Fundraising tips for anyone undertaking a challenge event, whether it's a marathon, a 5k, a skydive or a walk in high heels!

Undertaking a challenge event of any kind for charity is about two things - challenging yourself to actively do something and raising funds for the charity in question.

Tell people about your challenge, and why it is important to you - not just to raise funds for a good cause, but also if it represents some kind of achievement for you personally.  Most people respond warmly to sponsoring their friends, colleagues and family because they appreciate that you are actively doing something, giving up your time and energy for a cause you believe in.

I hope the following tips will help you get the most out of your challenge.

Make it easy for people to give you money!
You will also want to make it as easy as possible for people to sponsor you – we can provide you with a hard copy sponsorship form (for those who prefer to just hand over cash/cheques) but I have found that many people prefer to use the donation website such as Just Giving Or Virgin Money Giving and to give online. 

Just Giving  www.justgiving.com
This website has been working with charities for some years now and is a trusted site for many people.  Log on and set up your own fundraising page in aid of Wellbeing of Women - the site takes you through this process in an easy step-by-step way. 

Virgin Money Giving  www.virginmoneygiving.com
Has just set up a very similar site, however they charge charities less for the service and therefore using them to gather donations online will benefit the charity more

Both sites can be linked to your Facebook page.

For online giving:
Do add a photograph of yourself and also set a target of the amount of money you would like to raise - don't be shy about setting a high target - also if it looks like you will hit the target long before the event then I would suggest edging it up a bit - I have found that telling people that 'if I could only get another £50 I'd hit my target/reach £xxxx' you suddenly get some more donations.

Once you have set up your page you can send a link in an email to all your friends and family.  The site automatically reclaims Gift Aid on all donations made by UK tax payers as well.

Publicise your efforts
Wellbeing of Women's website
When we can we are happy to feature your fundraising efforts on our website and if you are interested in this please send me a photo and a brief paragraph of why you are undertaking the challenge for Wellbeing of Women - preferably with a personal connection, also if you have an interesting story and would be happy to talk to the press please let us know.

Posters at Work
If you think your workplace would allow you to publicise things more widely it might be worth putting up a poster to publicise your efforts.

Fundraising instead of Sponsorship
Sometimes it is difficult to get the sponsorship you need from your own circle of contacts and in the past some of our runners and challenge event particpants have chosen to raise money to reach their target using other fundraising ideas. You can find details of some easy fundraising ideas on the website or contact me and I can send you our full fundraising pack if you think this might be something you are interested in.

Tell people about what we do
You can find out more about the charity in theAbout Us section and more about the research we fund in the Research section under Grants Awarded.  Telling people what we do will help them to know that the money they are giving you will be spent wisely on vital medical research.

Downloads
Sponsorship form - pdf
Sponsorship form - word document
Hints and tips - printable pdf

 

Wellbeing of Women