How To Fundraise – An Essential Guide

You’ve made the decision to fundraise for a worthy charity – that’s a cause for celebration! You’ll be raising money for people in need and making a real difference in the world. Yet fundraising is not a straightforward endeavour – it requires meticulous planning and commitment to make a campaign successful. Fortunately, we’ve set out the steps you’ll need to take to raise money for charity below.

Choose a cause to support

The first step to fundraising is picking a cause to fundraise for. With such a large number of charitable foundations to choose from, it can be quite overwhelming to decide where to start. You could choose a small, local organisation that does worthy work in your community, or you could choose a national or international charity that could use your donation to aid its campaigns.

Whoever you choose, make sure that it’s a cause that you resonate with. This will keep you motivated throughout the fundraising process, and will also help you communicate why you’re raising money to your donors.

Establish a target amount you need to raise

Alongside choosing a charitable foundation to support, it’s important to set a precise goal you want to reach. Establishing a target amount to raise will help you plan ahead and track your progress. This will help you assess how likely you are to meet your goal, and whether you need to double your efforts to hit your target. It will also motivate potential donors to support your efforts, especially as you get closer to reaching the target amount.

Decide on how to communicate the importance of raising funds

Once you’ve got a cause to raise money for and a target fundraising amount, it’s time to make a plan for how best to bring the cause to people’s attention. While you could have the best intentions to raise money, without an idea of how to market your fundraising you could be left with little to show for.

It’s important to spread the word, and you can do so through a number of ways. For example, you could set up a JustGiving page to host all the information others might need to know to get behind you. You could then share the page directly to social media and via email to bring it to their attention.

It’s also a good idea to think outside the box. Is there anything else that you could do to promote yourself and your story? Could you contact a local newspaper to see if they would be willing to write an article about your story? Could you ask your friends to share your page with as many people as possible to get more engagement? Could you create posters and put them up in your school or workplace?

These are just a few examples of things you could do to help spread the word and raise more money for your cause. Whether you’re shouting from the rooftops or posting online from the comfort of your own home, don’t be embarrassed to share often. You are trying to do a good thing and make the world a slightly better place, and promoting this regularly is only ever positive.

Recruit volunteers

Behind every successful fundraising campaign is a whole team of people giving up their time to support the cause. The contribution of volunteers should never be overlooked, as without their help much of the necessary work would never get done.

Wherever possible you should leverage the help of family and friends to help you achieve your goals. There are only so many hours in the day, and no one person can send enough emails, make enough calls and post enough on social media to make a fundraising campaign as successful as it can be.

It can be very difficult to juggle all of this on your own, particularly if you’re training to complete a physical challenge such as a marathon at the same time. Don’t be afraid to ask for help – you might even be surprised by how many people want to give up their free time to support you!

Choose your fundraising activities

So you have the cause, the target amount, the marketing plan and a team of volunteers – now it’s time to raise the money. This is often the most intimidating part of the process as there are literally no limits to what you could get involved in.

A good place to start is on the website of your chosen cause. Many charitable organisations have pre-planned fundraising ideas and materials that anyone can get involved in, thus making it easy for you to plan effectively. For example, Red Nose Day offers fundraising packs for people looking to raise money.

Below are just some examples of fundraising activities you could get involved in.

1. Organise a themed quiz where people can pay to take part.
2. Ask for volunteers to auction their services in return for donations.
3. Use your musical talents to host a charitable concert.
4. Run a 5k, 10k, half marathon or marathon in aid of your charitable cause.
5. Organise a bake sale.
6. Run a raffle in your local community.
7. Run a charitable car wash for a day.
8. Do a sponsored skydive or bungee jump.
9. Plan a fashion show.
10. Share your expertise in return for donations. For example, you could give haircuts or run a yoga session in return for sponsors.
11. Invite the public to come to get their dog washed.
12. Host a garden party with catering and music.

Celebrate your successes

After you’ve held your event or completed your challenge, it’s time to celebrate all the hard work you’ve put in. Treat yourself to your favourite meal or go on holiday – you deserve it. Share how it went with colleagues and loved-ones and let them know they can still donate if they want to.

When you complete your event, you’ll want to tell everyone how it went. Make sure you do – and, while you’re at it, let them know they can still donate if they want to. You’d be amazed at the generosity of others, and how your act of kindness can inspire them to also launch their own fundraising campaigns.