Hope Spring, a water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) charity based in Herefordshire, has recently announced its plan for the last quarter of 2025. In a blog post on their website, the charity stated that this period tends to be their busiest for fundraising.
According to the organisation, September is widely known as the busiest month for birthdays in the UK, with a higher number of people born during this time compared to any other month. Many individuals celebrating their birthdays in September choose to send an online birthday card and make a donation to Hope Spring. This trend continues to build momentum towards Christmas and New Year, where eCard exchanges peak, resulting in significant donations to the charity’s projects.
“Each card sent during these months goes beyond marking a personal milestone or festive occasion,” said a spokesperson for Hope Spring. “It helps provide something as essential as safe water, reducing the risk of waterborne illnesses, allowing children to stay in school, and giving women and girls back their time and dignity. This is why we believe our eCards are the gift that gives twice.”
Hope Spring emphasises the final quarter as its most impactful period for a specific reason. The donations raised through eCards during these four months set the pace for the projects the charity can undertake in the following year. Whether it is drilling boreholes, constructing wells, or providing hygiene and sanitation education, the funding stream opened by September birthdays and strengthened by the festive season makes the difference between scaling back or expanding life-saving interventions.
The surge in September birthdays provides a unique opportunity for the charity. With consistent data showing that the latter half of September has the highest number of birthdays in the UK, Hope Spring sees this as more than just a coincidence. It becomes a timely opportunity to encourage people to switch from traditional paper birthday cards to eCards, turning a simple exchange into a meaningful contribution to a clean water project thousands of miles away.
Apart from the impact on individuals, Hope Spring also stresses the environmental benefits of eCards. Each year, the UK sends and receives hundreds of millions of physical cards, with the majority being concentrated around Christmas. While many of these cards are recycled, a significant proportion ends up as waste. The production process also consumes large amounts of paper, ink, and energy. In contrast, sending an eCard not only avoids these environmental costs but also channels the saved money towards safe drinking water projects.
“People often underestimate the ripple effect of small choices,” added Emmanuel, another spokesperson for the charity. “When you choose to send a digital card instead of a paper one, you are not just reducing waste. You are actively helping a rural community that may have struggled with unsafe water for generations. That one decision can spark a chain of positive impact far greater than the sender may realise.”
As autumn progresses, the charity sees a steady rise in activity on its eCards platform, usually tied to seasonal greetings. By December, the trend reaches its peak, making it the busiest fundraising period for the charity. For many of its supporters, sending digital Christmas wishes instead of paper cards has become an annual tradition, combining thoughtfulness towards the environment with generosity towards vulnerable communities.
The New Year period follows closely behind, extending the cycle of giving into January. For Hope Spring, this creates a continuous wave of support that carries into the early months of the following year, ensuring that clean water projects are not only initiated but also sustained.
While the focus is on fundraising, the charity is careful to frame its message in terms of empowerment rather than charity alone. Each donation, no matter how small, contributes to the independence of communities, providing them with the tools and infrastructure to take control of their water needs. Hope Spring’s model emphasises sustainability, training local residents to maintain and repair wells and boreholes, ensuring that projects remain viable for years after installation.
The charity believes that this last quarter of 2025 will be especially significant. With growing public awareness of environmental issues and global inequality, the link between sending greetings and giving back resonates more strongly than ever. A birthday card in September, a Christmas greeting in December, or a New Year’s wish in January, each becomes more than just a token of affection. It becomes a way to stand in solidarity with families who are otherwise left behind by global progress.
In a time where many are seeking meaningful ways to celebrate without excess, the Hope Spring eCards platform has become a symbol of simplicity with a purpose. The act of sending a card remains as personal and heartfelt as ever, but now carries the weight of making a tangible difference.
“Hope Spring eCards are proof that generosity does not have to be grand to be transformative,” concluded Seun, another spokesperson for the charity. “Something as small as a birthday card or a Christmas greeting can be the reason a child drinks clean water for the first time, or the reason a family no longer walks miles under the hot sun to collect unsafe water. That is the scale of impact hidden inside what looks like a simple
Derick is an experienced reporter having held multiple senior roles for large publishers across Europe. Specialist subjects include small business and financial emerging markets.