Northamptonshire estate agents 'blown away' by generosity after raising £14,950 for NHS

A Northamptonshire estate agents has raised just under £15,000 for the NHS by making a donation every time once of its properties went on the market.

Jackson Grundy Estate Agents pledged £100 to Northamptonshire Health Charity for every home it listed from May 18 to June 30, regardless of whether it sold or not.

With an initial target of £10,000, managing director David Jackson was delighted to hand a cheque for £14,950 to Zoë Finch from the charity on Monday (July 20).

"We thought we were being optimistic, to be honest, we wanted an aspirational target but we anticipated it being a close call," he said."

"We were simply blown away by the way in which our customers embraced the idea, and fortunately we were able to get to a figure significantly over that."

Like all estate agents, Jackson Grundy, which was established in 1994 and now has 11 offices across the county, was shut down for weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic.

During the lockdown, David said he had time to contemplate what the firm could do to stimulate interest and activity while recognising the bravery and dedication shown by NHS staff.

Initially the Jackson Grundy team considered making a donation for every property sold but given the immediate need for funds, they decided to make it even simpler.

“We just felt it would likely take months for the funds to reach the charity were we to donate once the sales had completed, so we took the view we would donate for every property listed with us within days of it coming to the market," David explained.

As well as donations from Jackson Grundy, vendors and prospective buyers got involved with the appeal and made contributions of their own, hence the figure not rounding up to £100.

The funds have been donated to Northamptonshire Health Charity’s Covid-19 appeal, providing basic need and food packages to frontline staff, as well as tablet devices enabling seriously ill patients to contact and see family via video calling.

David said: “We’ve been delighted with everyone’s interest in the campaign, yet most importantly we’re very glad we were able to do something to help the incredible NHS staff and those affected by this horrible virus."