About TOGs Calendar and the BBC Children in Need Appeal
TOGs Calendar started life in 2000 and was run on a voluntary basis by Hellen Bach and the calendar crew. With your continuing support and that of the entire TOGs community, TOGs Calendar has raised more than we could ever have imagined when Hellen took this on in 2000, in total raising more than £4 million for the BBC Children in Need Appeal, over the last nine years.
Originally TOGS Calendar concentrated on producing our now infamous calendar with proceeds donated to the Appeal. The big change in our activities followed a conversation between our dearly missed Paul Walters and Hellen. Paul mentioned to Hellen that "We are thinking of doing a Janet & John CD for Children in Need” and asked “Will you sell it on your website?" The rest, as they say, is history. The CD proved incredibly popular and led to the development of whole range of new products. We were overwhelmed by orders and couldn’t keep up with the demands of our volunteer work for TOGs Calendar whilst continuing to hold down our full time paid jobs.
In 2006, we approached BBC Children in Need, and Sir Terry Wogan, with a proposal to continue fundraising for the Appeal on a full time basis. After discussion with the BBC we agreed a formal contract which allowed us to devote all our time to raising as much money for Children in Need as possible.
This meant that we needed to put TOGs Calendar on a more formal footing and Hellen and I formed a partnership, trading as TOGs Calendar, to take the operations forward. We put in place insurance to meet the risks and liabilities of the business and to protect our volunteers, and engaged accountants to prepare annual accounts. In 2007 we introduced the name Charity Goods as a trading name to enable us to sell Children in Need branded products and not just “TOG” branded merchandise through the website.
As you know, we only raise money for one charity, the BBC Children in Need Appeal. Our agreement with the BBC and the Appeal is that we make a fixed donation to the charity for every product you buy. We then agree with them a fixed donation to the Appeal per product. We then let you know much of the purchase price is donated to the Appeal on the relevant pages of our website. This is the information which we believe is most helpful for you.
However, we are regarded in law as professional fundraisers (a matter on which we have taken careful legal advice) and we are therefore required to tell you before you buy, how much TOGs Calendar receives in relation to the BBC Children in Need Appeal. For the calendar year 2010, we estimate that we will sell approximately £500,000 worth of products, of which approximately £250,000 (i.e. 50% of our turnover) will be donated to BBC Children in Need Appeal. (This estimate is made as at June 2009 for the current Appeal year and will be reviewed periodically to allow us to provide you with as accurate figures as we can.) The balance between the amount received and the amount donated to the Appeal is used by TOGs Calendar to meet all the running expenses of the business including the costs of the products, the design and manufacture of the products, the sourcing of new products, recording and production costs for new CDs and DVDs, studio hire, the development of new products and sales avenues as well as meeting all general business costs such as VAT, tax, insurance, accounting, storage, website costs and other expenses as well as the salaries of those who work for the business.
We thank you for your continuing support.
Norman Macintosh
TOGs Calendar is a partnership whose partners are Lesley Macintosh (Hellen Bach) and Norman Macintosh and whose principal place of business is 29 Risca Road, Newport, South Wales, NP20 4HX.
The BBC Children in Need Appeal is a Registered Charity
in England and Wales no. 802052 and Scotland no. SC039557 and has approved this
statement.