Supporting The Brain Research Trust

Giving Back, Scanner Nights Comments Off on Supporting The Brain Research Trust

All profits from tickets sales for December Scanners Night will go to The Brain Research Trust.

Why The Brain Research Trust?

Speaking personally, I have known too many people struck down by the terrible diseases addressed by the Brain Research Trust; close friends with Multiple Sclerosis and spinal cord injury, and lives (like my Grandmother’s) altered or ended by Stroke.

I am still shocked to think that I chatted with one of my favourite musicians Simon Jeffes of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra and only a short while after, a brain tumour claimed his life. And I have seen scores of fellow patients of the Human Growth Hormone programme destroyed by Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

The Brain Research Trust directly funds research into Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Brain Tumour, Head Injury, Stroke, MS, Motor Neurone Disease, and CJD. Pretty much all of us have known someone with one of these terrible diseases and will appreciate the value of research to find treatments.

The BRT supports University College London’s (UCL) Institute of Neurology by funding peer-reviewed research and PhD studentship programmes. You can read a list of current research in their last annual report (PDF).

Aside from all this, we Scanners are a brainy bunch – we like to think and learn and dream and create – so it seems appropriate to support this particular cause. Please book now to come along and please tell others about it so we can get as many people as possible.

How does the money work?

I’m sure some people will want to know the details of how your ticket money reaches the Brain Research Trust (and how much of it) so in the name of transparency here it is:

You can choose to pay £7, £10, or £13. The ticket is exactly the same but you get to choose how much you want to donate to the BRT.

All tickets sales go through Paypal who take a small commission. This is 3.4% of the amount plus 20p. On a £10 ticket, this adds up to total charges of 54 pence. So your ticket of £10 donates £9.46 (over 95%).

Additionally, I have paid a £30 deposit for the use of the Lounge at the Old Crown Pub. I will only get this back if we spend at least £300 at the bar between us. If we don’t, I will deduct this cost from the total ticket income before making the donation. (So please drink a lot on the evening in the name of charity!)

I also pay over £50 a month for the systems that support the running of Scanners Night including shopping cart system, emailing system and website hosting. I will however absorb this cost myself and not deduct it from the donation.

The Paypal account for the ticket sales pays to my limited company, EG Consultancy Ltd. Once all the payments are in, I will make the a payment of the total profit within 7 days (probably sooner) from my business account to the Brain Research Trust.

According to my accountant, they additionally benefit from Gift Aid on the donation meaning they get back the tax I normally pay in earning that money.

I will email everyone on the Scanners list with confirmation of the payment when it’s done.

Hope that’s clear – phew!

Hope to see you with us on the 11th.

Click here to read details of the event and book your ticket.

John