administration
This section provides an overview of the level of administration for the challenges, and explains where you may be involved.
Regardless of how many supporters you have on a Charity Challenge, you can rest assured that they will get the same high levels of service as anyone else on the same trip that is raising money for another charity. This is because we carry out all of the administration, regardless of where or when they go, and who they raise funds for.
Where possible, all administration is now fully automated and sent via email, rather than letters and faxes, as this is intended to make the process quicker and more environmentally friendly. However, if a charity or an individual does not have an email address, or they have entered it incorrectly and the email does not reach them, a hard copy will be sent out making sure everyone receives all of the relevant information.
One other major benefit is that the charity can now see at a glance in their password protected members’ area who is going on a challenge and when, what agreement they signed when they booked, how much they are required to raise, who is waiting to be authorised and so on. We hope that this will be useful to you as a fundraiser, and will be easy to manage. It should be of particular use when a fundraiser takes over someone else’s responsibility for overseas challenges, as everything is detailed in this one area of the website. Please click here for a flow diagram to explain how the administration works.
As always, your feedback on how we can improve this process is very welcome.
Booking
Once a supporter has decided to participate in a Charity Challenge, they must complete a booking form. You can easily personalise this form with your logo, contact details and web address. The easiest way to do this is via our online booking form which means the second they click “submit”, we have their booking in our system. We can also provide you with a white label booking area (for exclusive challenges) which will have your logo displayed when they book. However, if they do not have internet access, or prefer to complete a hard copy booking form, they can be downloaded from our website, taken from the back of the Charity Challenge brochure, or we can send them directly to any of your supporters.
Authorisation
Once we receive the booking form from your supporter, we will send them a thank you email/letter for booking and we will send the charity an authorisation request email. This email explains the basis on which this participant is going to raise funds in your charity’s name, and what you will have to pay as the balance of their costs (if they are a minimum sponsorship or flexi participant), and if they have raised sufficient funds. This authorisation form contains all of the terms and conditions of entry for the charity and at this stage forms a contract between your charity and Charity Challenge.
You can access the “Authorisations” screen in your charity’s members’ area.
Confirmation
As soon as you authorise the participant, we will send your supporter a confirmation email which provides their username and password to access their unique members area of our website where they can view and print the following information:
General
- Welcome letter
- Copy of the details from their booking form
- ATOL receipt
Fundraising
- Clarification of fundraising objectives
- Fundraising advice
- Sponsorship form
- Access to online sponsorship form
- Your charity’s logo and contact details
- Link to the charity’s website
- Sponsorship form
- How to write a press release
- A-Z of fundraising ideas
- Fundraising advice
Fitness Training
- Fitness training advice
- Training weekend details
- Trekking or biking training programme
Challenge Information
- Itinerary
- Kit list
- Country fact file
- Q&As
- Health notes
- Travel tips
- High altitude notes (If applicable)
- Insurance information
- Insurance policy document
- Group contact details (subject to data protection)
- Visa application form and guidance on application
- Joining instructions
If your supporter does not have an email address or internet access, we will send a hard copy of the information pack. As the members’ area is database driven, as soon as we update a piece of information in the database, the members’ area will automatically update too.
Polite reminder
Three months before departure, the participant will receive another communication reminding them of the sponsorship deadline (10 weeks before departure), and providing flight details to help with arranging connection flights to London. We also provide a copy of the itinerary if changes have been made, and if a visa is required, we provide application forms and notes on how to apply.
Joining instructions
One month before departure, we upload joining instructions to the members’ area. This is very detailed and amongst other things covers their confirmed flight details, arrangements for arrival at London and any intermediate stops on the way, reminders about passports, visa, insurance and other important travel documents and emergency contacts.
Congratulations
Once the participant returns, we send out a congratulations letter, with colour certificate from Charity Challenge and a feedback form to gather their thoughts on how they found the challenge, pre-challenge advice and support, and how we can improve the trip. It is also a useful source to find out if they would be keen on doing another challenge and where they would most like to go. All feedback is passed on to the challenge manager at our office who then amends the relevant information sheets on our website (if applicable).
