We’re here for you

BBC Children In Need Funding

We received great news in March, as we were notified that we’d been awarded a grant from BBC Children in Need of £102,396. This will be spent over 3 years and will provide independent advocacy support for sexually abused children and young people aged from 5 to 18 years. This funding is a 3 year extension and a continuation of a current 3 year grant, to help vulnerable youngsters to be better informed about their choices, whilst receiving specialist support after they’ve reported sexual abuse, sexual violence or childhood sexual exploitation.

“We’re delighted that BBC Children in Need have awarded us an extension to our current grant, meaning that our advocacy service will  be offered until at least 2019” said Lisa Thompson, Chief Executive of RSVP. “We’d also like to say a big thank you to all those fundraisers and supporters across the UK whose kind donations have helped to make this happen. This funding will help us make a real difference to the lives of children who have experienced a devastating trauma at an early age.”

Clients like this young person who told us, “Thank you for being there.  Your help meant I could attend court when I had to.  I had forgotten what my life was like before the sexual abuse happened. You made me realise my strengths instead.”

Charity Comedy Night at The Victoria Feb 28th

For one night only, some of the finest national talent together in one room for your amusement and for the benefit of some very good causes.

Sunday 28th February

• Venue/Location: The Victoria, John Bright Street, Birmingham
• Doors: 19:30 – 22:30
• Tickets: Minimum entry fee £10 (£5 unwaged)

Bond Night Fundraiser!

Shaken Not Stirred is a glam night celebrating the best of the Bond films and theme songs.

Each table/booth is themed to a James Bond film and we will be treated to some amazing entertainment and pyrotechnics.

There will be a fun casino in the Green Room where you can win a great prize for making the most money.

Photographers will be on hand for glam or fun pictures.

Dress code is Black Tie/Evening Wear or a Bond film character. There are amazing prizes for the Best Dressed To Kill male and female.

The raffle and auction will also bag you some great prizes on the night.

Our aim is to raise much needed funds for RSVP (Rape & Sexual Violence Project) here in Birmingham and Solihull.

Tickets available HERE.

Our Big, “Big” News!

We are absolutely delighted to tell you our great news … 

We have been awarded a grant of £428,998 by the Big Lottery Fund’s “Reaching Communities” programme. All funds  will be used to support children, women and men affected by sexual violence and abuse to overcome the traumatic effects and make positive outcomes and live a future with hope and confidence. 

This grant will allow us to continue our valuable work offering one to one specialist sexual violence counselling from our premises in Birmingham city centre, as well as outreach services across Birmingham and Solihull. This 4 year grant will allow us to increase the number of RSVP counsellors, helping us to respond to the 275% increase in the number of people requesting RSVP counselling (from 2010 to 2015) and to reduce the times that people wait for counselling. This means that we can support and inspire more children, women and men affected by sexual violence and abuse and respond to their needs much more quickly and effectively. As one survivor said “ RSVP counselling gives you the opportunity to talk openly what happened to you, in a way which is too hard to do with friends or family. RSVP literally saved my life and gave me my future back.”

These are exciting times here at RSVP, as we grow our services. We are extremely thankful for this funding from The Big Lottery and look forward to working with them in the future. Read more about all the latest awards The Big Lottery has made: https://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/global-content/press-releases/england/110116_eng_dlf_sportingmemories

Santa Cause

Thanks to those who supported- we raised £2000 for support services for sexual violence survivors.

A page in Bham Living magazine.

To see photos from the event click here to go to Birmingham Living.

How can you help this Christmas?

Make a big difference this Christmas by donating to RSVP and supporting survivors of sexual abuse and rape.

We rely heavily on donations, and any donation, big or small, is a real help.

