We updated you earlier in the year about some changes to the Volunteering and Community Networks Team. We’re now delighted to let you know about some key appointments.

Emily Perriam

Interim Head of Volunteering and Community Networks

We’re pleased to tell you that we’ve been offered digital billboard space up to the value of £500,000 to use throughout 2024, at no cost!

We want to say a big thank you to the agency, 75 Media, which has generously offered us their roadside billboard spaces for free. Their Operations Manager Alex’s mum lives with MS, and he wanted more people to know about multiple sclerosis and the MS Society.

75 Media is the UK’s number one agency for roadside boards, so this is a huge opportunity to get the MS Society’s name out there in the public domain.

Our face-to-face fundraising campaign, using professional fundraisers, will restart later this month. The pilot, at the end of last year, was a great success. So we're keen to start more conversations and encourage more people to support our work.

During the pilot we spoke to more than 160,000 people about MS and the MS Society. And 1,848 people kindly set up a new monthly direct debit.

We know the important part you play in supporting those living with MS, how busy you are as volunteers and the kind support you give to so many. And we don’t want to add extra work and stress to what you already do.

Being notified of a legacy gift, left to your group, is something very special and something to be celebrated. It can also sometimes be emotional, especially if the gift has been left by a group member or someone from a family you’ve been in contact with.

Our Stop MS Annual Lecture for 2024 will be given by Professor Thóra Káradóttir on Thursday 6 June at 7.30pm. Professor Thora Karadottir is a lead of our MS Society Cambridge Centre for Myelin Repair. She'll give an insightful talk followed by the chance to ask questions in a panel Q&A with her and our Scientific Ambassadors.

We know that, in an ever-changing world, we need to adapt our systems and processes to meet the needs of our volunteers. We want to support you to make a difference to the MS community and ultimately achieve our vision of a world free from the effects of MS.

We’re therefore introducing a new way for volunteers to manage their own data and access and upload information about their volunteering. This will be done through a Volunteer Management System called Assemble.

An introduction to Project Mead from our Interim Director for Services and Support, Gavin Atkins

I’ve been at the MS Society for just over two months now and have had a chance to meet volunteers and groups that are part of our incredible work. I’m struck by two things: the incredible dedication and commitment shown by the people I meet and the potential to do more for people affected by MS.

Last year we shared an update about our exciting plans to open two new shops in Greater Manchester. We’re now delighted to share the news that our shop in Altrincham is now open to the public!

Over the past six months, the Retail Team, supported by many other colleagues, has been busy bringing the shop to life —from securing and fitting it out, to creating branding and specialist fixtures. And they’ve been recruiting a manager and the volunteer team who will help to run and manage the shop.

We’re all aware of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and our responsibility to protect the privacy of individuals by keeping their personal data safe. GDPR also gives individuals the right to control how we use the personal information they’ve entrusted to us.

So, whenever we collect personal data from an individual, we must give them a summary of how their information will be processed, and for what purposes.