Justgiving's blog

Si and Kai, sitting in a tree, k-i-ss-i-n-g

We're all dewy-eyed to note the blossoming friendship between our User Marketing Manager Simon and our super new Designer Kai.

For almost two years, self-confessed web geek Simon has pined for a playmate to join him in geekdom as the rest of us remained staunchly bewildered by his array of gadgets and portfolio of RSS feeds. Si's the sort of guy that has RSS feeds from sites that haven't even been thought of yet. As you can probably tell from this post.

And then...Kai arrived, replete with some bizarre tablet thingumyjig and a penchant for web 2.0. Across the office, a pair of star-crossed technology lovers met.

Since then, the gleeful pair have shared endless tit bits from tech blogs and worked themselves into lathers over gadget packaging. Yesterday, Si cooed his approval as Kai breathlessly described his new computer mouse as "so sexy". Cue much eye-rolling.

If we were as clever as the Swedish dudes who made the side-splittingly brilliant Bush & Blair Endless Love video, we'd have made one of those. But we're not, sadly.

Jonno tops the table

Jonno immediately signed sponsorship deals with Levi's and Nike

As you'll doubtless have seen from the sports pages at the weekend, the Justgiving Table Tennis Tournament came to a thrilling climax on Friday lunchtime.

Client Services Manager Jonathan Witheringtonhampstonsteadstonwaddingwotsisname* first dispatched the brave but ultimately forehand-lacking challenge of New Business Manager Molly before squaring up to Product Manager Will in the Grand Final.

Before the assembled hordes of somewhat lunch preoccupied Justgivers, these two gladiators of the modern game traded blows in a fiercely contested battle of wicked spin shots, forehand smashes and backhand returns. Will attempted to assert his height advantage, but every time he pinged it, Jonno just ponged it back until finally the pressure told and at 19-20 down and match point in the third game, Will squewed a forehand wide of the white line to leave Jonno triumphant.

"This is the greatest day of my life," a breathless Jonno told the assembled press corps afterwards. "I felt the hand of history on my shoulder as the ball whistled past the end of a table, an over-hit that signalled it was, indeed, all over."

Considering the now significant hiatus in the training regime of the Justgiving Swimming Squad, Jonno now represents our best chance of a medal in 2012. So we're seconding him to an intensive training camp in Shanghai for the next five years.

Next up, a badminton tournament.

* In joke, sorry.

Free Money!

All these could be yours...

Last week I sent out a spangly newsletter to JG pageowners offering them some free cash. For those of you who didn't see it, here's the hallowed text:

"50 quid for 50 words  

And so, on to the challenge. Every month I'm offering up a £50 donation to a page that you nominate.

The rules are simple:

In 50 words or less, tell me why I should make a donation to that page.   

That's it! It can be your own page, it can belong to a friend, I'm not too fussy. Just make it interesting and I'll announce the first winner in two weeks time.

As we have done previously, the winner will be featured extensively on our site and blog."

Nice. We've had some entries but not enough to make it a proper contest. So email your entry to me now: simon@justgiving.com

We're waiting for your story.

Top 10 Fundraising Tips from JG Forumnistas

We've been trawling through the goldmine of inspiration that is our Hints & Tips forum and compiled a list of top tips posted by Justgiving forum users.

There's lots of innovative ways of getting your Justgiving web address out there, some tips on garnering publicity and an innovative use for a Smarties packet.

Check the list out here.

And of course we'd love to hear more brilliant ideas, so post yours on the forum or leave a comment.

Honours even (ish) in Match of the Day

Andy Baker scores from a set-piece straight from the training manual

Often the weight of expectation stifles the big occasions and snuffs out the smoldering torch paper before it ignites (writes our Chief Football Correspondent).

Not so at Haverstock High School Astro-Turf on Friday, where two giants of the modern game illuminated a chilly January evening with a lavish display of footballing fireworks.

A capacity crowd of fervent, if slightly cold and bored looking Justgiving supporters roared their approval as their gladiators entered the lion's den, slightly late because of congestion on the Northern line between Old Street and Chalk Farm, and missing centre-back Jules because he had to attend to a sudden flurry of Helpdesk enquiries.

