Virgin to terminate London Air Ambulance sponsorship??

[Osem]

Just had a knock at the door from a fully uniformed ambulanceman seeking support for the London Air Ambulance. For those who don't know, Virgin has been a major sponsor of the service for quite a few years but has apparently decided to pull out and I find it hard to believe this is going to happen to such a worthy cause. I can't find any reference to this decision on the net and am assuming it's not public knowledge yet but would be grateful if anyone out there who knows what's going on could clarify. I'd also like to remind people that such air ambulance services tend to be run on voluntary lines so are always in need of support in the form of donations, publicity and of course new corporate sponsors.

Anyway, if it is true, I hope Virgin will reconsider and ensure this essential service will continue to operate.

[mertle]

Shame on you richard branson

thats disgrace wonder anything to do with tax reforms on tax relief.

Apparantly lots charities reporting threats pulling out funding due to changes. Its disgraceful all these businesses and individuals just did it to tax avoidance rather goodness of there heart.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/20...-relief-budget

[MovedGoalPosts]

We don't know the full facts here, but it does seem that the changes in Government policy for tax relief on the larger donations are misfiring. I suspect that, whether this particular sponsorship is true or not, it's harsh to be blaming Richard Branson.

One can hardly blame donors who if they had given £100,000 saved themselves perhaps £25,000 of tax liability (OK I don't know the actual amounts percentages, but you get my drift) now if they donate £100,000 they still have to find a further tax on having eared that £100000 that they donated. A double whammy? That money has to be found somewhere and if it's now diverted to government coffers it can't go to the charity.

[danielf]

It's a bloody disgrace that the air ambulance is dependent on donations in the first place.

Emergency services should be directly funded from tax funds. Not dependent on the whims of businesses or private individuals.

[mertle]

Originally Posted by danielf

It's a bloody disgrace that the air ambulance is dependent on donations in the first place.

Emergency services should be directly funded from tax funds. Not dependent on the whims of businesses or private individuals.

agreed totally



Sorry rob meant to say that there no proof its this reason for the pull out over tax relief purposes.

Stand by its shame disgrace on branson for pulling out.

Not as if he cant afford it. I hope u-turn his decision

Originally Posted by mertle

Stand by its shame disgrace on branson for pulling out.

What's it got to do with Branson ,at last count he only owned 6.5% of VM

[MovedGoalPosts]

It's not Virgin Media, but the Virgin Group that offer sponsorship.

[arcimedes]

Originally Posted by martyh

What's it got to do with Branson ,at last count he only owned 6.5% of VM

Except that the sponsor appears to be the Virgin Group ( not just VM) and one of the trustees is a member of the Virgin group.

I've always found it very confusing as what connection Branson has with Virgin nowadays even so this decision (if true)is from the virgin group and not solely Bransons decision

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by mertle

agreed totally



Sorry rob meant to say that there no proof its this reason for the pull out over tax relief purposes.

Stand by its shame disgrace on branson for pulling out.

Not as if he cant afford it. I hope u-turn his decision

It's not Bransons fault! Your being stupid, check your facts before ranting.

[Gary L]

Originally Posted by Sirius

It's not Bransons fault! Your being stupid, check your facts before ranting.

Well I just hope he never needs an air ambulance. whether it's his fault or not.

[mertle]

http://www.upxsuccess.com/leadership...d_branson.html

This comes from article on strategic decision making virgin group brand.

I have no doubt the initial sponsorship is very much inline with richard branson thinking of his branding of his company.

He has spent millions on all sorts of crazy stunts to get his virgin brand known to the world and set up image caring company.

Whether he now takes major decisions now is debatable I will accept but it needs to get widespread coverage.

Bad press Virgin Group gets he will intervene and reverse the decision if he honest as the image he shown.

Hopefully air ambulance will do this to get the situation highlighted not just to shame virgin group but find new sponsors.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by mertle

http://www.upxsuccess.com/leadership...d_branson.html

This comes from article on strategic decision making virgin group brand.

I have no doubt the initial sponsorship is very much inline with richard branson thinking of his branding of his company.

He has spent millions on all sorts of crazy stunts to get his virgin brand known to the world and set up image caring company.

Whether he now takes major decisions now is debatable I will accept but it needs to get widespread coverage.

Bad press Virgin Group gets he will intervene and reverse the decision if he honest as the image he shown.

Hopefully air ambulance will do this to get the situation highlighted not just to shame virgin group but find new sponsors.

OK

Please produce real evidence that Virgin have done this in the first place and second then produce evidence that Richard Branson was the person who made the decision if it has been made to remove this funding. Go on i dare you to produce the evidence to backup you accusation or should you stop accusing someone of something they have not done

Originally Posted by mertle

http://www.upxsuccess.com/leadership...d_branson.html

This comes from article on strategic decision making virgin group brand.

I have no doubt the initial sponsorship is very much inline with richard branson thinking of his branding of his company.

He has spent millions on all sorts of crazy stunts to get his virgin brand known to the world and set up image caring company.

Whether he now takes major decisions now is debatable I will accept but it needs to get widespread coverage.

Bad press Virgin Group gets he will intervene and reverse the decision if he honest as the image he shown.

Hopefully air ambulance will do this to get the situation highlighted not just to shame virgin group but find new sponsors.

Why shame the Virgin Group ? it's a decision they may or may not have made ,either way it is a decision that hundreds of companies make every day ,by your logic every company that doesn't sponsor charities etc should be shamed .You are being pathetic and totally overreacting to something that even the OP has acknowledged may not be happening

[Osem]

I really do think it's a tad early to be blaming Richard Branson. As yet we don't know if this story is true or to what extent, if any, VM's sponsorship will be affected. I hope it isn't true as I think it's a wonderful cause for VM to be associated with. Having said that, I'm sure there are other large organisations who might feel that supporting this cause would and keeping the air ambulance running would do their reputations a lot of good. It'd be small change for some of the major banks for example...