Sports Charity Spotlight: Four examples of fantastic fundraising from across campus

UWWNC (Women’s Netball)

The University of Warwick Women’s Netball Club continues to show that student sport can make an impact well beyond match days, as the club gears up for its upcoming jam-packed Purple Week in support of PAPYRUS.

Set to take place later in the term, Purple Week will see members wearing purple to training, as well as running “purple pledges” and a charity circle, giving every member the chance to actively contribute as much as possible.

Speaking to The Boar Sport, the club’s charity officer highlighted the importance of this initiative, stating that they “take so much pride in how committed all our members are to giving back to our local and global communities,”.

Purple Week will raise money for PAPYRUS, a UK charity dedicated to the prevention of youth suicide by reducing stigma and equipping young people and their communities to manage emotional distress. The charity is one the club has partnered with before.

This is far from the first time UWWNC has demonstrated its commitment to giving back. As the club themselves put it, they have “a long history of being committed to charity and consistently fundraising for such worthy causes.” Most recently, the club took part in the Let’s Dance for Sport’s Relief event hosted by the Classical and Modern Dance society. In June 2025, they also hosted a Charity Netball Tournament in support of Bloody Good Period, a UK organisation that, before closing, fought for menstrual equity. With 18 teams entering, the tournament raised an impressive £975.50.

Building on this track record, as the club prepares to turn training purple, the University of Warwick Women’s Netball Club are proving that strong team spirit doesn’t stop at the court, but can be transformed into positive charitable impact.

Women’s Hockey

Recently presented with the LWS Night Shelter Award of Recognition for their volunteering efforts, Women’s Hockey have continued their impressive charity work into the 2025/6 academic year.

Firstly, during Movember, members contributed a healthy fundraising figure of £431. Key to gaining donations, the club committed to travelling a combined distance of 600km to raise awareness of men’s mental health statistics. Exceeding their target, Women’s Hockey reached a total of 704km. Whilst the entire club got involved, particular credit must go to the individuals who achieved the 60km ‘Move for Movember’ challenge, which led to a variety of ‘exec pledges,’ from eyebrow slits to bans on using personal phones.

Throughout the year, the club have maintained their support of the LWS shelter, who provide pivotal support for vulnerable and homeless individuals in Leamington Spa. Notably, the group helped with a ‘reverse advent calendar’ involving contributions of tinned food products and toiletries. Speaking to the Boar, the club’s charity officer reflected on a successful term, stating they were “super proud of what the club has achieved.”

The Women’s Hockey statement also emphasised future initiatives throughout the remainder of the academic year. One exciting event on the horizon is a two-week charity fortnight in Weeks 5 and 7. This will support the club’s national charity, PAPYRUS (Prevention of Young Suicide). A range of sporting and non-sporting events will contribute to these efforts, including a 24 hour-hockey-athon, bake sales, and a fun sports day.

For individuals keen to support these excellent fundraising initiatives, a timetable of events is available on the Warwick Women’s Hockey social media pages – your support is greatly encouraged and appreciated!

CMD

Classical and Modern Dance is another example of one of Warwick’s sport societies which places a huge emphasis on their fundraising. Most recently, their event, “Let’s Dance for Sport Relief” raised a spectacular £7813 for Comic Relief, which saw over £1000 worth of tickets sold, as 20 sport societies choreographed dances to perform in Copper Rooms.

The society also took part in a 24-hour Danceathon in the Piazza at the beginning of Term 1, raising £1166 for Dementia UK. As well as this, CMD often participates in supporting the local community through initiatives such as clothing drives, free dance classes, and volunteering at food kitchens.

CMD’s Vice-President, Lily Edwards is responsible for organising all these wonderful events; she told The Boar, “Charity and community outreach are a key part of CMD. We’re fortunate to be able to support a wide range of local, national and international causes through doing what we love”.

Perhaps the highlight of the charity calendar for CMD is their annual Pink Week, taking place in Week 5. This sees the society complete challenges, host events, and put up stalls throughout the week, all in aid of the charity, CoppaFeel.

CoppaFeel is a breast cancer awareness charity founded in 2009 which aims to inform young people of the signs of breast cancer, by encouraging people to regularly check their breasts, and removing the stigma associated with this. Previously, CMD have raised over £2000 for this wonderful charity.

This a certainly a jam-packed calendar, worthy of the society that took home the Community and Fundraising Award at last year’s Sports Awards.

UOWMCC (Men’s Cricket)

Warwick Cricket sprinted to a massive £7500 raised for Movember last year. Though their fundraising numbers seemed a couple of laps behind previous years for most of the month, their 24-hour run carried them to an impressive finish, particularly with the help of Women’s Cricket who raised £3000 in just one day by soldiering through the early hours.

“It was great to see clubmen, especially first years, get genuinely excited whenever donations came through and spirits were at an all-time high,” says Angus Ledlie, UOWMCC Charities Secretary. 24-hour extravaganzas are a wildly popular means of fundraising on campus across societies, from RAW’s 72-hour broadcast to numerous society Freps spending 24 hours in the library at various points last term. And they’re popular for good reason; they can hugely propel donations. As Cricket found, their run “motivated everyone to sort out” their lagging behind by bringing everyone across the society together with one shared short-term goal: make it through to the end. Driving momentum with every donation, it’s fair to say their Movember campaign was a soaring success.

Cricket also have plans to run a 24-hour mini cricket tournament later this term in support of the Bob Willis fund, a charity raising money for prostate cancer research and awareness with the particular aim of realising a national screening programme in the next three to five years. This continues a long-standing commitment to charitable causes, as in the past the teams have also run the Warwick and Stratford Half Marathons for charities including the British Heart Foundation and Solving Kids Cancer, setting them up well for future fundraising endeavours.