Children's hospice secures partnership to boost sustainable fundraising

Bluebell Wood, based in North Anston, has secured its place in the Knowledge Transfer Partnership programme, in partnership with the award-winning Huddersfield Business School, University of Huddersfield, and supported by the University of Suffolk.

The programme funds a graduate marketing associate at the hospice whose role will be to help the charity develop innovative and sustainable income generation and marketing strategies that can be shared as part of a framework with other children’s hospices nationwide.

The charity will be recruiting for the role in the coming months.

Chief executive Heidi Hawkins said: “This partnership is hugely exciting for us and comes just at the right time, as we celebrate overcoming a challenging period following the pandemic and completing a redevelopment of our clinical care services.

“We’re now in a position to look ahead and put in place innovative strategies that will help us strive for a sustainable future for the hospice.

“Since we opened nearly 16 years ago, the needs of children with life-limiting conditions have changed. Children are living for longer, with more complex conditions and with more dependence on technology, all of which presents us with an increased need for vital funds so we can deliver the right support and care.

“The knowledge transfer partnership will help us achieve that.”

The University of Huddersfield’s Professor Shona Bettany said: “Children’s hospices such as Bluebell Wood depend heavily on fundraising to allow them to continue to deliver their very specialist and unique services, supporting families and children with life-limiting conditions.

“However, it’s been a challenging time for many, including Bluebell Wood, with limited government funding and the complex needs of service-users changing over time.

“We’re looking forward to partnering with Bluebell Wood to create innovative strategies, underpinned by research and charity sector expertise, to help the charity grow and secure a sustainable future.”

KTPs are government-funded programmes aimed at helping UK businesses improve competitiveness, production and performance, part-funded through Innovate UK.

The programme involves a collaboration between an organisation, nominated academic mentors from the university and a recent graduate.