Waverley Care's relationship with Pleasance Theatre Trust has grown so much it hopes to fundraise £90,000 during the Edinburgh Fringe 2014

Nearly a quarter of a century ago a little known local HIV charity asked to shake collection buckets outside one of Edinburgh’s smaller Fringe venues. Fast forward to today and this ongoing relationship is expected to raise over £90,000 for Waverley Care this August.

The health charity celebrates its 25th anniversary this year and for 24 years it has been raising money and awareness at Edinburgh Fringe venue the Pleasance Courtyard, now one of the Fringe’s biggest venues. Run by arts charity Pleasance Theatre Trust it this year happens to be celebrating its own 30th anniversary.

Over the years Waverley Care and the Pleasance have grown almost in sync, with the Edinburgh charity now supporting people across the whole of Scotland and the Pleasance growing from two venues to 16.

The partnership is now unrecognisable with Waverley having to employ three part-time staff members just to coordinate more than 40 volunteer bucket shakers who work from 2pm until midnight throughout the festival.

As well as bucket shaking after performances, which last year raised £34,000, the charity also hosts a number of comedy events throughout the Fringe including the popular Tartan Ribbon benefit (taking place this year in the Pleasance Grand on 12 August) and the BBC’s Big Comedy Gala at the Playhouse on 19 August.

Profits from those events, organised on the charity’s behalf, and others could net a further £50,000 this year.

“Twenty-four years ago our fundraising manager Karen Docwra had this great idea that it would be good to do a bit of fundraising during the Fringe,” Waverley Care fundraiser Jane Griffin explained to TFN.

“She saw the Pleasance were quite small and decided to knock on the door of then director Christopher Richardson.

“We did a bit of bucket shaking and put a couple of different things on in the courtyard and it’s just grown from there.

“Last year our buckets took in over £34,000 over the three and a half week period.

“It’s gigantic, the festival as a whole is a big chunk of our fundraising as we’ve got to raise roughly £480,000 every year to top up our services.”

Back in 1980 Waverley Care helped people come to terms with a diagnosis of HIV or Aids, which was seen as a death sentence at the time. However, with new HIV medication people are living much longer and the charity has expanded its reach to include supporting people living with Hepatitis C as well as HIV.

The Pleasance too has changed, but despite growing in size it has never once wavered in its support for Waverley Care.

Griffin is confident that the relationship will continue for many more years and even deepen in the future.

“To be working in this sector for 25 years you have to be extremely flexible,” she continued.

“HIV is quite a difficult cause to fundraise for so the way we drive everything is through what we call relationship fundraising which is building relationships and working on that over time so people are supportive about what we are doing and knowledgeable about it.”

The relationship that Waverley Care has developed with The Pleasance has helped to mould the ethos of both organisations over the years.

Current Pleasance director Anthony Alderson is one of Waverley’s patrons and every agent who is contacted about bringing acts to the Pleasance is told of the charity’s involvement.

Returning acts often automatically give a shout out to the bucket shakers at the end of their shows and new acts are given credit card size expandable fact sheets on the charity.

Waverley Care is also invited up to speak to the Pleasance’s staff each year.

Griffin continued: “It’s almost like we are part of the Pleasance family. The Fringe is super important to us as the money raised is not specific to a project.

Wherever that money is needed most it will be used.

“It’s also a massive time of the year because part of our remit is not just supporting people living with HIV it’s also raising awareness of HIV and fighting the stigma.

“Being able to be at the Fringe and having practically everybody in Edinburgh walking about with a tartan ribbon on at some point is amazing for us and just gives us that real benefit to be able to speak to people we wouldn’t normally have contact with.

“It’s our busiest time of the year and it is a bit mad. We are a bit like headless chickens but there is so much energy and enthusiasm, it really drives the fundraising team.

“At the end of August when we are all really knackered we know it has all been worth it. It’s the one time of year we are there to be seen.”