Raising £1.3million for Park Lane Stables Riding for the Disabled

Picture this: lockdown in January 2021, a tiny charity in Teddington, West London, that offers a life-line to disabled and vulnerable children and adults, is told by their landlord that he is selling the property and they will need to move out by May 31st. They can try and raise £1million to buy the stables themselves, but this seems impossible.

When I saw an Instagram post about the crowdfunding campaign started by the founder Natalie O’Rourke in order to try and raise the £1million needed, my gut told me that it would be hard, but they could make it. The campaign needed work though.

Budget? None, but a community who would do anything to save their beloved stables. The stables had a brilliant story to tell, they just didn’t know how to tell it…

Local media first

A tiny charity won’t attract national TV no matter how good the cause, so we started with local media, telling our story and why we had to save the yard from closure. Coverage from local radio and TV started to bring in donations, and during lockdown people (and celebrities) were more attentive to our plight. But even the huge sum of £100K raised pales when you are trying to raise £1million in an all or nothing campaign.

Not everyone is on social media

10000 flyers were pushed through letterboxes, reaching those who don’t use social media or use the internet much. Children drew placards for us and put them in their windows, and as the horses needed to be exercised lockdown or not, the team even campaigned on horseback.

Grassroots campaigning

The teens at the stables did a video for us which was raw and spoke from their hearts. It wasn’t a slick production, which would have been inappropriate in any case, giving the impression we had any money to spend.

No press, social media mention or flyer delivered was seen as too little or having not enough reach. Everything mattered.

Local to national

Once we reached £250K through local campaigning, national media started to pay attention, with 1 week left we were featured on ITV Good Morning with support from local resident Rob Brydon. Soon Rory Bremner and Clare Balding lent their support. Then the holy grail of BBC Breakfast happened, and with a few days left we reached and surpassed our goal.

32000 backers later Park Lane Stables have bought their forever home and their future is secure.