Tips & Advice

FUNDRAISING 101 – EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED

October 23, 2023

Whether this is your very first fundraising challenge event or you’re a seasoned trekker, cyclist or mountain climber, follow the five steps below to help you raise as much as possible for your chosen charity.

CHOOSE A CHARITY THAT’S CLOSE TO YOUR HEART

You will be more motivated to crack on with your fundraising and you will find the whole fundraising process so much easier and rewarding. Most charities will get in touch after they’ve authorised you as a fundraiser, but don’t hesitate to get in touch with them for fundraising materials to help you.

We work with thousands of UK and Irish registered charities. If you don’t find your chosen charity listed, you can give us some contact details when you book and we’ll get in touch with them about becoming a charity partner.

SET UP AN ONLINE FUNDRAISING PAGE

Do this as soon as you’ve been authorised by your chosen charity. In addition to having more time to fundraise, the two most successful periods for fundraising are the first few weeks when you begin fundraising and the time just before your event. By making sure you set up your fundraising page early, you can take advantage of these two periods and raise even more for your nominated charity. Don’t forget to personalise your fundraising page with your story and photos!

SPREAD THE WORD

The top tip from most fundraisers is to cast as wide a net as possible! Using social media is one of the most effective ways to do this and really boost your fundraising.

Use social media – Facebook is the most popular platform used for fundraising (61%), followed by Instagram (49%), WhatsApp (40%), TikTok (28%) and X (previously Twitter – 27%)*. E-mail, LinkedIn and work social platforms are also effective so things such as adding a link to your fundraising page on your email signature might be small but can have a big impact!
Make it personable. Reasons people have given for choosing to donate include the person being passionate about the cause, or putting a lot of effort into the fundraising or training, so sharing the story of why you opted to for the charity you did or updates on your training (images of you getting outside when it’s cold, dark, raining, before work or at weekends will really demonstrate your commitment to the cause and people will be inspired by that!) will help with your fundraising.
Don’t be afraid to post every day! Don’t worry about frequent donation requests – two thirds of people asked say that they’ve not been asked to donate which means a lot of potential donors don’t see requests in the first place, 17% of people forget to donate and 6% don’t have time when asked. Frequent posts on the charity, your personal story, your training etc will make sure people don’t forget or miss donating.

FUNDRAISE OFFLINE

Cake sales, dog walking and other active fundraising events are really good ways to increase the amount of money that you raise, in addition to giving you content for your social media posts! If you need some inspiration, you can check out our fundraising tips for Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, or themed ideas for Christmas, New Year or Easter!

THANK YOUR SPONSORS

Once you’ve returned from your amazing challenge, upload your photos and footage to social media and your online fundraising page with a brief description of how your challenge went. Send a personal email to all your sponsors thanking them for their support. Plus pop up a post on all social media platforms with your photos and your online fundraising page link as a friendly reminder that people can still sponsor you. Outline some ‘challenging’ encounters that you faced on your event to help encourage more sponsorship and add a thank you note too. If you are still short of your fundraising target, mention this on your post that you only need £X to hit your target.

Good luck with your fundraising. It’s a significant part of the challenge and if you raise most of your sponsorship before the event, it will make the challenge that much more gratifying. You should be proud of what you are undertaking and the difference you are making for your chosen charity.