Bristol-based company, The Istoria Group, is a group of design and marketing agencies which was founded in 2007. Throughout 2023 and early 2024, their charity of the year was The Julian Trust, a local homeless shelter which does so much to help homeless people year-round. Along with some other fundraisers, Istoria Group registered as a business supporter for The Julian Trust on easyfundraising, so that staff could raise free funds through their corporate buys – which proved a great success! We sat down with Istoria’s Chief Marketing Officer Lindie, to hear how staff were able to raise more than £1,000 in 12 months and the difference the funding will make.
Tell us about Istoria Group
Istoria Group was founded in 2007 and is a collective of creative design agencies. Our mission is to make our clients more visible, more relevant and more compelling to their customers. We have three seperate agencies in the group, Ignition (Events & Exhibitions), Phoenix Wharf (Interior Design and Branding specialists) and Tiny Spark (Digital & Web Experiences). Our business model is modern and entrepreneurial, our spirit is collaborative and we take a personable approach to everything we do. Some of our clients like to work with specialists in a particular discipline, whilst others like to work with a single agency across all their design needs. Our business model allows us to offer both options to clients and lets them decide.
Tell us more about the Julian Trust and the work they do
Julian Trust is a homeless night shelter in Bristol, founded in 1986 for those who share the burdens of poverty, loneliness and the inability at times to cope with life’s basic demands. Their night shelter offers guests a hot meal, a bed for the night and a warm welcome.
They offer 12 beds in total, their service is completely free of charge and anyone is welcome. Guests are provided with hot meals, showers, clean clothes and a laundry service. Hot drinks and sandwiches are available for guests to take away. Beds are offered to guests via a referral system. They work in partnership with Bristol City Council and St Mungo’s Outreach Team to decide which guests are offered beds each week.
Why did you choose them as your charity of the year?
Our home city of Bristol has the largest numbers of homeless people outside of London. Of those who present themselves at the Night Shelter, many have been, or feel, rejected by society. All of our staff felt that Julian Trust is an incredible charity which is so important for our community. As a business we are committed to supporting those in need so choosing them felt like a no-brainer.
What made you choose easyfundraising as a way to support them?
As an SME we don’t always have a lot of spare time or money to be able to fundraise year-round. But easyfundraising seemed like the ideal solution. The ability to generate a steady stream of small donations that contribute to a larger total simply by doing something we were doing already. We make daily corporate purchases ranging from travel and accomodation to sundries and stationery – with a few extra clicks we knew we could be raising money for The Julian Trust so we signed up – and we’re so pleased we did!
How many staff members made corporate buys through easyfundraising and which were some of the most common retailers raised via?
Through our internal communications we encouraged all staff with corporate credit cards to register as supporters and use easyfundraising whenever possible – 12 different staff contributed to our raised total. Some of the most regular buys made were:
- Office food shop from Sainsbury’s
- Stationery supplied from Office Stationery
- Toilet rolls from Who Give a Crap
On top of that though there were also regular train tickets purchased with trainline and accomodation from Booking.com and Kayak. We were really surprised just how quickly the total started to swell.
How easy was it and how much did you raise over the year?
It’s been so straightforward – it’s just become second nature to open the easyfundraising app or website before we shop. We are delighted to have raised £1,059.82 over the past year!
What other fundraising activities did you hold for Julian Trust over the year? How much did they raise in comparison?
easyfundraising was our predominant way of raising funds but we did also have an office tuck shop to generate a few extra small donations which raised around £100 and a few other activities which brought the grand total to just under £1,500. Along with the funds raised we also donated a box of food, toiletries and clothing.
What was the reaction like when you visited the trust with the big cheque?
They were thrilled with the efforts made! We visited them at their St Paul’s shelter recently to present the cheque in person, and we were given a tour of the facilities to help us better understand the difference we’re able to make.
We were warmly greeted by Joanne, who has been volunteering there for over twenty years! We were shown some of the things that the money would help to fund, including food, toiletries and bedding.
What would you say to other businesses that are considering using easyfundraising to raise for a chosen charity? Any tips for success?
Easyfundraising is a no-brainer. Your chosen charity benefits from the purchases you already make for your business needs, creating a win-win situation. Our advice would be make sure you install the donation reminder on work laptops and mobiles, which alerts you to potential donations if you mistakenly visit a participating retailer without visiting easyfundraising first!
A final word from Hannah, the Treasurer of The Julian Trust
“We’re so grateful to The Istoria Group for their kind donation. We rely solely on donations to continue to be able to provide our services. We’re currently providing hot meals and drinks, as well as takeaway sandwiches, to approximately 80/90 guests, 4 evenings a week. We also offer 12 overnight beds to the homeless.
“We have noticed since the Covid pandemic that food and clothes donations have reduced, so we are spending more money on these items so that the shelter can provide well-balanced meals and crucial items like underwear to our guests. As we are all aware, the cost of food has increased over the last couple of years, so donations like the one we kindly received from Istoria Group is vital to our charity – so we can continue serving the most vulnerable in our society.”
Feeling inspired?
Your place of work could raise regular free donations for a charity or cause of your choice. Find out more about fundraising with business buys here.