So, you’ve asked all the friends and family you have ever known for donations and now you’ve hit a bit of a wall. So where to go next? Colleagues, passer-bys and … complete strangers. But how do you get people you don’t know to believe in your cause and donate?
Here are some novel ideas from us!
Approach local companies and request for every *insert product/service* sold they donate £1
Businesses are always looking for new, innovative marketing ideas. Let them know how you can promote your business to a new audience in return for something from them! You could offer the following promotion:
- Promote their business and how they’re getting involved via your social media feeds. Commit to one Tweet per day and take part in Twitter sessions to really get the conversation going! Digitia has a great list of Twitter sessions UK wide!
- Create promotional posters for your fund raising events / ideas and include their logo prominently, perhaps with a link to their web site to find out more! This way they get web hits too!
Do something you would not normally do.
Are you quite a quiet, reserved person? Go sky-diving. Are you normally a bit louder? Do a sponsored silence. Some ideas you can consider include:
- Bungee jumping
- Three peaks challenge
- Coast to coast cycle ride
- Running a marathon
- Wearing a huge hat for a week
People are likely to pay attention if you’re doing something a little unusual. Make sure you post your charity link all over Facebook and Twitter and getting T-Shirts printed always help with photos and conversations!
Get festive!
Christmas is on its way. Could you organise a Christmall ball or a fair or even a town wide Christmas ‘secret santa’.
If you do organise an event, be sure to tell venues and bands etc that the event is for charity and you might get a discount or an extra something for free! To make more money on the night, hold an auction or raffle and if you’re really good, get a local celebrity to attend. As this is a tough one to organise, approach your charity and ask for some help.
Pack people’s bags!!!
Did you know you could make £500 on a day of packing bags in a local supermarket? Get a team of recruits together and just go for it one Saturday morning. Getting T-Shirts and branded donation buckets from the charity will help with your credibility and team presence on the day! Maybe you could take along some music and sing as you pack to draw attention!
Baked bean bath anyone?
Sometimes, you need to do something a little different to get the kind of attention you want. A perfect example of this kind of fundraising is your typical, sitting in a bath of beans, waxing all the boys’ chests or shaving your head. Make it as wild as possible and film the whole thing so you can add a video to You Tube!! Here are some of examples:
- Organise a “find a partner” day. Collect lots of scarves and for one day the whole office has to tie themselves to another person. They have to go EVERYWHERE with this person, eat, drink and work. Pass it by your boss/teachers first but likelihood is, they’ll see it as a good team building exercise!
- Play “hunt for the chocolate”. This works pretty well at Easter or Christmas. Get the whole school/workplace involved in this one. They each pay £5 to play. You hide 10 chocolate eggs / selection boxes around the office and grounds. At the end of the day the people who find eggs / prizes get their £5 back and get to keep the chocolate. Chances are they won’t request their £5 back anyway!
- Encourage everyone to paint their faces the colour of your chosen charity and carry a bucket round all day. This is sure to grab people’s attention and get some donations flying in.