The Saracens Foundation is extremely lucky to have amazing supporters who are willing to do crazy challenges to raise valuable funds for the charity… One of those people is Robert Oliver, more commonly known as Bokke on Saracens game days. He is a massive Saracens fan who has taken on the Deloitte Ride Across Britain in support of the Saracens Foundation.

The Ride Across Britain, for those who don’t know, is a 9 day cycle challenge covering the length of the UK, starting in Land’s End and finishing in John O’Groats taking place from the 4th of September until the 10th of September. Robert has taken on this challenge following in his son’s footsteps who completed the Ride Across Britain in 2019, and Robert has fundraised for the Foundation having previously benefitted from our Touch Rugby project and being passionate about our disability work.

The Saracens Foundation is reliant on the support of those like Robert who are willing to take on mammoth challenges to raise vital funds which keep our projects in the community. Our work spans the length and breadth of the North London and Hertfordshire community and we are incredibly grateful for Robert and those like him who are willing to fundraise for us. We have 31 projects which are funded in various different ways, but those that are currently not funded by grant fund or corporate partner are particularly reliant on our amazing supporters as the money they raise goes to those projects in need.

If you would like to donate to Robert’s page, click the button below. Or if you would like to fundraise for the Saracens Foundation, please email emmawilson@saracens.net!

Donate to Robert Here

A huge thanks to everyone who supported the Saracens Foundation Matchday fundraising before on the day and with the match-worn signed shirt auction!

Our Foundation Matchday was a little different this year as we worked with the Covid-19 restrictions but we were still able to raise a great amount of money and awareness for the charity. A huge thanks to Alec Clarey and Kev Sorrell for their time and insight in our In Focus Webinar, all those who purchased sweepstake entries, donated on the day and entered the shirt auction.

The event and auction raised a combined total of £16,000 for the Foundation which will be used to fund the charity’s projects in the local community. Now, more than ever the charity is reliant on the generosity of its supporters and this fundraising will go a long way to helping our participants navigate this pandemic and the challenges it poses.

£16,000 is a fantastic result of the fundraising day and would not have been possible without the generosity of the Saracens fans and Foundation supporters!

Congratulations to our sweepstake winner and those that successfully bid on the match-worn game shirts! If you missed the webinar and want to watch it, click the button below.

ICYMI In Focus Webinar

The Saracens Foundation is offering you the chance to buy a match-worn, signed Saracens shirt from the Championship Final held on Sunday 20th June 2021.

To enter your bid, simply find the player’s shirt you want to bid for, fill out the form to the right of the picture with your amount and keep an eye out for anyone outbidding you! The highest current bid will be displayed so you know where to start from.

The auction will close at 12pm on Tuesday 29th after which the individuals with the highest bids will be contacted to make payment for the shirt.

All the money raised from this auction as well as the £3,000 that was raised on Foundation Matchday itself, will go to supporting the Saracens Foundation projects in the community.

To bid for a shirt, click on the button below, fill out the form next to the player that you would like to bid for and check back to see if you’re still the highest bidder before it closes on Tuesday 29th at 12pm!

ENTER THE AUCTION

Please note, if you are the highest bidder you will be contacted on the afternoon of the 29th of June for payment, so check your emails and junk folder.

All bidders must be over the age of 18 and the Saracens Foundation cannot accept bids from individuals outside of Great Britain.

Any questions or queries, please email emmawilson@saracens.net

The Saracens Foundation is pleased to announce that Foundation Matchday is back!

This season’s Foundation Matchday will be a little different this year but we still have some really exciting ways for you to get involved!

Wednesday 16^th – In Focus Webinar with special guests Alec Clarey and Kevin Sorrell.

Join us on Wednesday 16^th at 5pm for a one-off webinar talking to Alec Clarey and Kevin Sorrell about their Championship experience, the week leading up to the final leg of the play off and a look back at the season. Register now here!

Foundation Sweepstake

Take part in the Saracens Foundation sweepstake! Guess the final score, first try scorer and the time of the first try to be in with a chance of winning a signed, match worn shirt from the final! All T&Cs are on the website and you can purchase your entry today.

Competition closes at 3:20pm on Sunday 20^th June. The winner will be contacted the week following the game.

Buy your entry here!

Match Worn Shirt Auction

The Sweepstake isn’t your only opportunity to get your hands on a signed match worn shirt… After the game we will be auctioning some of the shirts from the final, signed by the player who wore them. Details to follow on the Foundation website after the game.

Saracens is an organisation which strives to be the best both on and off the pitch. The Saracens Sport Foundation is the charitable arm of the rugby club, taking their values off the pitch and into the community. The Foundation targets the specific needs of the North London and Hertfordshire communities with programmes that often cater to its most socially-isolated groups.

We cover everything from school sport projects, holiday hunger, over-50s dance programmes, prison rehabilitation projects and an incredible disABILITY hub. This work is funded through grants, trusts, corporate partners, individual donations as well as fundraising events. The impact of Covid-19 for charities has been well publicised and unfortunately the Saracens Sport Foundation is no different, with the cancellation and postponement of major charity events which are so important to our unfunded projects such as our disABILITY hub.

However, the Foundation believes it is important to look for opportunities to turn a negative into a positive… and so the 20 for 20 Challenge was born! The 20 for 20 Challenge was initially designed to engage our disABILITY participants who are feeling the impact of this lockdown, reporting a rise in feelings of isolation and a reduction in physical and mental wellbeing, and bring them back together to work towards a collective goal of raising money for their programmes which are at risk due to lack of funding. However, the challenge has now encouraged not just participants but volunteers, staff and our wider community to get involved as well.