Raring to go in the opposition half stood the formidable Cancer Research UK, resplendent in red Bobby Moore no.6 shirts and with some players even sporting proper astro-turf boots, suggesting they might actually have played before. The stage was set.

Already a defender down, Justgiving were further hamstrung before the game had even started when Aussie international Roger Dennis tweaked a thigh during the warm-up and was forced to concentrate on celebrating Australia Day from the sidelines.

Into the starting 8 came Tim Truman, and good job he did. With the match barely minutes old, a thrusting Justgiving incursion over enemy lines saw Truman pick up the ball on the right and slice a horribly miss-hit cross into the top right hand corner of CRUK's net to make it 1-0. It would have been a classic goal, if only he'd meant it.

On the premise that if Spurs fan Truman could score past CRUK, anyone probably could, Justgiving pressed forward with ever greater purpose and began assiduously posting a cricket score. But then, drama.

A CRUK sabotage mission cunningly disguised as a mix up with pitch bookings meant the entire game had to be shifted to half the pitch to accommodate another match. Cue much bewilderment and frantic tactical reorganisation, as the teams were shrunk to five and substitutes suddenly outnumbered supporters.

On the smaller pitch, CRUK's crack 5-a-side hit squad came to the fore and Justgiving were suddenly under the kosh. Tackles were traded, passes went astray, lunging last ditch interceptions saved the day, balls flew past flailing arms and legs and rippled the nets. And when the final whistle blew, the burning question on everyone's lips was...who won?

And in all the excitement, it turned out nobody had kept score.

So, it was up the road to the pub for some post match tipples and the most delicious honey and mustard coated sausages anyone had ever tasted. Hand were shaken, glasses were chinked, the glory was shared. A classic sporting encounter, conducted in the true spirit of the game, and one that Justgiving hopes will be repeated many times in the future.

Many thanks to all CRUK players and supporters. When's the rematch? 

An historic day of sporting endeavour

We taught him everything he knew.

Earlier this month we blogged our desire to form a Justgiving football team, and we put out a call for opponents.

Most quivered in their football boots and scurried away, but one brave team scooped up the gauntlet and challenged us to a sharp shooting duel. Step forward Cancer Research UK.

And so the time has finally arrived for the game some are describing as the biggest match in the history of the world, as Justgiving FC lines-up against Cancer Research UK at that famous old stadium Haverstock High School Astro Turf pitch in Chalk Farm (Wembley's still not ready, apparently), tonight at 6:30pm.

Much limbering up amidst rising tension in the office as the starting 8 of Adam (developer), Will (product manager), Ryan (finance dude), Jules (helpdesk guru), Foluke (developer and former star of Watford Ladies FC), Jonno (who?), James Mk1 (writer of silly blog posts) and Andy (former finance bod back on loan) prepare for The Big Match Live. On the bench are Tim (from The Pogues), Kai (new designer), Roger (business analyst, whatever one of those is), and James Mk2 (marketing), who has been unceremoniously dumped there for failing to turn up to training last week.   

The rest of the office will be making up a partisan crowd, swaying and braying on the terraces, cheering us on when our legs give up or our lungs collapse, and wishing they were in the pub already.

Full match report and pictures on Monday only in your Super Soaraway Sun Justgiving Blog.

But that's not all! Remember how we became suddenly and inexplicably obsessed by table tennis?

The First Annual Justgiving Invitational Table Tennis Tournament (Amateurs) – or the *FAJITTA*s as they’re known in Mexico – reaches its zenith this very lunchtime, today, 26th January, between 1.30 and 2.30.

Having whittled down the original 3,000 entrants to a mere three after 17 weeks of gruelling competition, the last participants are:

Will “the Beast” Hardy

Molly “The Backhand” Loyd and

Jonno “Whatshisname” Witheringtonhamstonstead

The action starts with the Loyd v Witheringtonhamstonstead Semi final shortly after 1.30pm, with the winner getting the (unenviable?) opportunity to face down the Beast mano a mano (or womano a mano).

This un-missable sporting occasion takes place at London’s Madison Square Gardens, the Golden Lane Leisure Centre. It'll probably be live on Sky.

Games on!

Free the Thamesmead Three

It weren't us guv, honest!

