Dearest friends and family!

Were you considering getting me a gift to celebrate my birthday or Christmas this month? Annoying isn't it that my birthday falls so close to Christmas, a time when you are already exhausted coming up with gift ideas for everyone else. Well I have a solution for you... if you were already inclined to share a gesture of love with a candle or some vegan chocolates, save the trip to Marks & Spencers and instead please consider making a small donation to one of the charities I am supporting for my birthday this year.

Animal Charity Evaluators Recommended Charity Fund: The Recommended Charity Fund is one of the best places you can give to help animals all over the world. Now I know most of the people reading this won't be vegan, but I also know that most of you don't believe animals should be kept in tiny cages or experience horrific deaths without any relief from pain. The fund supports charities all over the world helping to reduce the suffering of animals now, and preventing unnecessary suffering in the future.

Give Directly: If you want to help some of the poorest people in the world right now, one way you can do it is give them money. Yes, it’s that simple –direct cash transfers to people in extreme poverty, so that they can decide what they need to improve their lives.

Finally, I wanted to share a little about why I am setting up this fundraiser –you know how much I enjoy candles and vegan chocolates. Two years ago, I signed a pledge to give 10% of all I earned to help effective charities. I had recently read The Life You Can Save and realised I am one of the richest people in the world Now every few months it is my absolute pleasure to take a few hours to think about where I will be donating, which is why I plan to match the first £500 this fundraiser makes (this is on top of my 10% pledge of course!) Maybe the charities I have selected aren’t who you’d give to, well that’s great –there are so many resources you can use to find charities that need your help, check out recommendations from ACE, GiveWell, GWWC and The Life You Can Save. Let me know what charities you want to support, and I’d happily give to your next fundraiser!

My hope is that together we can raise £2012 (if you recognised this is my birthdate, then I know this isn’t my Dad reading this).

The fundraiser will close on 31st December. Wishing everyone reading this a wonderful end to your year <3

Ellie x