Knowing how to start your fundraising journey, or boost your donations, can be difficult. Luckily, we’re on hand to provide you with expert tips!

1. Make it Personal

Template JustGiving pages are a great way to get your fundraising started quickly, but they lack a personal touch. Make sure to make your page personal to you, and let your donors know why you’re supporting Mind in the City, Hackney and Waltham Forest and what the organisation means to you!

2. Update your supporters

Did you smash a new personal best on your latest run? or slog it through a really difficult one? let your donors know and post updates on your page about your running progress.

Not every run is going to be your best one, but seeing you work hard to achieve your goals, and push through difficult challenges will motivate people to support you

3. Stand out

If you’ve done a sponsored challenge before your family and friends might not want to sponsor you again, or if you’re struggling to get noticed, a great way to stand out is to commit to doing something extra. For example, you might run in fancy dress if you reach £400 in donations, or you could even raffle off fancy dress suggestions for £5 a ticket

4. Incentivise your donors

A great way to encourage donations and to have a bit of fun with it is to think of an incentive for your donors. You could ‘sell’ songs on your running playlist for the big day, and if someone donates £10 they can add a track of their choosing to the playlist.

You might have some generous friends who add your favourite upbeat music, or you might end up listening to a Party Political Broadcast!

5. Matched Fundraising

Hundreds of companies now participate in matched fundraising, the most common is where they match every £1 raised by you with £1 from them. Some companies might offer more or less, so definitely check if your employer participates in this scheme and if so what the small print is.

If your employer does not participate in matched fundraising it might be worth talking to them about it. Supporting Mind in the City, Hackney and Waltham Forest is a fantastic opportunity for positive engagement with employees and making them feel valued and well looked after.

(It’s also worth mentioning that charitable donations can be deductible for tax purposes!)

6. Fundraise up until the finish line

Many donors hold off until after the event has happened and we often see donations come in up until two weeks after the event has finished!

If by the time the big day comes around you have not met your target, do not fret! a great way of securing extra donations is by thanking your existing supporters and sharing images of you at the finish line on social media, with a link to your Justgiving page

 

If you’re interested in running for Mind in the City, Hackney and Waltham Forest, to support mental health in your local community, check out our events page to see what’s available