Fundraising is a competitive business these days. Everywhere we turn, people are trying to make us part with our hard-earned cash in order to support a worthy cause. In the past year I’ve had friends swimming the Channel, trekking across deserts, climbing mountains and running marathons—every one of them for a good cause and every one of them wanting my support.
As the challenges get wackier and the causes multiply, standing out from the crowd is becoming increasingly hard. If you want to achieve your fundraising goal, you’ve got to be innovative, passionate about your cause and unerringly determined. However, don’t be deterred. If you go about it the right way and give yourself enough time, fundraising can be incredibly rewarding.
First things first. Before you do anything, you need to decide which charity you want to support and what your fundraising target is going to be. You can then start to dream up ways in which you are going to raise this money. With us, these choices were easy, as our idea had always been to drive a tuk tuk back to the UK from Thailand, and both of us had strong personal reasons for supporting Mind. Our original target was £100 000 but we quickly decided to downgrade this to £50 000—still an ambitious amount, but we felt it was more realistic.
The next thing is to work out a fundraising plan. How are you going to raise this money, and how long have you got to do it? What events can you put on in order to raise extra funds? This could be anything from a curry night, to an auction of promises, to a fancy-dress dog show. The main thing to remember is that when it comes to fundraising there are no rules. The more you can innovate and the more determined you are, the more successful you will be. Make sure as many people as possible get to hear of what you are doing, and don’t be afraid to step outside the box and try things that haven’t been done before.
Here are a few top tips for successful fundraising:
Good luck!