Evolution Corporate Challenge 2011 

"They think it's all over... It is now!"

Well folks that’s it, the Evolution Corporate Challenge 2011 is over.

Evolution launched its Corporate Challenge at Wynyard Hall on 30 March 2011 (click here to view photos from the launch event) where participating teams collected their crisp £50 note fundraiser starting sake.  The three months passed all too quickly and on 30 June the Corporate Challenge finished.

With monies rolling in, counted and reconciled, the grand finale of the Corporate Challenge was the Awards Ceremony.  Held at Wynyard Hall on the evening of 19th July, it was there where all the teams who have worked so hard and raised so much cash, together with representatives from each charity, found out just how much was raised.

Everyone also got to find out what weird and wacky fundraising activities had gone on to get the monies rolling in and boy were there some original ideas.  This gave the panel of judges a very hard task in deciding who won the four awards presented during the evening.  The winners were as follows:

• The Most Innovative Fundraising Idea went to Lesley Barker of Hartlepool Hospice for being a one-woman fundraising machine.  Lesley sold a matchbox for 50p and a piece of paper for £1, the idea was for people to fill the matchbox with as many different items as possible. These items had to be visible to the naked eye, fit in the box when closed then the items individually listed on the piece of paper.  One person managed to fit 147 different items into the matchbox and was a clear winner – the mind boggles as to what these items were!

 

• The Student Team Award went to East Durham College and their 16 teams! This is the first year the College have been involved with the Challenge and this award has been given based on the students’ enthusiasm, variety of fundraising efforts and their commitment to raise as much as they could. The fact that they had 16 teams may at first appear as if they had an easier job – however the opposite is true, as they had more pressure to deliver and raise more money as they were competing against each other internally and externally for donations and involvement of friends and family – after all there are only so many sponsored events people want to go to!  You name it they did it – an open day and spring fayre, 24 hour Bouncy-Castle-Athon, show jumping, raffles to name a few.  Throughout the challenge the teams showed amazing dedication to the charities and a commitment that their parents and teachers should be very proud of.

 

• The Special Judges Award went to Northumbrian Water.  Northumbrian Water had a team in last year’s challenge and did very well in raising just over £1,000 but this year they excelled themselves.  By running some very interesting and well thought of events, they raised three times the amount of last year which is a huge effort.  For this reason, and the great fundraising ideas and effort put in, the judges felt the award was well deserved.

 

• The Most Monies Raised Award went to Nunthorpe School, Middlesbrough. Nunthorpe School has been involved in the Corporate Challenge for the last three years and have always put in maximum effort for the charities, raising much needed monies and I’m sure over the years that money has done a great deal of good and the team members both past and present should be very proud of all their efforts.  A fantastic amount to raise over a 3 month period and the team maintained momentum with numerous initiatives and events, roping in anyone and everyone to help.  The amount the Nunthorpe School raised £3,354.49, a very close run thing as Northumbrian Water raised just £4.49 less than this!

The grand total raised for the 2011 Evolution Corporate Challenge was £21,675.90 giving each charity just over £7,200 each.

A huge thanks goes out to everyone who participated and contributed towards this mega total – Well done everyone!

Photo montage from the event and some photos from the evening

 

If you are unfamiliar with the Evolution Corporate Challenge, here's a bit more information on what it was all about:-

Evolution gave companies, schools and colleges in the Tees Valley an opportunity to make as much money they could, over a three month period, from a £50 note Evolution LLP had provided.

All the monies raised, including the original £50, was then donated equally to three local charities; St Teresa’s of Darlington, Zoe’s Place Baby Hospice in Middlesbrough and Hartlepool & District Hospice.

The challenge launched on 30 March 2011 at Wynyard Hall where the signed up teams collected their £50 notes.  The teams then had three months from 1 April to 30 June 2011 to generate as much cash as possible, albeit in a legal and ethical way, for the challenge – the only rule being that they had to at least double the £50 stake!

The challenge culminated with an awards ceremony on 19 July 2011 at Wynyard Hall where the teams’ efforts were recognised and awards presented.

If you are interested in learning more about the Corporate Challenge download our information leaflet.  If you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact Emily Bentley or call Emily on 01642 221 331.

For photos of last Year's Corporate Challenge click here - If you want to view any press articles regarding the Corporate Challenge, you will find them In the press.