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Our supporters

Our Members and supporters are responsible for well over 40% of our income through community fundraising events such as running marathons, jumping out of planes with parachutes, hosting dinners, making and selling jam, cycle rides, jailbreaks, coffee mornings, fancy-dress collections, slimathons, assault courses and many, many more.

Below is a snap shot of some of our members who have been raising money for us for many years.

Caroline and Noel Holohan from Burnage

Caroline and Noel’s 20-year-old son Simon died from meningitis in 1999. Since joining MRF they’ve taken part in sponsored fun-runs, half-marathons, held charity dinners at Golf Clubs, and on May 16, 2009, marked the tenth anniversary of Simon’s death with ‘Simon’s Day’ - an evening of remembrance with family, friends and well-wishers at Burnage Garden Village Hall. Caroline and Noel have raised over £30,000 for MRF in ten years of fundraising.

Debbie Chessum from Lincolnshire

Debbie’s daughter Holly-Rose recovered from pneumococcal meningitis in 2003 aged just 11 months. A keen runner, Debbie has run the London and DisneyWorld marathons for MRF and hosted black-tie fundraising balls, raising over £15,000.

Craig and Anthea Berry from Bridgwater

Craig and Anthea lost their one-year-old son Ethan to meningococcal meningitis in 2004. Their fundraising achievements include a 14-mile sponsored walk, a charity ball, and most recently a cheeky but tasteful nude calendar in support of MRF. They’ve raised £45,000 to date.

Judi and Richard Mills from Marlow

Judi and Richard’s 11-year-old son, Harry, died from meningococcal meningitis in 2007. A prodigious sportsman, Harry’s memory lives on through sporting events such as sponsored parachute jumps, fun-runs and rugby matches with local teams and 2007 Heineken Cup winners London Wasps. They’ve raised £66,000 to date.

Through their dedication, creativity and generosity, our members have helped us to income of £2.63 million in 2009/10, a major achievement in a hard economic climate. Our thanks go to all our generous members and supporters including:

Martyn Anderson, Pauline and Tony Bell for their ongoing support in memory of Lisa
All at The Bristol Golf Club
Jenny and Alija Dzafic in memory of Jasmina
The Devine family and friends
Iain Ferguson
Denis and Mary Farnan in memory of Alan
Betty Hayes in memory of Desmond
Caroline, Noel and Martin Holohan in memory of Simon
Simon and Gilly King and friends and family in memory of Hannah
Loughborough Rag
Judi and Richard Mills and their family and friends in memory of Harry
Nottingham Karnival
the staff and pupils of Orundle School in memory of Thommy
Eileen Milloy in memory of Mary
Murdo Morrison
Eddie Moore
Karen McClean
Elaine Murphy in memory of Emma
Beverley and Norman Pace
Jacqui Pearce
Michael and Patsy Pattie
Mary Stafford and Yvonne Woods in memory of Ruth
Sarah Streeter
Sir Ian, Lady Helen and Garreth Wood

Corporate Partnerships

Brother Max

Brother Max is raising awareness of the diseases by including our symptoms cards into every single 3-in-1 digital thermometer sold worldwide. MRF is the organisation’s official charity and they work with MRF to ensure that awareness of meningitis and septicaemia is raised as widely as possible through their PR and marketing activities.

Brass

Brass is one of the leading independent communications agency in the UK. Their Sh! Awards were launched in 2003 and are now the biggest platform in the region for aspiring design and new media students. Brass have been supporting MRF through the Sh! Awards since 2003.

Raj Foods

Raj Foods is the longest serving provider of Halal meals for the public sector in the UK. Raj Foods is an active and proud supporter of the Foundation. In 2008 they organised a fantastic Gala Dinner for us, raising over £15,000 and have plans for a similar event in 2010.

The Yum Yums

The Yum Yums are the creation of first time author Jess Porter and are a series of children stories based around a healthy eating theme. Due to her family’s experience of meningitis, Jess will be donating a percentage of the royalties to MRF.

Cameron McKenna

This leading global law firm has chosen to support MRF with a series of fundraising events ranging from running the London Marathon to organising a Cheese and Wine Tasting Event. The team hope to raise over £17,000 throughout the year.

