BCA’s ‘Bid and Ben’ raises £25,000

BCA has raised £25,000 for Ben, the Automotive Industry Charity, following the special ‘Bid & Ben’ fund raising drive earlier this year.

BEN’s Chief Executive, Gerard Barclay met with BCA’s CEO Jon Olsen to thank the BCA team for their efforts and invaluable support.

Gerard Barclay commented “We are exceptionally grateful that BCA has conducted this fundraising initiative and delighted with the results. This was a very effective and targeted campaign by BCA that encouraged all their UK centres, customers, staff and suppliers to support Ben. Not only did the Bid & Ben Campaign raise significant funds for BEN but it was extremely successful in helping raise BEN’s profile to a wider audience.”

BCA launched the campaign during National BEN Week and donated £1 for every car sold through the nationwide network of centres during the week. Locally, BCA also auctioned special items for sale during the week and carrying out other fundraising activities to assist BEN. Major customer Lex also donated a £1 a car during the week and raised £1,598 from sales held around BCA’s network

In total BCA raised £25,000 for Ben in the week, thanks to the efforts of customers – both buyers and sellers, suppliers and staff, who came up with a number of ingenious ways to raise money for their own industry charity. Belle Vue Commercials raised £300 with the auction of a satellite navigation system, a meal voucher and other items and collections during the week. BCA’s Nottingham Centre raised £724 through a mixture of bucket donations and raffles and the auction of a Ben Elephant toy, plus a number of items kindly donated by customers.

At BCA Bedford, a number of items donated by customers were sold, including branded clothing and motoring memorabilia and Lookers, Bristol Street Motors and Evans Halshaw all donated cars to be sold. The auction on the sale day raised £1,745, while Vehicle Control manager Steve Broughton volunteered to have his head shaved for the cause, raising an impressive £400. Further customer donations and bucket collections added a further £550.

At BCA’s largest centre, Blackbushe, several hundred pounds was raised thanks to auctions of a leather jacket, meal vouchers, a Ben Elephant and two Smart Retail Cleans & Smart Retail Mops, donated by AutoClenz. Customer Snows kindly donated proceeds of £300 from the sale of a car. Staff at BCA Birmingham raised over £400 for Ben by having a non-uniform day, special Cream Tea sales in the restaurant and a raffle. Staff at BCA Newcastle raised £284, Walsall donated over £350 for Ben, while Derby raised an impressive £853.

Belle Vue Manchester’s Car centre raised nearly £500 from the raffle of Widescreen TV/DVD Combi and the sale of unclaimed Vehicle Service Packs. A whopping £120 was raised from the sale of a cuddly Ben Elephant toy and with other vendor contributions, over £1,000 was raised.

BCA’s Jon Olsen commented “We believe company fund raising works best if the whole team is engaged and enthused right from the start and a key message to get across is that BEN is for everybody in the industry, should they ever need help. The Bid & Ben campaign integrated central corporate support but really belonged to our operating centres around the country. Our people owned and drove the Campaign and the competitive element between our centres ensured it was successful. It also meant that BEN had a raised profile within the BCA network and our large customer base during the campaign.”