Safer Searches
Building clearer Search routes, stronger moderation, reporting tools and safety guidance that help protect families and people offering help.
Support LittleBlueCup
LittleBlueCup helps families search for hard-to-replace items that may look ordinary to everybody else but matter enormously to the person who needs them.
A cup. A teddy. A blanket. A toy. A jumper. A particular pair of pyjamas. The exact item may be connected to comfort, communication, familiarity, regulation, routine or safety.
Supporting LittleBlueCup helps fund the time, technology and careful human work needed to keep Searches moving and build better ways to support families.
Why support matters
LittleBlueCup began with one little blue cup.
In November 2016, Millie asked people to help find a replacement cup for her son, Ben. The Search became #CupForBen, went viral and travelled around the world.
That extraordinary response showed what can happen when people understand why an apparently ordinary object matters.
Nearly ten years later, LittleBlueCup is being rebuilt for the next chapter.
A viral moment cannot be manufactured or promised. LittleBlueCup is being designed to give more families a permanent place to explain an exact item, carry out Self Search, keep a Search visible and connect with people who may be able to help.
The aim is to make community searching safer, clearer, more organised and more sustainable, without charging families for Search approval or selling priority to the highest bidder.
Read the story behind LittleBlueCupWhy I am asking for support
I want supporting families to become my full-time work.
That includes rebuilding and running LittleBlueCup, helping Searches reach more people, supporting parents through Paper Armour, creating practical information and building tools that make difficult systems easier to navigate.
This work takes more than keeping a website online. It takes time to listen, investigate, write, review, moderate, respond, solve problems and keep building.
The more sustainable the work becomes, the more families I can help and the more ways I can help them.
I am not asking people to pay so one family can jump a queue. I am asking for help building something that can support more families properly.
What your support helps with
Support helps fund the practical work, technology and human time behind LittleBlueCup and the wider family-support work growing around it.
Running costs
Hosting, secure services, email, storage, software, domains and the essential tools needed to keep LittleBlueCup running.
Time to do the work properly
Reviewing Search requests, preparing Search stories, responding to families, checking concerns, improving guidance and keeping the platform moving.
Search support without a fee
Families do not pay to submit a Search request, have it reviewed or have an approved Search considered for wider sharing.
Supporting parents through Paper Armour
Support may help fund free information, practical resources and, where funding allows, reduced-cost or funded help for parents who cannot afford paid support.
Building useful tools
Developing practical tools for Searches, family organisation, evidence, forms and the systems parents and carers have to navigate.
One purpose, different kinds of support
LittleBlueCup and Paper Armour are different parts of Millie's work.
LittleBlueCup helps families and communities search for difficult-to-replace items.
Paper Armour supports parents dealing with EHCPs, disability benefits, evidence, forms and the systems that too often make families fight for help.
Some Paper Armour services may be paid. Financial support for Millie's wider work can help fund free resources, build practical tools and make it possible to offer more affordable or funded help where resources allow.
Supporting LittleBlueCup does not create an entitlement to Paper Armour casework, and paying for Paper Armour does not influence a LittleBlueCup Search decision.
Ways to support
Support does not have to mean giving money. Sharing Searches, following the work and offering practical help all matter.
Become a supporter
Provide ongoing financial support through Patreon. Regular support helps Millie plan ahead and give more consistent time to LittleBlueCup and the wider work around it.
Become a supporterShare active Searches
Sharing an official Search may help it reach somebody with the exact item or somebody who knows where one is. Share the official LittleBlueCup link so people see current information, quantities and safety guidance.
Share active SearchesRead and follow the work
Reading, subscribing, commenting thoughtfully and sharing updates helps more people understand what LittleBlueCup and Paper Armour are building.
Read Still FightingOffer practical help
People may also help through skills, useful introductions, responsible sharing or other practical support. Contact LittleBlueCup before arranging anything on its behalf.
Contact LittleBlueCupSupport the work, not a queue position
Financial support helps LittleBlueCup continue and grow. It does not influence decisions about an individual Search.
A supporter cannot buy:
- approval of a Search request
- Featured Search status
- priority over another family
- extra promotion
- a guaranteed outcome
- access to private family information
- control over moderation decisions
- influence over LittleBlueCup's rules
The same Search rules apply whether somebody supports LittleBlueCup financially or not.
What supporters can expect
For people who want to follow the work more closely
Supporters may receive behind-the-scenes updates about LittleBlueCup, Paper Armour, tools in development, problems being solved and the reality of building family-support work sustainably.
Depending on the current supporter platform and tier, updates may include:
- progress updates
- behind-the-scenes notes
- reflections from Millie
- early looks at tools or ideas
- community updates
- occasional audio or video where Millie chooses to create it
- honest reports about what is working and what still needs attention
Supporters may see more of the work behind LittleBlueCup. They do not receive more access to the families using it.
Where the money may go
Unless a support option is clearly restricted to a particular purpose, financial support may be used where it is most needed across the work.
That may include:
- LittleBlueCup hosting and technology
- software and online services
- moderation and safety work
- writing and preparing Search content
- developing tools
- creating free information
- Paper Armour resources
- funded or reduced-cost family support where available
- administration and professional costs
- paying Millie for the time required to do the work
Paying Millie for her time is part of making the work sustainable. The aim is for supporting families to become her full-time work, not an unpaid project squeezed into whatever time is left.
A clear note about money
LittleBlueCup is committed to being honest about what financial support is and what it is not.
Status
LittleBlueCup is not currently a registered charity. This page does not describe support as a charitable donation, and it does not offer Gift Aid or charity tax relief.
What support funds
Financial support contributes to Millie's work, time, tools, running costs and the projects being built around LittleBlueCup and Paper Armour.
Search access
Families do not pay for a Search request to be reviewed or for an approved Search to be treated fairly.
No purchased influence
Financial support does not influence whether a Search request is accepted, declined, promoted, shared or made into a Featured Search.
Voluntary support
Support is voluntary and deeply appreciated.
Supporting the work is not the same as purchasing a service, unless a particular payment page clearly says that it is for a specific paid service.
Managing your support
LittleBlueCup does not run an in-app checkout on this page. The current supporter route sends people to Patreon.
- The current LittleBlueCup supporter button points to Patreon.
- Patreon processes LittleBlueCup supporter payments and shows the current price, billing model, tax and renewal information at checkout or in the supporter's Patreon account.
- LittleBlueCup does not directly store payment-card details for Patreon support.
- Supporters manage, change or cancel Patreon support through their Patreon account.
- Patreon's terms, privacy policy, tax handling and refund policy apply to payments made through Patreon.
- Paper Armour's separate pay-it-forward Initial Support Review route is handled on the Paper Armour site and uses Stripe there.
Support and paid services are different
Voluntary support helps fund the wider work.
A paid Paper Armour service is a separate arrangement for a specific piece of support. Its scope, price and terms should be explained before that work begins.
Paying for a Paper Armour service does not provide influence over LittleBlueCup. Supporting LittleBlueCup does not automatically purchase Paper Armour work.
Paper Armour support pageHelp make this work sustainable
Every share, introduction, message and contribution helps LittleBlueCup reach further and gives Millie more time to build, support and keep the work moving.
Financial support is one way to help. Sharing active Searches and telling other people about the work matters too.