with. This year’s Ball was held in the Sheraton Hotel in Edinburgh on Saturday 14th April where over 200 people enjoyed dinner and danced the night away. Order of Malta Dial-a- Journey Trust is the flagship service for the Order in Scotland. We would like to thank the Order of Malta, The Global Fund for Forgotten People and the Ball Committee for all of their support.

A major part of the funds raised is down to the generosity of the individuals and organisations that provide auction lots for the Ball, which can be bid for electronically before and during the Ball. The following individuals, groups and businesses helped to support Dial- a- Journey Trust by providing funds and auction lots for the Ball.

W. Knight Watson and Co., Grangemouth	Sterling Furniture, Tillicoultry
Loch Lomond Seaplanes	Thomas Tunnock Ltd
Cromlix House	The Peak, Stirling
Cluny Activities, Kircaldy	Extremis Publishing Ltd
The Stirling Smith Art Gallery, Museum and Gallery Cafe	The Royal Bank of Scotland
Stirling Old Town Jail	Archerfield Links Golf Club
Hermann’s Restaurant, Stirling	Edward Hodge
Cowanes Hospital	Wheesht! Skincare
Scottish National Curling Academy

Thank you all very much for you support

Our 2015-17 Minibus Appeal

Between 2015 and 2017, with the help of the Order of Malta and Alice Murphy, we organised an extremely successful fundraising campaign that raised in the region of £160,000 enabling us to purchase 3 modern specially adapted Mercedes Minibuses that replaced vehicles that were up to 17 years old and had covered over a quarter of a million miles

We wish to thank all the individuals, Trusts, local Authorities and other charitable organisations, who were involved in the campaign allowing us to continue the vital work we do. Our work goes way beyond simply providing transport. On average each of our Door to Door minibuses carries out 3000 trips per annum and each of our schools minibuses around 1850 trips. In total, over the life of each minibus, nearly 40,000 individual trips are made that give our service users the chance to experience life and work opportunities in the same way as you and I often take for granted, thus promoting equality while reducing social exclusion and isolation.

The PF Charitable Trust	Lord Barnby's Foundation	Hobson Charity
The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust	J Paul Getty Jr Charitable Trust	The Hutton Foundation
Sir Harold Hood's Charitable Trust	Charlotte Marshall Charitable Trust	The Sylvia Aitken Charitable Trust
The Schroder Charitable Trust	The Sylvia Aitken Charitable Trust	The Rt Hon Peregrine Moncrieffe

Other supporters wish to remain anonymous

Our Fundraising Guarantee To You

Fundraising is the life blood of many Scottish charities and we need to raise funds from voluntary sources. We could not fulfil our charitable mission without the support of generous, thoughtful and committed donors. We value the support of donors and understand the need to balance our duties to beneficiaries, with our duties to donors. That's why we make this commitment to you.

We will comply with the law as it applies to charities and fundraising and we commit that we will guarantee to adhere to best practice as outlined in the Fundraising Regulators' Fundraising Code of Practice.

We will monitor fundraisers, volunteers and third parties working with us to raise funds, ensuring that they also comply with this Code of Practice.

We guarantee to operate in line with the values of the Code; to be Legal, Open, Honest and Respectful in all our fundraising. To promote and underpin these values, we commit to the following standards:

We will be clear about who we are and what we do
We will give a clear explanation of how you can make a gift and change or stop a regular donation
If you do not want to give or wish to cease giving, we will respect your decision
We will respect your rights and privacy
We have a procedure for dealing with people in vulnerable circumstances and it will be published on our website or will otherwise be available on request
We will hold your data securely
We will communicate with you in accordance with your selected preferences

If you feel we have not adhered to these standards, or think we could do better please contact Duncan Hearsum, Chief Executive on 01786 465355 or enquiries@dial-a-journey.org and we will deal with your complaint quickly and thoroughly.

We commit to ensuring our complaints process is clear and easily accessible and we will provide clear and evidence based reasons for our decisions on complaints.

However, should you be dissatisfied with our response, you will be able to take this further by contacting the Scottish Fundraising Standards Panel: www.goodfundraising.scot

Please see the following documents which are available to download from our downloads page

Policy for fundraising and responding to people in vulnerable circumstances or lacking capacity
The Institute of Fundraising - treating donors fairly guide
The Fundraising Regulators Code of Fundraising Practice

How You Can Support Our Work

Individual Giving

We are pleased to accept donations to support our work. At present we are able to accept donations directly by contacting us at our office, but are looking to expand the ways in which we can make giving donations easier - please look out for this.

Leave a lasting legacy with a gift to Dial-a-Journey Trust in your will

We've been working for over 30 years to ensure people with mobility difficulties can enjoy their freedom and independence. Can you consider leaving a lasting legacy by remembering Dial-a-Journey Trust in your will? Any gift, large or small, will help to safeguard our vital work for the next 30 years. If you would like more information about leaving a legacy in your will, please contact Julie Christie (our fundraiser), or see these websites which tell you more about how to help Dial-a-Journey Trust in your will:

Saga - Leaving Money to Charity in your Will

Money Advice Service - How to Leave Something to Charity in your Will

Business and Commercial Sponsorship, Donations and Support in Kind

Is your business or organisation interested in sponsoring Dial-a-Journey Trust or partnering our work?
IF SO PLEASE CONTACT US!

Volunteering

We are always looking for volunteers to help us deliver our services. We are looking for volunteer drivers and passenger assistants (who travel with customers who need a bit of assistance when they are out and about). We're also looking to build a pool of volunteers who can help with our fundraising activities - if you're interested in helping by volunteering, again, PLEASE CONTACT US!

We want to do more to help to make a difference to people's lives

WITH YOUR HELP, WE CAN DO THAT!!

Please get in touch on 01786 465355, or by e-mail at

fundraising@dial-a-journey.org