We’ve decided to make March our online fundraising awareness month and today we would like to share with you just how easy (and how completely free to you!) it is to support MfE – simply by shopping online. Yep, you read that right…
Online shopping over the past year has grown by a massive 34.7% from 2019 thanks to the pandemic and being ‘locked down’ for large portions of the year. Not that this is a surprise… online shopping has evolved so much and it has never been so easy to buy a smartwatch or a surfboard at 2 o’clock in the morning.
Let’s start with Amazon. Who doesn’t enjoy a good browse for a cake tin and a garden spade, all in the same place, usually while sitting on the sofa in their pyjamas?
What is AmazonSmile?
AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support every time you shop, at no cost to you and can be activated in the Amazon Shopping App for iOS and Android phones. When you shop AmazonSmile, you’ll find the exact same low prices and convenient shopping experience as amazon.co.uk, with the added bonus that AmazonSmile will donate a portion of the purchase price to your selected charity.
How do you activate it I hear you ask? Simply click on the banner below and it will take you to the AmazonSmile home page where you will see in the top left corner of the menu, ‘Supporting Music for Everyone’. Then enjoy a good shopping spree… it really is that easy!
You can also install a free extension to your web browser so you don’t have to remember to visit Amazon Smile (we’ve all been there… there we are happily shopping online then only remembering that AmazonSmile or Easyfundraising works if you go through the right site, but by then you’re already at the checkout and how much faff is it to go back and start again!?) – Smilematic is a free Edge extension that will automatically turn your everyday Amazon purchases into AmazonSmile donations. You’ll never again miss an opportunity to raise money!
Find out more here: Smilematic | Automated AmazonSmile Extension (couponfollow.com)
Easyfundraising
If you don’t use Amazon all the time, Easyfundraising has over 4,000 online retailers involved with new ones being added all the time, making it so easy to raise funds, all from one main point!
Shops, including eBay, Argos, John Lewis, ASOS, Booking.com and M&S, are all a part of Easyfundraising – and it won’t cost you a penny extra to help us raise funds.
All you need to do is:
- Go to https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/musicforeveryone/?utm_campaign=raise-more and join for free.
- Every time you shop online, go to easyfundraising first to find the site you want and start shopping.
- After you’ve checked out, the retailer will make a donation to Music For Everyone at no extra cost to you whatsoever!
There is also a handy tool on their website that adds a reminder to your web browser so if you’re shopping at your favourite retailer online, it will flash up and let you know you can raise funds – just click go!
Through our generous online shoppers, MfE receives approximately £250 a year through these schemes, did we mention it’s at no cost to you?
THANK YOU to those that already support us when they shop online, we are so grateful and every penny goes to support music making across the East Midlands for adult, youth, singers, players!