WNU DNA: Valentine's Day & Heart Research UK 2021
You asked, we listened.
After the success of sending a With Nothing Underneath shirt ‘with love’ last year, we have bought our Valentine’s Day limited edition bespoke shirts back!
In two brand new designs, lovingly embroidered by Hand & Lock, these love notes are the perfect way to show someone you love them.
And we couldn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day without spreading the love too… which is why this campaign, we will be donating to Heart Research UK again this year, with 15% of profits from the sales of every limited edition shirt you buy being donated. ❤️
About Heart Research UK
Since 1967, Heart Research UK have invested over £27m in life-saving medical research into the prevention, treatment and cure of heart disease.
This has included over £2.5m in community projects all over the country aimed at increasing the heart health of the nation, and their healthy heart messaging reached over 4m people in 2020.
Heart Research UK has funded major breakthroughs, including the invention of pioneering artificial heart valves, funding six of the first eight successful UK heart transplants, and funding the implantation of the world’s first permanent artificial heart.
They cannot do this without our support and all proceeds will go into continuing to fund life-saving medical research into the prevention, treatment and cure of heart disease.
The charity in 2020
The impact of the global pandemic has affected every charity in one way or another, but in many cases, it has been devastating. When we went into the first lockdown in March 2020, our entire suite of charitable activity was put on hold. Recipients of our research grants were unable to continue their life-saving research due to Higher Education Institutes closing, clinical trials were delayed, and our masterclasses were cancelled whilst doctors and clinicians selflessly volunteered their services to assist their frontline colleagues.
In addition to this our fundraising activity, and likewise our income, dwindled rapidly as events were cancelled and corporate partners ceased trading over-night. With research suggesting a strong connection between those who had passed away whilst suffering from underlying health conditions including cardiovascular disease, we knew that we would have to adapt our services and our fundraising approach to make sure we were able to survive as an organisation and do what we can to help.
The charity in 2020
Our response to the impact of COVID-19 has been both pragmatic and innovative as we know that without the research we are funding, cardiovascular disease will continue to be the UK’s biggest killer. The most significant step that we have taken is launching a new grant of up to £250,000 for research projects investigating the relationship between COVID-19 and heart disease. We know that people with existing cardiovascular disease have a higher risk of severe complications from the COVID-19 infection, and evidence is emerging that the virus can cause damage to the heart. Therefore we felt that this would be one of the most significant ways that we could help in the fight against COVID-19.
We re-developed our approach to delivering health checks and likewise, our fundraising activity moved online with us generating much-needed funds from our annual Anonymous heART project, our BakeDonateNominate campaign, online quizzes and gigs and virtual events such as the Virtual London Marathon.
Heart Research UK, like many charities have been hit hard throughout this pandemic but we are agile and resilient and are able to rely on a fantastic team who can come up with ideas that inspire and generate much needed funds in the fight against heart disease.