Photo Me

This manufacturer and operator of photo booths and children’s rides are supporting MRF with donations through their machines. This partnership is in conjunction with two other charities - SignHealth, who work to improve the healthcare and quality of life of deaf people, and Greenfingers, who improve the lives of children in hospices by the creation of magical gardens.

Northern Racing

Northern Racing is a group of ten race courses throughout the UK and they will be supporting MRF throughout 2009/10. A team of employees are running the Great North Run and there will also be collections at each race. The company is also hoping to organise a celebrity race day at Bath race course.

BPI Telecom

BPI Telecom is Ireland's biggest importer and distributor of mobile phones and accessories. They have chosen to support Meningitis Research Foundation and hope to raise approximately 1 million Euros over three years.

Next Day Champagne

Donated two bottles of vintage champagne as prizes for our Wentworth golf day. Visit their sister business' site at www.table-tennis-tables.co.uk

We thank other major corporate supporters including:

Aberdeen Journals Ltd
Apache North Sea Limited
Barlow World
BMA
BP
Boots The Chemist
Capita Symonds
CMR
Craig Group Ltd
DHL
Dublin Airport
Dunnes Stores
Michelle School of Dance
Mothercare
Motorsport Ireland
Next PLC
Pilkington
RAB Capital
Softcat
Total E&P UK Limited
Ulster Bank
Wood Group

Pharmaceutical Support

MRF currently receives about 3- 4 percent of annual income in the form of bi-annual conference sponsorship, restricted and unrestricted educational grants from pharmaceutical companies.

We wish to acknowledge in alphabetical order the particularly generous support of:

GlaxoSmithKline who in addition to unrestricted grants have also recently funded awareness literature with Red Flag Symptoms information, our training and our bi-annual International Conference.

Novartis Vaccines who in addition to unrestricted grants have supported our Awareness Campaigns, our web based language files and our bi-annual International Conference.

Wyeth Vaccines who in addition to unrestricted grants have supported awareness campaigns for parents and carers of under-fives our training and medical information and medical information for health professionals.

MRF also values our ongoing relationships with Baxter, Eli Lilley, Sanofi and Xoma who have supported our conferences and helped us to raise awareness.

We have a policy of ensuring out pharmaceutical income does not increase beyond 10 per cent of our overall annual income.

Projects grants

We have received project grants from:

The Department of Health in England
Department of Health; Social Services & Public Safety in Northern Ireland;
Scottish Government
The Big Lottery Fund - Awards for All

Charitable trusts

Souter Charitable Trust

The Souter Charitable Trust was set up by Brian Souter and his wife Betty Souter in 1992 and over the last five years has awarded over 2,700 grants worth more than £20 million.

The Trust supports projects for the relief of human suffering in the UK and overseas and, as committed Christians, Brian and Betty are particularly interested in projects that also promote spiritual welfare.

In total, the Brian Souter Charitable Trust has donated £3,300 to the work of MRF. In both 2009 and 2010 the Trust made unrestricted donations of £1,000.

We are also grateful to the support we receive from other charitable trusts including:

Aberbrothock Skea Trust
The Albert Van den Bergh Charitable Trust
Belfast Sitout for Charities
Celtic Charity Fund
The Chapman Charitable Trust
The Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust;
Constance Travis Charitable Trust
Cork Street Fund
The Coutts Charitable Trust
D D McPhail Charitable Settlement
Florian Charitable Trust
The Hamamelis Trust
Henry Lumley Charitable Trust
Hospital Saturday Fund
James Weir Foundation
The Jane Hodge Foundation
JK Young Endowment Fund
Lady Hind Trust
The Lambert Charitable Trust
The MacRobert Trust
Martin Connell Charitable Trust
Merchants House of Glasgow
Miss Agnes H Hunter’s Charitable Trust
Miss S E Robinson Charitable Trust
The Misses C M Pearson & M V Williams Charitable Trust
The Moulton Charitable Foundation
Murphy-Neumann Charity Company Limited
The N Smith Charitable Settlement;
NIE Staff and Pensioners Charity Trust Fund
Padraig Harrington Charitable Foundation
The Peacock Charitable Trust
Relief Chest Scheme
Rosetrees Trust
Sir Samuel Scott of Yews Trust;
Sovereign Health Care Charitable Trust
The Tay Charitable Trust
TBF & KI Thompson Trust

Shonagh Giles

Meningococcal disease

I genuinely would have done anything to reverse the situation my family was in that day.