SCRugbyRef

We wanted to provide some clarity around the two fundraising campaigns established for the families of PC Matty Blades and PC Tom Clough. It appears that the Pocket Sergeant and Cleveland Police Federation fundraisers were launched independently at around the same time. When we established ours, we were unaware that the Federation was also in the process of launching a campaign. Pocket Sergeant donated the first £1,000 to get our fundraiser started and we shared it once across our platforms. Once we became aware that two campaigns had been established, I contacted Cleveland Police Federation explaining the situation and asked for a call or meeting so that we could agree the best way forward. I decided to allow our campaign to continue for a simple reason: it was working. People were actively donating and sharing it and the campaign was continuing to reach an increasingly large audience organically. Pocket Sergeant also has its own established audience within policing and beyond. Closing a fundraiser that was gaining significant traction and replacing it with a link to another campaign risked losing that momentum and potentially losing donations. We felt it made far more sense to allow it to continue raising as much as possible, knowing that ultimately the funds would be brought together for the benefit of the same two families. Importantly, once we became aware of the Cleveland Police Federation fundraiser, we did not promote or share our own campaign again. From that point onwards, we simply allowed it to continue reaching people organically and through those who chose to share it themselves. There was never any attempt to compete with the Federation’s campaign. Our fundraiser has now raised more than £38,000. We have absolutely no issue with Cleveland Police Federation describing its fundraiser as its official campaign. It is the official Cleveland Police Federation fundraiser. Unfortunately, some of the wider communications surrounding this led people to believe that our campaign was somehow not legitimate. We subsequently received comments describing or implying that the Pocket Sergeant fundraiser was bogus, leaving us having to defend both the Pocket Sergeant brand and the legitimacy of our campaign. That’s incredibly disappointing and takes attention away from the reason we established the fundraiser in the first place. We are awaiting Cleveland Police Federation’s availability for an in-person meeting so that we can agree the way forward. I’ve also spoken directly with GoFundMe this morning about the appropriate arrangements for the funds. Most importantly, the £38,000+ raised through our campaign will quite rightly be brought together for the benefit of Matty and Tom’s families. At the time of writing, Cleveland Police Federation’s campaign has raised an extraordinary £500,000, meaning that between the two campaigns more than £538,000 has now been raised. A massive thank you to everyone who has donated to or shared either campaign. The response from the policing community and wider public has been incredible. Also, thanks to our friends at @UKCopHumour & @bs_pearson for sharing the campaign very early on. Let’s not lose sight of why both campaigns were established in the first place: Matty, Tom and their families. ^ Paul