My Fundraising Campaign – Challenges x Activities
This blog was written by Ed Oswald our Fundraiser of the Month for January. Ed is fundraising for the 2019 Kilimanjaro Challenge and has raised over £2860!
Fundraising £3,000 is a daunting and time-soaking exercise, but can be super rewarding & actually pretty fun.
My experience
Having kickstarted my fundraising campaign in early October 2018, I have since completed two challenges, three activities & most importantly, raised £2,813/ £3,000.
See my fundraising plan below -
Friends have asked me “why will eating 2500+ calories in 14.6 mins {YES, I DID IT} encourages people to donate towards your fundraiser?”; fair question. This challenge, like many on my plan, isn’t included with the intention of directly raising sponsorship. It is included to both allow me to publicise my campaign and also demonstrate my commitment towards this fundraiser. If I’m asking my friends/ family for a donation, I want to show them that I’m investing my time & effort alongside their monetary commitment.
Man vs food challenge
My top tips
1 – Build a plan and stick to it where possible (especially timings). If the plan needs to change, or you feel it can be improved, don’t fight it.
2 – Share your campaign through as many channels as possible – Social media pages (FB, Twitter, Insta, LinkedIn etc.), emails, texts, face-to-face interactions, posters, work intranet/ news pages etc. Don’t limit the exposure to purely your network; encourage your friends and family to share your content and forward it on to their friends/ family.
3 – Who do you know? I made a list of every family member & family friend that I thought might donate. I then dropped them a text/ email informing them about the challenge and my campaign, very politely asking for a donation at the end… don’t forget to add a personal sentiment.
4 – Don’t be scared to ask people for a donation, or share your story. You are partaking in an exciting challenge that benefits underprivileged communities. Therefore, people will be keen to learn more and should respect your planned undertakings, even if they don’t go on to donate.
5 – If possible, create visually appealing and engaging promotional content. I used both Microsoft Word & Adobe Photoshop to create relevant promotional materials.
6 – You’ll struggle to do this on your own. Leverage ANY help that you can get from friends, family or others. For my charity breakfast (where we sold 145 breakfasts in 4 hours), I had 8 people helping me.
7 – A charity breakfast is a great fundraiser. Don’t be afraid to ask your local café/ pub/ club if they will let you host one – you might be surprised to find they are willing to help.
What excites me about the challenge
Honestly so much, but the main points would be; The challenge itself, the chance to meet a new group of like-minded individuals, the scenery and most importantly, the ability to
positively impact the lives of a community of individuals that are much less fortunate than we are.
Let’s wrap this up Ed…
The thought of having to raise £3k is seriously intimidating, I know. With strong planning, dedication, resilience and an optimistic mindset you WILL be able to raise it. I’ve been very fortunate with my fundraising campaign and am EXTREMELY thankful to all of those that have donated and/ or helped me along the way. The feeling of successfully running a fundraising event, completing a challenge or receiving a donation is addictive, time to get your fix!!
Read more about my story here - https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/edwardoswald1
Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions – Edward.Oswald1@sky.com
BIG LOVE – YOU’VE GOT THIS xx
