The Financial Times (FT) runs an annual Seasonal Appeal for a chosen charity, whose cause is promoted both in print and online throughout December to raise money and increase awareness of the selected charity’s work. The FT’s chosen charity for the 2012 seasonal appeal is The Global Fund for Children. This year’s charity works to transform the lives of the world’s most vulnerable children.

To launch the 2012 appeal, the FT hosted an auction on November 15 of pictures taken by some of the world’s most celebrated photographers, which raised £170,000. You can read more about it here.

The 2011/12 appeal raised a record breaking £3.34 million for international development charity Sightsavers.

Applications for the 2013/14 appeal will open in February 2013 – entry criteria and application information is below.

---

• How to apply
• Application criteria
• Contact details
• Previous appeals

Read some of our previous Seasonal Appeal articles.

How to apply

There is no formal application form. We simply require:

• a letter presenting your charity’s case
• any supporting material you feel is necessary.

Email charity applications to seasonalappeal@ft.com.

Application process

• End of April: The deadline for charity applications.
• End of May: We select a short list of charities to be interviewed and put forward for staff vote.
• End of June: The FT staff vote is completed and we announce the appeal charity.

Back to top

Application criteria

Charities that apply must:

• possess a philosophy that fits the FT brand
• be able to generate a large body of compelling news stories and features
• be able to cope with – and benefit from – the huge amount of publicity the FT campaign will generate
• have strong governance and accountability structures
• be able to leverage the FT’s fundraising; for example, through pledges to match our donations
  operate internationally
• be registered with charitable status in both the UK and the US.

Back to top

Contact details

If you have any questions or need further information, please contact Emily Gibbs at:

• Financial Times, One Southwark Bridge, London SE1 9HL
• +44 (0) 20 7873 3184
• seasonalappeal@ft.com

Back to top

Previous appeals

Sightsavers

The 2011/2012 appeal raised a record-breaking £3.34 million for international development charity Sightsavers, making it the most successful appeal since the initiative began in 2005. The funds raised will support Sightsavers in delivering its vision of a world where no one is blind from avoidable causes and where visually impaired people participate equally in society.

Direct reader donations raised £2.5m with match funding. A photography auction at London’s Getty Images Gallery and an online auction of dinners with FT writers raised £165,408. In addition, the charitable global workforce of Standard Chartered donated their last hour’s pay for 2011, bringing in a further £406,599 towards Sightsavers work.

Action Against Hunger

The 2010/11 appeal in support of Action Against Hunger raised $1.6 million. The charity works to save the lives of millions of malnourished children in over 40 of the world’s poorest countries. Read the FT’s coverage of the charity’s work here.

Room to Read

For our 2009/10 appeal, we raised £2,689,833 ($4.3 million) for Room to Read, which supports child literacy in the developing world.

WaterAid

Our 2008/9 appeal was based for the first time on a vote by FT employees. We raised £167,000 for WaterAid, which focuses on water, sanitation and hygiene education.

Camfed International

The 2005/6 and 2007/8 appeals were both for Camfed International, raising £529,404 in the first year and £1,638,963 in the second. Camfed International supports the education of poor girls in Africa.

Back to top