We've put together a list of hot tips to help boost your fundraising.
Don't leave home without your sponsor form - that way you will always have it to hand and not lose the moment!
- Click here to build your own fundraising page! It's the quickest and easiest way to raise funds.
- Email everyone in your address book and include a link to tell them what you're doing.
- Get your biggest sponsors on side first - it will encourage subsequent supporters to increase their support!
- Make sure you claim Gift Aid from everyone who is a UK taxpayer. Gift Aid allows us to reclaim 22p from the Inland Revenue on every £1 donated. So for every £10 you raise we can actually make £12.50 at no extra cost or hassle to you. Simply make sure your sponsors tick the Gift Aid box and provide their full name, address and postcode
- If possible, ask people to pay you as they pledge their sponsorship. This will save you time and hassle following the event.
- Ask your employer to match whatever you raise - this would automatically double your fundraising!
- Let everyone know what you are doing! Ask your company to put a piece about you in their newsletter or on their website, pin your sponsor form to the staff noticeboard, email colleagues
- Don't be afraid to ask! Tell people what you are doing and what it is for and most people will be more than willing to support you.
Some other ideas you could try are:
- If you are a regular at a sports club, pub etc. Ask them if they would be prepared to have a collecting tin for a few weeks. If you put a poster with it saying what you are doing you will be surprised how generous people are with the loose change in their pockets!
- You could organise an event like a quiz, charging people for entry, making it clear that the money is going towards your sponsorship efforts.
- If you work in a large organisation, could you hold a raffle to win a bottle of whisky, or perhaps ‘name the teddy bear’ etc.? As long as you sell the tickets and draw on the one day, you don’t need to have a licence.
- If you like to give someone something for their money, why not offer to wash friend’s cars for a price?
- Could you de-clutter the house at the same time as raising money by taking a stall on a car boot sale and donating all the proceeds to your sponsorship fund? Most people will find you one or two things they no longer need, for you to sell. Any items left unsold can be taken to a St. Rocco’s charity shop.
- Give your friend and family a tube of Smarties each and ask them to fill it with coins for you. Even if they only put 1p pieces in you will still make a profit, but 5p, and 20p coins will also fit!
- Do you have a friend who has a really nice garden who might be prepared to hold an ‘open garden’ for you on a nice sunny afternoon? They can charge 50p entry then sell cups of tea and coffee. People are always nosey so you‘ll be surprised how many people will turn up as long as it is well advertised! You could hold it in an evening and have a barbeque and a glass of wine instead of tea and coffee!
- Could you have a ‘bad habit box’? If someone is trying to stop biting their nails, or give up smoking etc. Would they have a box and put 20p in each time they run out of willpower and give in to their bad habits.
- Would your work place allow you to have a ‘dress down day’ towards your sponsorship efforts, with everyone who wants to come to work in their casual clothes paying £1 for the privilege?
- Would your boss donate an extra day of holiday for one person? It would make a great raffle prize! Sell the tickets for £1 each – with people able to buy as many as they like!
- Can you collect enough coins to cover the office window sill or around the edge of a room ? – people just donate their small change to complete the challenge. This can go on for weeks, with people just putting all their pennies down when they get them. If you are a member of a group or society you could try and do this around your meeting room.
- Guess the number of sweets in the jar. Fill a jar with wrapped sweets and get people to guess the number of sweets in the jar. The person who guesses the closest wins the sweets.
- At work or amongst friends is there anyone prepared to have wet sponges or jelly thrown at them – charging the throwers 50p a time or £1 if it’s the boss! .
- Could you organise a wine tasting evening for friends? Charge everyone to take part. Up to 12 people can taste from one bottle, and you could perhaps try 6 or 8 different wines. Can people guess which is the cheapest and most expensive? You would have a silly prize for the winner. If you have some drivers they could do a lemonade or coke tasting…! It’s surprisingly hard to tell which is which when they are not in the bottle or can.
- If it’s your birthday whilst you are fundraising, why not forgo your cards, and ask people to donate the cost of the card and the postage instead?
- Make sure you have read the information about St. Rocco’s Hospice, so when people ask you questions about the charity, you can give them proper information – they are more likely to be generous once they know how important our work is.
- Don’t be afraid to ask people… it can be hard, but remember all the money raised really will make a difference to our patients and their families.
Registered charity no. 511592
www.stroccos.org.uk
