Act


Smile Malawi only survives with the generous donations from our supporters in the UK and elsewhere. We receive no grants or additional income from any other source. So we need you to act now to ‘keep the smile alive’.

A critical element of ‘keeping the smile alive’ for our children is to ensure we have enough regular, sustainable income to cover the day-to-day running costs of the orphanage and school fees – and to boost that from time to time when we need extra funds for a special project.

We hope that the real appeal of supporting Smile Malawi is that you can see the immediate benefit of your donations for the children, but you also feel personally involved with its success. There are three main ways in which you can act to support us and get involved:

  1. Donate
  2. Fundraise
    • as an individual
    • as a group, club or society
    • in your school
  3. Visit and make a difference

 

Donate


It costs a lot to feed, clothe, educate and ensure our children are well cared for at Smile Malawi. We’d love you to become one of our regular supporters!

To make a regular monthly donation

Either go to Just Giving and sign up to make a regular secure donation or download and print our standing order form, (which includes a GiftAid option) and send it to Smile Malawi, 4 Bedfont House, Holywell Lane, Upchurch, Sittingbourne, Kent, England. ME9 7HN

Remember

£5 per month feeds a child
£10 per month pays for the staff care costs per child
£20 per month pays for the secondary education costs for each child aged 12-19

To make donations online

Here are the options:


Through our page on MyDonate.


Through Just Giving either by making a one-off donation or by setting up a fund-raising site.


Click on the PayPal icon to make donations quickly and easily using PayPal, either from your PayPal account if you have one, or from your credit or debit card


Via Charities Aid Foundation, either through a CAF Charity Fund Account or by credit or debit card. CAF will automatically recover Gift Aid on our behalf and include it directly in the donation


If you would like to setup a regular monthly payment via a Standing order you can download our form here

Fundraise


We want to put the fun back into fundraising! Since our charity is all about helping to keep the smile alive for our children, we’d like you to think of creative ways of raising money that also give something back to the people who take part i.e. make people smile!

As an individual…

We’ve been lucky to have many loyal individual supporters who have raised very significant one-off sums of money by holding events in aid of Smile Malawi – either for entertainment or as a sponsored sporting event. Here are some of their ideas:

  • A quiz night in a pub or village hall
  • A themed dinner at a restaurant – with spot auctions to raise money
  • A summer garden party or Family Fun Day
  • A sponsored sporting event (marathon, bike ride, swim)
  • At work – a designated Smile Malawi fundraiser day

If you would like to organize an event, do let us know about it, make sure you publicise it on Facebook, and set up a special fundraising page via our pages on either MyDonate or Just Giving for your special event.


As a group, club or society…

The immediate and personal appeal of Smile Malawi, and the heart-warming story behind it, make it a great topic for an illustrated talk at your club or society. Our founder, Elspeth Baecke, is happy to come to give an inspirational and informative talk - in return for a donation! She obviously has a busy schedule, so please make sure you email early and give plenty of notice. Contact elsepth@smilemalawi.com


In your school...

We have been amazed at the spontaneous reactions of school children when they hear about the plight of street children and how a little of their pocket money makes a huge difference to orphans’ lives in Africa. The kids love to hear about our children at Smile Malawi and see the changes in them as they grow up, go to school, play football – kids just like them in fact!

If you are a sixth former, or a teacher or Head Teacher and are looking for an inspiring deserving cause to raise money in your school, then look no further than Smile Malawi!

To give an example, sixth formers at Vandyke Upper School in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, started a fundraising ‘Smile Week’ over seven years ago. During a designated week each Autumn term, the students employ all their creative and entrepreneurial skills to organize a wacky week’s fundraising for Smile Malawi. It is so popular that it has become an annual fixture in the school’s calendar; in 2014 they raised over £3,000.

Director of Sixth Form Mr Downey said: ‘I’m proud and delighted by their efforts. They all worked incredibly hard to deliver some excellent fundraising events, and to make such a huge sum in a short period of time is an amazing achievement. Staff members were also extremely supportive. As ever, there was a really special atmosphere, with staff and students having fun together to raise money for a very important cause, whilst remaining focused on the important business of teaching and learning. It was a truly great week.’

We are currently preparing a fundraising pack for schools. To reserve a copy, please click here.

Visit - and make a difference


With the completion of a comfortable guest house in 2015, we can now offer working holidays with a difference at Smile Malawi!

If you are a supporter and Friend of Smile Malawi and want to visit this beautiful country – but also give something back, then you could arrange a working holiday with us: a holiday where you volunteer to help with a special project at the children’s home, or help at the local school, where they are always in desperate need of additional teaching assistance.

We have had friends helping with building work or maintenance, teachers helping out at the school and students coming to spend time with our children (who absolutely love having visitors!). You pay a small daily amount to cover the board and lodging and agree how you are going to help; we even offer a helpful visitors’ guide (written by one of our previous visitors) to help you make the most of your trip.

If you are interested in making a visit in future, then please take a look at our Trip Flyer for further details or contact Elspeth at Elspeth@smilemalawi.com

Thank you!


We’d like to say a special thank you to all our regular donors and to the individuals and organizations who have either raised money for us, or donated money or gifts in 2015. Here are a just a few who deserve a high five!

Gavin Baecke
Beckenham Swimming Club
Berkhamsted School, Herts
COAP, Lynsted, Kent
Jason Down
Gatehouse School, London
Jane Hill/Pam Showalter/Sarah Vickers
Helen Jeffers
Laura Kidd
Bex Newell
Ken & Lyndy Newell
John Stonborough