Reaching Kids In Our Community

Charity campaign proposal

Collect money from donors and sponsors in order to allow underprivileged children, inc children in care, foster children, children in families who receive benefits and use food banks, children with learning and physical handicaps who wouldn’t normally use our facilities the chance to bypass the cost barrier to entry.

As we are an independent charity who needs entry fees to pay for the rent, wage bill and upkeep of the museum it’s not possible to give free entry to children and families who don’t have the disposable income to spend on a ticket to Brighton Toy and Model Museum. While these children and families are the very ones who would get most out of and enjoy a fun day out at our museum, they are kept out by our need to make enough money to keep the doors open. It is therefore my proposal that we should approach individuals and organisations in order to collect a Fund which is dedicated to the inclusion of otherwise excluded members of our community.

I see the Fund being spent in several ways depending on the success of the campaign to raise funds and the children we see as most fit to benefit from the Fund.

1, To simply pay the price of a family ticket to applicants from the care services for children and their adult. (research will be required to identify care homes, foster homes & foster families, making them aware of this opportunity)

2, To broaden the scope of our target audience to include children with special needs who would enjoy a day out in an environment suited to their needs, ie, we have wheelchair access, but some forms of autism require quiet/low stimulus areas in order to be comfortable. (May require opening when the Museum is normally closed. Pay volunteers to come in on their day off out of The Fund?)

3, Broaden our scope further to include children of families on a low income who can’t afford ‘luxuries’ such as a visit to our museum. Simple leaflets & posters in the food bank should suffice if they have an application on the bottom which parents can fill in. Copy should be worded to avoid stigma or embarrassment.

4, Look into the possibility of using the Fund to pay for inviting paid  guests to speak exclusively to members of above mentioned sectors of our community. Initial invitees could include people we know enjoy the museum, such as Chris Riddell, author and illustrator, to give a class on drawing. Jane Hissey, author of the Old Bear Stories to give a class on creative writing, etc.