When the Foundation was first established, we considered doing many different things: supporting families financially when seeking treatment abroad, building awareness on childhood cancer symptoms, creating magical experiences for children in hospitals, educating in schools, among other things. The reality is that a charity of any size, let alone a newly established one like The Azaylia Foundation, would struggle to be successful across so many diverse categories.

We asked ourselves a few important questions. How could we prevent so many children from having to seek treatment abroad in the first place? And how could we leverage what makes us unique – our large, passionate community – to help the most children possible?

So after further analysis, we decided to focus on fixing the problem at its root cause – a system that considers childhood cancer to be rare, and as a result, has been underfunding childhood cancer for too long.

Our systems change work includes donating to institutions advancing early diagnosis and the availability of new treatments in the UK, and collaborating with our community and other organisations to raise public awareness and campaign for change.

We also recognise that as long as the current system continues to let children down, we need to continue to support families with individual treatment donations when these are not covered by the NHS.

All of the funds originally raised on GoFundMe, except for a small sum used for Azaylia’s Day, have gone into the foundation as our starting capital.

The majority of the funds we raise, including our starting capital, qualify as unrestricted funding, meaning that they are used at the discretion of the CEO and the Board of Trustees to further the foundation’s mission, strategy and charitable objects. Accordingly, we have created a multi-year donations fund and operational budget.

The bulk of what we raise goes into our donations fund, which is managed in accordance to our What We Fund criteria.

Our operational budget covers the people and infrastructure required to build a lean organisation capable of donating funds towards our mission in a responsible and sustainable manner, raising more funds so we can be more ambitious with our impact, and developing the partnerships and community support that will allow us to do so over many years.

None of our trustees, including our founders Safiyya and Ashley, receive a salary, any form of income or financial benefit from the foundation.

Organise your own Fundraiser:

If you have an idea and want to organise your own fundraiser, you can access our community fundraising folder to find printable sponsoring forms, documents and assets.

When Shopping Online:

Amazon Smile. If you shop from Amazon, then use smile.amazon.co.uk for the same selection of products. The only difference is that Amazon will donate 0.5% of the net purchase price to a charity of your choice.

Easyfundraising. Collect free donations when you shop online using www.easyfundraising.org.uk (or download their app) . They collaborate with over 6,000 retailers such as Sainsbury’s, Argos, ASOS , Ebay etc. Search Azaylia Foundation to select your charity.

Paypal Giving. When using Paypal to pay for your online purchase, many sites give you the option to donate to a charity of your choice. The Azaylia Foundation is registered with Paypal Giving.

Payroll Giving:

Many employers in the UK allow you to donate a percentage of your salary to a charity of your choice via payroll. This is done before any taxes are applied, so it costs the donor less while the charity receives more. The Azaylia Foundation is supported by the following payroll giving providers: Charitable Giving and Charities Trust.

Currently, The Azaylia Foundation does not sell any merchandise directly.

Our community ambassadors have set up an independent site called Our Community Space that aggregates all merchandise sold by members of the community, who then donate proceeds to the foundation on an individual basis. Please visit their website to browse available merchandise or to get your own products showcased.

Occasionally, we will announce collabs with brands and other organisations who donate 100% of the profits from specified products to The Azaylia Foundation. Please refer to the “Our Work” section of this website or our Instagram profile @theazayliafoundation for the latest news on collabs