This October we asked AccountingWEB members what they are doing for charity. Answers included climbing a world-famous mountain, organising a decathlon and 'lending with care'.
Conquering Kilimanjaro
It may be 8,000km away, four miles high and take eight days to climb, but it's about to be conquered by an accountant from Buckinghamshire.
ACCA qualified accountant James Harvey will climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania next Monday for a Kenyan charity.
What started out as a conversation with friends about climbing the mountain, something Harvey said was on his "bucket list", soon turned into a quest to raise funds for the Nasio Trust.
The trust was founded in 2000 by a Kenyan grandmother who adopted a baby she found abandoned on a sugar-cane plantation. Since then, two daycare centres have been set up to help and support children with HIV.
"I have a bit of time on my hands as I finished my last job, as managing director of Del Monte, last May and the idea of climbing Kilimanjaro really struck a chord with me. After some research, I found the charity and decided to climb for them," he said.
As someone who is used to a desk-based job, the hefty training regime was a major change for Harvey.
“I've done lots of walking and hiking and I went to Snowdonia in Wales three weeks ago and climbed four of the 1,000 metre peaks. It's hard to go from being primarily office-based to very active. I'm definitely feeling the benefits though, this is the best shape I've been in in a long time,” he said.
Harvey will be travelling to Africa tomorrow with a group of 11 professionals he has never met before this to start the preparation for the climb.
“The climb starts Monday and will take us eight days. We start in a rainforest at the base of the mountain, quite near the Equator so it'll most likely be very hot. At the peak, temperatures dip to minus 20, so I'll have to pack carefully,”
“I am looking forward to it, but I've never done anything of this scale before, so I'm slightly nervous, mainly about things like altitude sickness, for example,” he said.
Anyone wishing to support the cause can donate via his online donation page. Every penny will go towards helping the children, according to Harvey, as the Nasio Trust is so small that no money will go towards administration.
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Members in the AccountingWEB charity group also told us a bit about what they're doing for charity this month:
£100,000 for local charities
belkins.cwfellowes.com's London chartered accountancy firm CW Fellowes is aiming to raise a whopping £100,000 for three local charities by organising a year-long decathlon.
Ten events spanning from January to December including tennis, a triathlon, badminton and table tennis are sponsored by various businesses, which the public pay a £10 donation each to be part of.
The two partners, Bruce Elkins and Peter Harding have already raised more than £60,000 for the three charities through their events, which are the Rose Road Association, the Rainbow Centre and the Wessex Cancer Trust.
If you want to get involved, you can head to the next event held next week in the New Forest, which is the road cycle. Otherwise, you can make a donation here.
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Alternative to donating: 'lend with care'
Paul Scholes had an alternative idea to those who want to help in ways other than traditional donating: lend with care.
This involves lending a certain amount, even as low as £15, to an entrepreneur overseas, the idea being that you assist a business to develop rather than "propping them up".
"The beauty of it is that when your money comes back you can do it again, a bit like a recycled donation," Scholes said.
You then get to meet the entrepreneur you have sponsored online, fulfil the loan and eventually get repaid.
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Football and cats
A self confessed 'cat-nut', Oak Tree said his firm is a supporter of the local cat sanctuary. His firm also do their bit for charity by sponsoring the local under-15 football team for jerseys and minibus transport among other things, even getting clients on board too.
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What have you been doing for charity this month - or are you actively involved all year round? Do you think alternatives to donating such as 'lend with care' are a good idea? Let us know your views.