Member Article

Donate to Northern Pride When You Shop Online

Northern Pride Search will raise funds for flagship Newcastle Pride event

North East LGBT charity Northern Pride is to launch its own branded search engine to help raise funds for the annual Newcastle Pride festival, which attracted over 70,000 visitors in 2015.

Northern Pride has become the latest charity to sign up to the Storm platform, which allows users to donate to their chosen cause every time they shop online. The Storm network includes over 111,000 retailers who will all donate a percentage of the spend when purchases are made through Northern Pride Search, helping to raise cash towards the £200,000 annual cost of the event.

“We’re always looking for ways to keep Newcastle Pride free, while also meeting the increasing annual costs of the event as it continues to expand,” said Mark Nichols, Chair of Northern Pride. “Northern Pride Search means that people can support us every time they shop online, with every penny going towards funding the big event.”

All types of online purchase, from car insurance to train tickets and magazine subscriptions, can be used to support Northern Pride and, with LGBT consumers spending £6 billion online each year in the UK alone, Storm represents a substantial fundraising opportunity for the charity.

“We’re working with all sorts of charities, from the NSPPC to Show Racism the Red Card and Prince Harry’s Wellchild, but the so-called ‘Pink Pound’ means Northern Pride can really cash in on this new fundraising stream,” said Sam Tilston, CEO of Storm. “The best thing about Storm is that many retailers will actually display the amount they’re going to donate, and users can keep track of how much they’ve raised in real time.”

The flagship Newcastle Pride festival now runs over three days in July, with hundreds of associated events, generating almost £10 million for the local economy. Northern Pride also organises and supports numerous other LBGT events throughout the year, including cinema screenings, concerts and regular fundraisers.

“We always ask people what they want out of Pride, and the most common response is ‘Keep it free’,” added Mark. “Well that’s exactly what we’re working hard to do, but the money needs to come from somewhere, so I’d urge everyone who supports the event to start using Northern Pride Search. It doesn’t cost the user a penny and every single qualifying purchase results in a donation.”

To use Northern Pride Search go to npride.storm.it.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Rob Lawson .