Entrepreneurial students raise £19,000 for local charities

Business-minded students at the University of Wolverhampton put their entrepreneurial skills to the test to raise almost £19,000 for local charities.

The 250 University of Wolverhampton Business School and Wolverhampton College students organised fundraising activities as part of an entrepreneurial creativity and innovation module.‌

Over a six week period, the students raised a total of £18,895.14 for Compton Hospice, Acorns Children’s Hospice, The 1^st Finchfield Scout Group, Shropshire and Staffordshire Blood Bikes, Promise Dreams and St. Anthony’s of the Leonard Cheshire Group. 

Liz Heyworth-Thomas, Lecturer in Marketing and Enterprise, said: “The students have done amazingly well, raising such a large amount of money in such a short space of time, whilst also raising awareness of important charities which help support people in our communities. 

“Through its entrepreneurial creativity and innovation module, the University of Wolverhampton Business School has raised almost £170,000 for local charities over the last seven years.

“Through personal reflection and applied fundraising, students on this module are able to evaluate how they can effectively contribute to teamwork and harness their entrepreneurial skills, coming up with creative and innovative fundraising activities whilst putting taught elements of marketing, finance planning, team management and event delivery into practice.”

Local businesses including Forward Industrial Product Groups Ltd and Pure Gym, Wolverhampton, supported the students’ fundraising efforts, and Richard Hilton of Fabweld Steel Products Ltd also donated a prize for a winning team. 

The student teams presented their work at an exhibition which formed part of their assessment.

Professor Phil Dearden, Associate Dean of Research at the University, presented teams of students with awards at the exhibition. A team from Wolverhampton College were awarded for their fundraising efforts, raising a grand total of £4,261.77 for charity, whilst a team of University of Wolverhampton Business School students took the creativity award for their innovative fundraising initiative.