Three employees of the community development charity Thamesmead Trust are being put under lock and key at Wormwood Scrubs prison.

Jailbirds June Wells, Julia Hickson and Linda Delieu will be doing porridge overnight on 3 February to raise money for Cancer Research UK in memory of four relatives lost to cancer.

“It is a sad fact that one in three of us will suffer from cancer in our lifetime,” said Julia. “It is an awful disease and we want to do as much as we can to help eliminate the illness, so people don't have to go through the suffering and upset our families and friends have been through.”

Sponsor the girls on their Justgiving page here.

Wave your Brahms in the air!

The London Phoenix Orchestra is embarking on a music marathon this Saturday by attempting to play every orchestral piece written by Brahms in a single day.

Conductor Levon Parikian will lead his charges through 11 major works written for orchestra by the German Romantic composer in a six hour musical extravaganza at St. Augustine's Church in South Kensington, to raise funds for the Orchestra and children's charity Jessie's Fund.

"As far as we are aware, the Brahmsathon is a unique musical event for only the most dedicated or foolhardy musician," says trombonist Alison Bowyer on her Justgiving page.

"It will also be a musical feast and a celebration of the London Phoenix Orchestra's love of music making in support of two very worthwhile causes. Our aim is to raise £5000 from the event which will be split evenly between the two charities."

They've already raised more than £3k. Bravo!

Wanna be a star on the Justgiving homepage?

Hello- it's Liz the designer here and I need your help to make the Justgiving homepage better! Right now I've only got 5 rotating fundraiser photos up there and I need way more of them. So if you'd like to be like lovely Paula here and have your star turn on the JG homepage here's how: 

All you need to do is to email us your photo plus the short web address of your fundraising page
(ie, www.justgiving.com/paula-robertson)
to photos@justgiving.com. We’re looking for great photos of you fundraising, whether that means running, cycling, or even having your head shaved! Photos of you fundraising on your own or as part of a team are equally welcomed.

If you are fundraising in memory or in honour of someone else please be sure to send us a photo of yourself, rather than the person you are fundraising on behalf of.

Also, please make sure that you've got a few donations on your fundraising page before sending us your photo-- remember, we're using your pages as examples of how online fundraising works!

Not every photo we receive will be posted on the homepage but if your image is chosen we will let you know promptly. Your photo will stay up on the Justgiving.com homepage for approximately 1-2 months, in rotation with other photos. (just keep on refreshing the homepage!)

If you do not hear from us within five working days of sending us your photo please assume that your submission was not successful on that occasion. We are sorry not to be able to respond individually to every request. Justgiving selects photos at its absolute discretion.

Thanks for the RAoK

Last month, I blogged about Danny Wallace and his army of Joinees who perpetrate Random Acts of Kindness (RAoKs). Well, today I was on the receiving end.

I was 5p short of the cash fare on the bus this morning. My Oyster card wouldn't work, the mastiff featured bus driver wouldn't change a £20 note and I was all set to roll my eyes and trudge back into the snow. But then a random fellow passenger snapped open her purse and handed me a 20p piece.

So, on the very off-chance the nice lady on the bus is a Justgiving Blog reader, I'd like to say thanks for the RAoK. Since I'll probably never see you again to give you back your 20p, I've stuck a fiver on Danny's page instead.

Go forth and commit RAoKs. Everyone. It'll make you smile.

Be the change you want to see in the world

With it being the start of my second week here at JG Towers, I thought a nice start to the week would be if I posted a bit of information about someone I know from my past who is doing something amazing.  On the 26^th of November 2006 a chap I knew from the little area of Lewisham in Kent was to put his life into two bags and then sell all the excess baggage so that he could to then go off as a volunteer for the VSO in Ghana and teach IT for what can be up to one year or more.

There he has now set up a course, teaching IT to kids and teachers to help improve their life and help take them forward to the future. Furthermore, he raised £500 for the VSO and even continues to take time out of his busy schedule to talk about all his experiences (the good and the bad) on a blog at www.lastchancetobe.com. The site is a great way for people who haven't the faintest clue or are in the early stages of an application to the VSO about what to expect of going out into the unknown! He has even been known to respond to questions and comments on his site and it has a fond legion of fans that regularly check to see of his exploits.

