Norwood smashes target to raise £3.3 million in a single weekend

Britain’s oldest Jewish charity Norwood was celebrating last week after raising a record £3.3 million towards its work to support people with learning disabilities and autism.

The #TogetherWeAre campaign, which ran over 36 hours on Sunday and Monday, was held in place of the charity’s traditional annual dinner.

The final figure of £3,306,850 was able to smash its target of £2.6 million thanks to a bonus fundraising round.

Beverley Jacobson, Norwood’s chief executive, said the support for the charity from both existing donors and the wider community had been “incredible”.

“The #TogetherWeAre campaign was conceived to celebrate the relationships at the heart of Norwood which are so important in enabling and empowering the people we support to live meaningful and fulfilling lives,” Jacobson said.

“That sense of togetherness has never been more apparent than over the last 36 hours and we simply couldn’t have achieved this without the support of those most intimate with our fantastic organisation – the people we support and their families, our staff and volunteers as well as our wonderful donors. For that, we are incredibly grateful.

“With society’s needs having changed profoundly over the past 20 months, Norwood’s services have become even more integral for the children and families we support. Our adult services have also experienced increased pressure during this period, which has meant that young adults have not been able to easily transition to the next stage of support.”

Norwood, which is one of the largest Jewish charities in Britain, supports over 2,500 people every year from different ages who suffer from a learning disability and autism.

The charity says its annual running costs are £32 million a year, of which £12 million must be raised from voluntary donations like the #TogetherWeAre campaign.