£5 pays for one person to travel to a counselling appointment
£10 pays for a volunteer counsellor to deliver three sessions
£100 pays for a day’s training for new counsellors, so we can support more people

Here’s how you could help…

• Text donation: It’s easy to donate. Just text RSVP30 £5 (or any other amount) to 70070
• Localgiving.com: You can make monthly or single donations online.
• Charity Checkout: Another easy way to donate online.
• Or give direct via Paypal using the donate button:

And there are giving options that won’t cost you a thing:

• Give as you live: A shopping app that directs a percentage of every purchase you make to us, at no extra cost to you! Simply visit www.giveasyoulive.com or www.easyfundraising.org.uk to learn more and download the apps.
• Everyclick: Make Everyclick your internet search engine and nominate RSVP as your charity. Every time you click on the internet we get a small sum of money at no cost to you.
• Advant-age: You can donate to RSVP while buying flowers, gifts and even via your energy provider! With a 10% discount off flowers and gifts just by quoting RSVP and a guarantee to be on the best price available from our energy provider it’s a great way to support us! Visit www.advant-age.co.uk/rsvp and browse the products available, quote RSVP when making purchases, and we will get a donation from the provider.

Thank you for your support, and do help us out by spreading the word!

Red Cup Cheer!

RSVP has been selected as one of Starbucks’ Red Cup Cheer charities. We’re in a with a chance of receiving a £1000 donation. To make this happen, we need our lovely supporters (that’s you!) to cheer for us online using the hashtag #RedCupCheer.

From Monday 16th November til 6th December, supporters can follow RSVP on neighbourly.com and Twitter, tweeting using the twitter handle @RSVP_West_Mids along with the hashtag #RedCupCheer to help us win the vote, and up to £1,000 through a Red Cup Grant. You can also follow our page on Neighbourly sharing the link online to contribute to the social noise for RSVP.

The money raised will go towards expanding our counselling service, so that more rape and abuse survivors have quicker access to emotional support after trauma.

So, make some online noise for RSVP using the #RedCupCheer – thank you!

Grow Your Tenner!

Every donation up to £10 made to RSVP via Local Giving from 13th October to 18th November will be matched, so your donation is doubled at no extra cost to you. Can you give, and grow, a tenner?

We’ll use the money to build more counselling rooms. We need to make sure that more abuse survivors are receiving support to cope with trauma, and that they don’t have to wait long for this support.  We have confirmed a lease on a space next door to our current premises (hurrah!) but we need to refurbish it and convert the one big space into three individual counselling rooms, including a dedicated facility for the children we support.

We have the counsellors, we have the space, now we just need to refurbish and decorate so more abuse survivors have quicker access to counselling. Can you help us?

Go to https://localgiving.com/charity/rsvp-wm to donate, and please spread the word!

Fundraising success!

We’ve had some wonderful fundraising successes over the past few weeks, which will enable us to employ more counsellors and increase our helpline opening hours.

The Home Office has allocated additional funds to survivor support organisations and we’re delighted to inform you that we are one of them. We’ve been awarded funding from two funds totalling just over £155,000! We’re over the moon (and some more).

We have also received £14,056 from the Brook Trust, a private charitable trust, towards counselling  costs.

As the need for RSVP’s services increases each year, so do our running costs; needing more staff and resources to support new and existing clients. Our recent fundraising success will have a really positive impact – reducing our counselling waiting list and recruiting more volunteers to give helpline support.

Our fundraising efforts don’t stop here, we still need to rent bigger premises to accommodate for the number of clients requiring our counselling and advocacy support. If you’re interested in donating, or fundraising for RSVP there are many ways you can help.

Banger Rally – Birmingham to Venice

2015 is officially the year of banger racing! In September, the Rotary Banger Rally is taking place, seeing a convoy of beautiful bangers making the journey from Birmingham to Venice.

The great people at the Rotary Club of Solihull Satellite Group (Team RSG) are collecting for RSVP and we want to encourage as many of our supporters to get involved as possible. Various sponsorship packages are available for businesses and you can see your name rallied around the roads of Europe, all in the name of RSVP.

Would your place of work be interested in sponsoring the event? Speak to your employer about getting your company logo on one of the cars cruising through the continent – it could make a real impact! Supporters can also give direct, for as little as £10.

Have you ever wanted to experience driving on the Autobahn in style, the wind in your hair, accompanied by the face of our favourite bear? That’s right – Pudsey’s Cash Car is joining the fun journey across Europe and continuing to raise money.

For more information, and to see how you can get involved, go to www.rotary-banger-rally-2015.com and follow the journey on twitter #rotrally2015.

Safe driving… and Ciao!

Aleena x