We’re turning 8 years old this month – yep, back in 2002, around the 25^th of May, a group of us got together in real-life and launched our online voluntary organisation.

Lots of things have changed since then; we grew larger, then we grew smaller! Our online reach has been considerably extended by the rise of social networks, and our work in real life continues with our fact sheets, magazine articles and interviews. SIAD (Self-Injury Awareness Day) is an important focal point of the year, but with your help we raise awareness every day of course.

We know there’s more to do, but unlike many organisations, we have no staff and no budget – no funding whatsoever. Everything we do, we do voluntarily for the good of our vibrant community members and our visitors from around the globe. Further, our volunteers have personal experience of self-injury, so we’re not here to give lectures or explain how it ‘should be easy to stop’. We know about self-injury from the inside, and we can understand what our members go through.

We know there’s more to do, will you help us do more?

99 red purple balloons

We’re looking for 99 fantastic friends to donate 99p during May. We know there are a lot of charities asking for a lot of help – there are so many worthy causes of course. But if we’ve helped you, if you’ve read our website or joined our Message Board – won’t you be one of the 99 to help support us?

For every 99p donation, we’ll show a purple balloon below with your nickname on it :)

(Click the ‘Donate’ button above to donate exactly 99 pence.)

It’s our 8^th birthday – for less than the price of a hot drink you can help fund our projects, which need the cost of printing or the cost of web hosting covered.

Make a wish

We’re also looking for 8 awesomely generous people and organisations to donate £8 to help us with our modest running costs. Will you be a true friend to FirstSigns and helps us afford to survive for another year, help us reach our 9^th birthday?

(Click the ‘Donate’ button above to donate exactly 8 pounds.)

For each £8 we’ll light a candle in your honour on the cake below, display your name / nickname on it and send you a fridge magnet version in early June!

OMGoodness! You’ve given us a second cake! We had no idea this might happen – thank you to the *ten* of you who have bought candles for us!

Thank you for your generosity and support x x x

Wedge and Jules