I knew Jon way back around seven years ago from playing computer games in small rooms with a stupid amount of other people and to hear now that he's making a difference in the world is amazing feat! Back in those days he nicknamed me Errol, for my similarity to the BBC award winning comedy 15 Storeys High and probably because he's Chinese too.

In one episodes Errol encounters an old man at the elevator who steps in some chewing gum, thinking of the advice give to him by his flatmate, he acts ignorant to the stranger because 'all neighbours are nutters' and to ignore them even if they're really friendly.

Pondering the silent treatment the little old man asks in a calm voice, "Are you racist?"

Prompting the naive Errol to hastily reply, "No, sorry! I was just being ignorant!"

Later on, Errol turns up with a bucket and a mop to clear up the sticky mess beside the elevator doors, which the old man had mentioned. His flatmate bewildered at his actions asked what on earth he was doing to hear back a quote from a movie the old man had shown him about Ghandi, "Be the change you want to see in the world." Later on the naive Asian ends up being told by a council caretaker that he has to drip syrup back to the spot he had washed else people would sue them for falling on the slippery surface.

So without babbling on too much more, I will leave you with the thought that no matter how small a change you make you can always make an impact! But please, no pots of honey or syrup.

Please head over now to Jonathan's site and if you can spare him any old computer parts, books or even some words of encouragement I know that he would appreciate it very much!

From Basra to Brawdy. Left, right, left, right

Running a marathon is hard enough, right? Well try running one every day. For a month. Whilst dodging mortar attacks in Iraq.

That's the incredible challenge seven soldiers have set themselves whilst they perform troop protection work in Basra. Corporal Allister Richardson, 27, and his super-fit buddies are aiming to cover the 4,844km between their base and their regiment's home in Brawdy, Wales, on the treadmill, exercise bike and rowing machine in their gym.

Speaking to the Dorset Daily Echo, Cpl Richardson said: "There are rarely seven of us actually doing the event as people are often away. So far this week I've been averaging a marathon a day.

"The regular mortar and rocket attacks, as well as the long working hours, make it all the more difficult."

You're telling us Allister! The boys have toiled through 3,000km so far and are half way to their £2,500 fundraising target for Get Kids Going. Check out their progress on their fundraising page.

Lads, we salute you.

Cool new email tool

Hot on the heels of the widget comes another exciting release
from our product team that makes it even easier to spread the word about your fundraising.

We've added a cool little tool that allows you to import email addresses from your own email client straight in to the "To:" field in our page promotion email template.

Using a plug-in built by Plaxo, you can now import email addresses straight from Outlook, Outlook Express, AOL, Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Plaxo and pretty much anything else.

In the past, you've had to copy and paste addresses from your email client into our email template, and that was time-consuming and generally rubbish. So product guru Will and whizz developer Rasha put their heads together and came up with a fix.

If you have a fundraising page, try it out. Log into Your Account, go to Your fundraising pages and click Email your friends about your page. You'll see a little button like the one above that launches the Plaxo tool.

Whaddya think? Post a comment and let us know.

Widget mania

Our new widget's gone down rather well. Almost as well as the chocolate cake we had yesterday for James MkII's birthday.

Almost 500 sites now proudly display a Justgiving widget and 13,000 people clicked on one yesterday alone. You all seem quite delighted, especially this guy. So we're delighted that you're delighted. Yay!

The widget is created using IFrames, so unfortunately it doesn't work on sites that don't support IFrames. These include MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, MSN Live Spaces and Real Buzz blogs. We're working on a solution so that even more of you can use a widget.

Thanks to the several squillion of you who have emailed Simon to say the widget doesn't work on MySpace. He knows now. You can stop. Honestly. Stop. Email MySpace instead and tell them to allow IFrames. Then it will work.

One more thing: it doesn't work as an email signature either. Sorry!

Post a comment to let us know what you think of our widget, and where you've put yours.

Fundraiser of the month, January 2007

Our fundraiser of the month for January 2007 is James Morrison .

James has been growing his hair for five years. It’s long and knotty and his friends are about to decide whether he should cut it all off. All the money he raises will go to Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital.

Read his story here. Visit his page and sponsor him here.

