Mental health charity Jami raises more than £1.2m in crowdfunding campaign

Mental health charity Jami has raised £1,227,698 in its first ever crowdfunding campaign, smashing its original goal of £1,000,000.

350 teams campaigned for 36-hours to raise the sum as part of the Jami See Me, See Mental Health campaign. The initiative was launched as demand for its services increased by a third since the start of the pandemic.

The fundraiser received over 5,000 donations and was supported by high-profile campaigners, including Countdown math-whizz Rachel Riley who tweeted: “incredible – the £1m target has been reached. So nice to see so much support for this great charity”.

The funds collected will be used to meet the increasing demand for Jami’s existing services – which have grown by a third since the start of the pandemic.  Jami also plans to expand its suicide prevention services and to launch a pilot programme that delivers early intervention to secondary school pupils.

Laurie Rackind, Jami’s Chief Executive – who helped raise an impressive £66,000 said: “Since I started working at Jami, the challenge has been to get people to understand why mental health is important. For us to be able to raise in excess of one million pounds entirely from the community is hugely gratifying.

“Mental health problems are on the increase and as a community we need to get better at recognising when people are struggling, understand what support is available, and for us at Jami to make sure that treatment and support are accessible to all who need us.”