Purple Passion: Debbie’s refreshingly fun fundraising

Puffed out and stuffed up with charity fun runs and cake bakes? It’s no wonder it’s so hard to stand out and inspire people to get involved in causes we care about. This was the challenge that Purple B2B Senior Account Manager Debbie Sadler met head on when she started volunteering for her ‘Purple Passion’ – raising funds for Breast Cancer Now as part of the Surrey Fundraising team.

‘Purple Passion’ is our new platform to showcase the things we’re passionate about beyond work. It’s also an opportunity to highlight just how important the work-life balance is at Purple, because we know that happy people outside of work, make happy people inside of work.

‘Breast Cancer Now is a charity very close to my Surrey Fundraising team,’ Debbie said. ‘But we found early on that people soon got bored of sponsoring fun runs and bake sales, so we had to get a bit more creative with our events.’

This is where Debbie’s organisational and personable communication skills came in handy – all of which serve her well in her day-to-day client service role at Purple.

Her charity work often begins with brainstorming inventive fundraising ideas and liaising with the charity, other suppliers and parties to make them happen. Debbie and the team then go into overdrive to promote and manage the events and social media activity.

In the ten years since Debbie joined Surrey Fundraising, they’ve raised over £100k through everything from barn dances and curry quiz nights to sponsored skinny dips and black-tie balls. A couple of years ago her team called on a local fire station to provide a venue for some photos for a fundraising calendar. They even persuaded the firefighters to lend their uniforms for an extra promotional shoot!

Debbie added, ‘The charity provides us with all the support we need to make sure the events are a success. Especially for our annual naked calendar, which is full of beautiful and brave women – all tastefully shot and without any airbrushing!’