If you want to nominate someone as a future Fundraiser of the Month, please drop us an email at community@justgiving.com or post details in our forum.

Newbie no.2...Liz Smith

Yesterday we introduced Kai, and today we've put another new member of the JG team under the spotlight. Step up our new Charity Helpdesk Executive Liz Smith. Liz will be taking calls and emails from our charity clients, answering their questions and helping them make the most of Justgiving. In an exclusive interview, Liz tells the JG Blog about cartoon bunnies and her experiences with inflatables...

What is your most treasured possession?
MacGyver DVD boxset - he is everything a woman would ever want! Very handy to have around!!

Where would you like to live?
In a hut on a beach, slap bang in the middle of the Pacific

What would your super power be?
Turning water into wine...

Who would play you in the film of your life?
Liz Smith! (Nana Royle in The Royle Family!)

What is your favourite book?
Does anything eat wasps? I like my facts!! (the answer is yes btw!)

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
"Great"

If you could go back in time, where would you go?
To help (or watch!) the Egyptian’s build the pyramids

What's your favourite website?
Ever seen your favourite film re-created by cartoon bunnies in under 30 seconds? Check out Angry Alien.

What kind of biscuit would you be?
A party ring. You probably haven't had them since you were ten, but they're great!

What's your secret talent?
I'm scarily in tune with my body clock! I've often freaked people out by guessing the time within a few minutes, therefore I don't wear a watch!

What did you get for Christmas?
Star Wars DS game, MacGyver DVD, earrings, chocolate (lots), bath stuff, perfume....

What's your favourite joke?
Did you ever hear the story about the magic tractor? It got to the end of the road and turned into a field.

Marmite. Love it or hate it?
Love it, don't like Vegemite though...

Tell us one thing about you that we'd only ever find out if we gave you one of these silly questionnaires...
My earliest memory......nearly drowning in a kiddies swimming pool in Ibiza, stuck the wrong way up in an inflatable white duck! (I was three at the time! On a family holiday, not on an 18-30's holiday, although I can imagine a few people doing the same after a night out, whether it would involve an inflatable or not is another thing though...)

Cheers Liz. Welcome to the gang!

Introducing a JG newbie...Kai Vong

It's been all go at JG Towers this week with two newbies joining the team. We'll introduce our new Charity Helpdesk Executive Liz (MkII as opposed to MKI) tomorrow, but first in the hotseat is our fab new designer Kai.

What is your most treasured possession?
Probably Creative Zen Vision:M at the moment… although I’m a real sucker for computer mice. I tend to go through them very quickly. Thankfully Wacom tablets are so expensive…else I might have a thing for buying every new version of them!

Where would you like to live?
I’d quite like to live in China, Korea, Japan… just for life and food. I love sushi and dim sum!

What would your super power be?
I used to read comics so probably being the Sandman (from Neil Gaiman comics not the new Spiderman movie). 

Who would play you in the film of your life?
Probably a mix of Masi Oka from Heroes and Ben Falcone who was the easily excited next door neighbour from Joey.

What is your favourite book?
Terry Pratchett’s Feet Of Clay

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
“Real?”

If you could go back in time, where would you go?
Probably to the 1990’s… the good old days of Thundercats.

What’s your favourite website?
The Justgiving blog of course! (creep – JG Ed)

What kind of biscuit would you be?
Wagonwheels!

What’s your secret talent?
It wouldn’t be a secret if I told you.

What did you get for Christmas?
An IDOG, lots of alcoholic stuff, a bedlam puzzle cube, some awesome Japanese rice crackers and this snow globe.

What’s your favourite joke?
Jokes… really aren’t my forte.

Marmite. Love it or hate it?
Yuck. I quite like peanut butter and jam/jelly though! Nice and healthy.

Tell us one thing about you that we’d only ever find out if we gave you one of these silly questionnaires…
When I was just a little lad on a school trip in Scotland, my class managed to leave me behind. After twenty minutes of searching for a phone I managed to phone my mom from a nearby pub saying rather tearfully, “I’m still in Scotland.” I was driven back by a pregnant Scot (who said she’d named her son after me… I don’t quite know why) in a jeep at high speeds to catch up with my class. I returned safely to a welcoming member of staff who showed his relief with colourful language that I got there in time that he wouldn’t have been stranded with me waiting for the next train in some remote location in the North.

