A History of a Charity in Twenty Objects - #8
#8. Guardian Charity Award (2004)
We were stuck. We won’t rehash it (you can read it for yourself here), but in a nutshell:
We needed £5,000.
We’d tried everything we could think of – applied for grants, developed proposals, submitted pitches, we’d even spent a day at IKEA Croydon with a donation bucket – and we’d come up with nothing. In fact, we were slightly worse off because our train fares to Croydon and the donation bucket had cost more than we’d collected.
Frustrated and dismayed, the Board of Trust called a special meeting to discuss options. Their conclusion: It was time to call it quits.
Ding dangit.
We just couldn’t see our way over, under or through. We were all devastated.
Lori Bean, a good, good friend and smart cookie, took Kourtney to Wagamama; over a steaming bowl of chili chicken ramen, she gave her an attitude adjustment:
“Do you have to pull the plug right now? If the final decision is to close down Guy Fox, so be it, but there’s no pressure to do that immediately. Take some time off, get some perspective. Then, you can make the decision with a clear head.”
As fate would have it, shortly after that, Kourtney had the chance to visit San Francisco. So she packed her London Map drawings and went to America for five weeks. Even if the end was nigh for Guy Fox, she was feeling a bit brighter when it came time to return.
On the flight back to London, British Airways offered her The Guardian newspaper. The long flight gave her ample time to read it cover-to-cover. And in the bottom corner of one page, there was a notice:
Wait! Did that say £5,000?!
Yes, yes. £5,000.
Right there, in the newspaper.
The deadline was the next day!
So the application was submitted in a jetlag fog, in between loads of laundry.
We must’ve written something compelling in that application, because it got shortlisted.
And when we got shortlisted, we had the opportunity to submit an essay and other materials. So we put together a packet of materials and an essay about our work.... And guess what?
WE WON!
That’s right, we won. We won a computer and a feature article in The Guardian; and we were invited to a lunch, where they presented us with the award that is pictured above and – best of all – £5,000 with no restrictions.
When the speeches and photos were finished, we thanked the people from The Guardian and Sainsbury’s (who’d sponsored the award). Then we walked out the door, straight across the street to Natwest Bank, where we paid the cheque into our account.
There was no time to waste. We were unstuck; and we were keen to get on with the next chapter of the Guy Fox story.