Hints and Tips on Fundraising

If you’re fundraising for a specific charity, then it’s worth approaching them about how they can help you. Most charities have proven strategies of helping you make the most out of your effort.

Consider setting up pages on the likes of Virgin Money Giving which is a 100% not-for-profit charity fundraising website. Part of the Virgin group, it’s the official fundraising site of the London Marathon – the biggest annual fundraising event on the planet. It’s designed purely to help people raise more money online, without taking a penny in profit.

Tell all your friends, family and colleagues about what you’re doing. It’s surprising how generous people can be. And keep them up to date with a Twitter feed or a Facebook page.

And there is still a place for the old fashioned sponsorship form! Again, you’ll be surprised by how many people will support you. Tip: hope that a very generous sponsor will be one of the first to support your sponsorship form, as this sets the benchmark for the size of donations people subsequently pledge. The higher the initial pledges, the higher the subsequent ones are likely to be.

Publicity – ask your company PR department to help. They are always looking for interesting stories about employees, so they will be only too pleased to help. Also approach your local newspaper and radio station to see if they will publish a story about your efforts.

Remember to ask donors to Gift Aid their donations if they pay tax. This will help increase the value of what you raise even higher.