Nice one Kai. Welcome to JG!

Funky fundraising pages

Since we added an HTML editor to fundraising pages, you've been getting ever more creative with your personal messages. We've seen pictures, smilies and garish pink font galore!

Here are a couple of our favourite pages that show how a bit of creativity can really make a difference.

The guys from Kensington Mortgages fluffed their top lips for the Mo-vember challenge last year, each aiming to replicate the bristles of a moustachioed celebrity mentor. To illustrate their progress, they created a photo gallery on their fundraising page with pictures of their heroes next to their own hairy visages. See it here.

Scott Boocock is running the Watford Half Marathon and Flora London Marathon this year. He's used images to brighten up his page, and added a bookmark link so his supporters can post his page to del.icio.us and other bookmarking sites. Check out his page here.

Great work fellas!

Disco Inferno!

Here's a picture of our Systems Development Manager Jason gearing up for a 70s themed party on Saturday night. 

Looks pretty cool, huh? Not for long...

"I turned up at this party and there's about 45 people there but only me and my mate have bothered getting dressed up," explains a sheepish Jase. Tee hee!

Donations for celebrations

If only I'd set up a Justgiving page I wouldn't have to wear this ridiculous jumper

Last month we blogged about the explosion in non-athon pages on Justgiving. Well, there's also been a great upsurge in what we call Life Event pages.

These are pages through which people collect donations in lieu of presents, or just to mark a personal occasion such as a birthday, wedding, anniversary or even Christmas.

Here are some great examples:

Wedding

Birthday       

Anniversary

Christmas

You can also build special In Memoriam pages to raise funds in memory of a loved one. Here's an example.

Check out how one of our charity partners, Wateraid, promotes this idea to its supporters for personal occasions and weddings.

And next time you're marking a special occasion, avoid being landed with another one of granny's knitted jumpers by setting up a fundraising page for your favourite charity.

The Digg Effect

The wacky world of web 2.0 continues. Having recovered from yesterday's keynote I thought I'd update you all on a fundraising page that dates all the way back from 2003. That's aeons in internet time.

This very site, Global Rich List, ended up on digg at the end of last year. Being the massive Kevin Rose fan that I am, I thought this was awesome. It got thousands of diggs too (3476 at present), which is even more awesome, and was a frontpage item for a while. Fellow diggers will know how much of an achievement that really is, especially for a story that is about philanthropy and not Steve Jobs, scientologists or how much we all despise DRM.

Consequently there's been loads of donations in the last few months since the page resurfaced, many of them from overseas. Cool. Blogosphere works then.

Conclusion: Good ideas just keep on going and the boundaries of giving are truly being lifted.

New year, new lungs...

Some great news has come through from our fundraiser Emily's blog. After nearly two years of waiting, Emily at last has a new set of lungs: her transplant came through, and she is now recovering in hospital: at last report, she was off the ventilator and slowly returning to normal.

You may remember that Emily was our August fundraising superstar, and she's also a fantastic campaigner for organ transplants - in addition to creating her own video, she's been on the news or in the press countless times, reminding people why they need to sign that card. In fact, it's so easy to become an organ donor now- you can even do it online.

Anyways, our thoughts are with Emily and her family - many congratulations from all of us at JG- and best of luck with the brand new pair of lungs!

Liam gets Millionaires to giveaway £50k

Liam live on ITV1

Back in December we blogged about 11-year-old Liam Fairhurst who swam a mile to raise funds for CLIC Sargent in memory of his friend Jack.

We also blogged about a new ITV show, Million Pound Giveaway, that sees contestants pitch to a panel of millionaires for sums of money for anything they want - from a charity to a holiday.

So we're super thrilled to report that Liam took up the gauntlet, appeared on the show and won £50k for CLIC! Go Liam!

Fresh from raising £13k through his swim, Liam came face-to-face with novelist Jeffrey Archer, entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne and Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan to ask for money for a holiday home for children with cancer.

His pitch so impressed the hard nosed panellists they dug deep and gave Liam the cash for a three-bed room, fully equipped, luxury caravan in Filey, Yorkshire.

