Fundraising

Tips to help you raise money

If you have never raised money before please do not feel daunted by it, as we will provide you with support every step of the way and we can also help to promote the event. Here are some tried and proven techniques:

Sponsorship

• Ask your employer to match £ for £ on the money you raise. We are sure they will agree to do this, especially when you tell them you are raising money for such a fantastic charity and that the company can use the story to benefit from the local media coverage!
• Put your top sponsor at the top of your form – others may follow suit! Your story will most likely be a local one so target local business for sponsorship as they are more likely to benefit from any coverage. Write to 20 local companies, explain the challenge you have set yourself, and request a donation.
• Run a sweepstake – sponsors can try to win a prize by guessing your finish time. Sponsors can offer the sweepstake to their employees as a team building exercise.

Collecting Funds

• Why not ask 10 family and friends to collect on your behalf – with a target of £25 per person, you'll soon have £250.
• Ask friends to make a donation or to join in.
• Enter your details and the event on the fundraising website JustGiving.com (our BLESMA page is www.justgiving.com/blesma/raisemoney).
• Enter your details and the event on the fundraising website Bmycharity (our BLESMA page is www.bmycharity.com/blesma). Click on ‘Ways to Support BLESMA’ and follow the instructions there.
• Email the web address of your chosen charity donations page to everyone you know asking for donations.
• Under the Government's Gift Aid scheme, BLESMA can reclaim the tax made on donations. This means that we can get 28 per cent more money, at no extra cost to your sponsors! Please ask your sponsors to tick the Gift Aid box and write their full home address and postcode on your sponsorship form. Please note that donors must be UK taxpayers in order for us to claim Gift Aid.

Attracting the Media

• Approach your local newspaper or radio station for publicity. Be ready to explain how it is of local relevance (are the participants local? Is the event taking place locally? Are there local BLESMA members who will be benefiting?)
• Don’t forget to ask them to include your contact details in case readers or listeners wish to sponsor you.
• Do call our PR team and run your idea by them – they will be able to direct you to regional media of relevance.

BLESMA Merchandise

• We may be able to give you a range of BLESMA branded items for participants or to distribute at your event. They include T-shirts, brochures, posters, postcards, wrist bands, pens and car stickers.

Help us to Help You

• We can help you to promote your event on our website and in our magazine. For the website please contact Rachel Watkinson or Imogen Dunn at our press office on + 44 (0) 20 7 993 3006 / 3833 or email: rachelw@oneismore.com or imogend@oneismore.com. For the magazine please contact Frank Garside on 0208 590 1124
• Website stories need at least one digital photograph