Search Seven celebrates charity fundraising success

2022 has been a fantastic year for fundraising for the Search Seven team, raising just under £20,000 for charity. They are now on the brink of reaching their 100k fundraising target. We hear from Founder and CEO Gavin Willis, who gives a review of the year and also announces some exciting plans for 2023.

At the start of 2022, we launched our latest charity campaign called #S7100, endeavouring to increase our fundraising efforts from £77,000 to £100,000 by the end of 2023.

With a year still to go, we are well and truly on course to not only hit this target but exceed it.

2022 has seen the introduction of new events to the S7 Events roster, including the Rockinghorse Ryder Cup, which brought two teams of 12 together to compete over two days, with SBT’s Sam Thomas and myself as the team Captains.

It was a great victory for Team Yellow in an epic event that raised over £4,000 for Rockinghorse, Search Seven’s flagship charity, of which Sam is a Trustee.

Over the summer, and during the heatwave, the Search Seven team rallied together to complete a half-marathon walk in London in support of their chosen charities. This was a brand-new type of event for the company, alongside the community events that we usually organise, seeing an incredible team effort.

Each member of the team set up their own JustGiving pages to raise money, and awareness, resulting in an incredible £5,000 raised across all the charities. It proved extremely successful and is something we plan to replicate next year.

The final event of the year was the inaugural S7 Golf Day, which took place at the Dyke Golf Club, and was organised with the help of TPG Sports Events.

With a thick mist refusing to clear in the morning, the event was close to being cancelled. With minutes to spare within our window for a 10am latest start, the competition got underway at 9.50am and was a real success, raising almost £5,500 for charity.

Search Seven invited a few of its chosen charities to say a few words on the day, with The Children’s Respite Trust, The Lucy Rayner Foundation, and Rockinghorse all raising awareness for their causes.

Are there any other charities Search Seven has supported outside the #S7100 Charity Campaign?

Yes, very much so.

As well as the #S7100 Charity Campaign, there has been a further £4,000 raised and donated to other charities.

In March 2022, we decided as a team to make a £1,000 donation to help the victims of the Ukraine War, providing support to Ukraine and showing solidarity in their efforts.

We have also introduced our Charity Referral Scheme.

With the intention of bringing people together to make a difference and say ‘thank you’ to those that have recommended us, we now operate a seven per cent Charity Referral Scheme, with five per cent of our revenue from the successful referral going to the referrer, and two per cent going to a charity of their choice. 

With several partners and clients recommending us in 2022, we are delighted to announce that we have raised over £3,000 for different charities to date, with more money to be added before Christmas.

Were there any other big announcements in 2022?

You could say that!

Over the last 18 months, we have seen the team grow from four to 14 people, including new additions to the team to support our SEO and Paid Media offerings, which has led to a significant change in Search Seven’s leadership structure.

We have seen real investment in growth, with our current headcount being matched by a 50% increase in yearly revenue, putting us in great shape to scale sustainably in 2023.

Our efforts have been recognised too, as Search Seven has been named a Finalist at the Sussex Business Awards for the Business Growth Award, as well as Employer of the Year, which we are absolutely thrilled about.

Any big plans for 2023?

Yes indeed!

We are planning to host a big community event next summer to ‘hopefully’ celebrate reaching our 100k fundraising target – plans are top secret and are yet to be revealed, so watch this space.

There will be another S7 Golf Day too, and I know Sam is desperate to hold a Rockinghorse Ryder Cup rematch.

In addition to sponsoring the Sussex Business Times’ Charity section, we are also delighted to announce that Search Seven will be the charity sponsor at next year’s Sussex Business Show, where I will also be on stage as a keynote speaker, talking about our charity fundraising journey, and sharing a few tips to those looking to embed a purpose-driven approach to their business.

It’s set to be a big year indeed!

I would like to say a big ‘thank you’ to the Search Seven team, our clients, partners, suppliers, and everyone who has supported us this year. It means a lot, and by coming together as a community, we are all helping to make a difference.

If you would like to schedule a call with Gavin to chat about partnerships, SEO and/or PPC requirements, or CSR and corporate fundraising, email gavin@searchseven.co.uk or visit our website www.searchseven.co.uk