The challenge itself is a simple one. In August 2020 walk, push, jog or cycle 20 or 220 miles and raise money for the Foundation. If you reach your mileage goal, you will receive a limited edition Saracens Sport Foundation 20 for 20 Challenge medal. All the money raised will support our disABILITY projects that provide sport opportunities for over 150 disabled young people and adults per week. The programmes also offer vital respite for parents and carers which your money would also help fund. Just for context, £100 could fund our parent respite area for a week, so everything raised will make a real difference for the programmes.

We are so proud of everyone that has joined the challenge so far and we love hearing the stories from our disABILITY participants’ journeys!

One of our participants taking on the challenge is Malik and his mum, Marilyn, planning to walk and indoor cycle 220 miles in a month! Malik joined the Saracens Sport Foundation in November 2018 as part of Sarrie’s RFC – a mixed ability rugby team for young people aged 14-24 with learning difficulties and physical disabilities. Malik is the life and soul of the group, passionate about rugby, and a regular on the mixed ability rugby festival circuit as a part of the Sarrie’s RFC team. He has also started attending Sarrie’s Track Club, our disability running club, which has led to a rise in his fitness levels and social confidence. Malik is a ray of sunshine and we can’t wait to see him, and Marilyn, smash their target this month! (You can see Malik in action in the photo attached to this article!)

The great news is that it is not too late to get involved yourself! Join the 20 for 20 Challenge and help us save our disABILITY hub!

All the details on how to join are below, but any other questions or queries, please email our Inclusion Development Manager, Charlie at CharlieWhite@saracens.net

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20 for 20 Challenge

• Entry into the Challenge is £20
• Enter solo or as a team
• Limited Edition Saracens Sport Foundation 20 for 20 Medal*
• Personalised digital certificate on completion
• Medal dispatched on completion.

Click here to join the challenge click here

2020 has been a tough year for everyone, and the Saracens Sport Foundation have suffered like many other charities as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. As a small community charity, we rely on face to face fundraising events and challenges, which have been postponed or cancelled. We have lost in excess of £180,000 in fundraising as a result.

However, we must look for the silver linings, and as most of us get used to this new ‘Work From Home’ lifestyle, it does come with some perks! Gone are the rush hour crushes, the bus stop queues and monster traffic jams of the past!

The Commit your Commute campaign is an idea to use these silver linings as a way of raising some much-needed funds for the charity. You could give anything from the cost of one bus journey to a month of petrol – it would all make a difference to the Foundation.

Covid-19 has posed challenges for the Saracens Sport Foundation specifically as we are a charity who work to re-engage the most socially isolated in the community, an aim made more difficult by the measures that are currently enforced. However, we believe that social distancing should not mean complete isolation! We have tried to adapt the way we engage with our community – producing online content; using the good old fashioned postal service to stay in touch with our participants in prison; and using technology to check on our most vulnerable beneficiaries. All the work we do has costs attached, and even preparing to get back to our normal delivery when the Covid-19 pandemic has passed provides its own challenges in terms of funding. So, when we say that the donation of a one-way bus ticket will have an impact, we really mean it!

Our projects – especially the ones without funding – are the projects that your donations will make a real difference to. See some of the things your commute could provide for the Foundation:

• £1.50 = 1 x Bus Journey = Parent Respite for 1 of our disABILITY participant parents for 1 week
• £4.80 = Return Tube Journey = The cost of a rugby ball for one of our rugby development programmes
• £25 = A week’s worth of petrol = One session of Sarrie’s RFC for one participant
• £50 = Fortnight of Tube Travel = One week of Sarrie’s Skills Club for one young person with severe autism

Anything you are able to donate, whether it’s your commute to work, or your commute to Allianz Park for a big game, it will have a huge impact on the charity.

Donate below to help us keep transforming lives in our local community.

Commit Your Commute Here!

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a catastrophic effect on charities, with thousands of events and the loss of billions in income through fundraising events. With the London Marathon postponed until October, the masterminds behind the day have come up with a new challenge to help mitigate the loss of income suffered by charities big and small.

The Saracens Sport Foundation has also been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. We have had to cancel or postpone several key fundraising events which have seriously impacted our ability to raise the funds we need to keep our programmes running and changing lives in the community. This challenge has come at the perfect time for all our supporters, beneficiaries, and local community as a way of engaging with the charity as well as staying moving and having some fun at the same time!

The 2.6 Challenge is a simple one. Set yourself a challenge – it can be ANYTHING – but it has to relate to the number 2.6 or 26. That could be running 2.6km, skipping for 26 minutes, flipping a pancake 26 times… you get the idea. Once you have thought of your challenge, visit Virgin Money Giving or Just Giving and select the Saracens Sport Foundation as your chosen charity and start fundraising!

If you don’t want to set yourself a challenge, but you still want to help, you can donate directly to the Saracens Sport Foundation through the same process on Virgin Money Giving or Just Giving.

Anything you can raise of donate, be it £2.60 or £2,600, will make a massive difference to our small charity in these difficult times.

Don’t forget to tag us in your 2.6 challenges on social media so we can see what you’re doing!

If you have any problems or questions, please email emmawilson@saracens.net

Happy Fundraising!