Liam's dad Mark said: "Appearing on this show has been the icing on the cake for Liam who has personally worked hard to raise over £13,000 for CLIC Sargent since his friend Jack lost his battle with cancer in August 2006.

What a star. Check out Liam's Justgiving page here.

20-a-day JGer gets SmokeFree

Ben adopts a novel nicotine replacement therapy - silly hats

Ben, our Sovereign snaffling Head of Charity Accounting, has sent shockwaves rippling through JG Towers by espousing the great love of his life and quitting smoking.

Ben's snook has always been defiantly cocked at the anti-smoking lobby and he even entered the record books by leaving his desk, smoking a full cigarette outside and returning to his desk in a world beating 22.47 seconds. Rarely has the world seen a more committed nicotinaholic. 

So the JG staff collapsed en masse in shock and incredulity when Ben announced he was stubbing out for the very last time - a pronouncement tantamount to the Pope denouncing Catholicism.

Ben has bolstered his willpower by using our SmokeFree site to collect donations in support of his quit attempt. If he slips up, he's liable for all the sponsorship he's collected. So not only does he have a serious incentive to stick to his new nicotine free lifestyle, his chosen charity benefits as much as his lungs.

So far, Ben has raised £305 for Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospital Charitable Fund. With any luck that total will be doubled when this post shames the half of the office yet to donate into, um, coughing up.

If Ben can quit, anyone can. So if you're considering giving up, give yourself the best possible incentive and raise funds for a good cause on our SmokeFree site.

And if you've got a spare quid or three, there's rarely been a more deserving home for it. Sponsor Ben here.

Who wants a game of footie?

We want to form a Justgiving 5/6/7-a-side football team. Anyone wanna give us a game?

We probably won't be very good, if that helps.

Record solo sail for Children In Need

Record breaking teenager Michael Perham has not only sailed into the record books, he's also raised a stack of cash for his favourite charities.

Michael, 14, arrived in Antigua yesterday to become the youngest person to complete a solo Atlantic crossing. He set off from Gibraltar on 18 November and negotiated 3,500 miles of gale force wind battered, shark infested waters.

The historic voyage has benefitted Michael's two favourite charities, Children In Need and Sailability. "I have been given the oportunity to do something I have always dreamed of," says Michael on his Justgiving pages. "Loads of kids don't because of their circumstances."

Check out Michael's blog for the full details of his incredible journey and sponsor him for Children In Need here or Sailability here.

Soccer rocks for Watford star

Jay's prize for scoring was a piggy back from team mate Darius Henderson

His team might be struggling at the foot of the Premiership, but you can guarantee Watford centre back Jay DeMerit is enjoying every minute of his debut season in the top flight.

Two years ago Jay was plying his trade for tiny Northwood FC in (deep breath) The British Gas Business Southern Football League Premier Division. Watford spotted his prowess, snapped him up and Jay completed a fairy tale ascent to the top eschelons of British football by scoring the winning goal in last year's Play Off Final.

Now Jay is taking time out from marshalling Wayne Rooney, Thierry Henry et al to raise funds for a cause close to his heart - Cancer Research UK.

As Jay explains on his Justgiving page, "When I played for Northwood, my assistant coach's father died of the disease and I thought about how precious life is, and how swiftly and cruelly it can be snatched away."

Jay has recorded a single, Soccer Rocks, with some friends from his home town of Minneapolis and all proceeds will go to Cancer Research.

Jay lines up for Watford against Liverpool next week, so in a quiet moment before Alonso swings a corner into the box, we reckon he should ask Stevie Gerrard and Peter Crouch to donate a few quid.

You can listen to Soccer Rocks and download it here. Or donate to Jay's page here.

Trekking to the South Pole

Today we're sending out a huge big round of applause to Hannah McKeand, who set a new record for a solo trek from the edge of Antartica to the South Pole. She did it in 39 days, 9 hours, and 33 minutes, which means she beat the previous record by nearly two days. Whoo-hoo! And all on a diet of fudge, chocolate, and Kendal mint cake.

Hannah's impressive trek is also a fundraiser for Breakthrough Breast Cancer in memory of her friend Jill Fraser.

You can sponsor Hannah here and find out more about her amazing achievement here. You go girl!