Fundraising

Fundraising can be Fun Raising…
Fundraising for HELP A POOR CHILD or any other charity is one of the most rewarding things you can do. For us, the money you raise – whatever the amount – will make a real difference to children and fundraising itself can be as fun or as challenging as you want it to be. So if you, your school or company are involved in any fundraising activities, please consider nominating HELP A POOR CHILD.

SPORTING EVENTS
Marathons
For a number of years, hundreds of Marathon runners have covered the 26 miles course and raised badly needed funds for the charity.  Now, we have a hassle-free way to help these runners raise money for Help A Poor Child, with an online fundraising page, which you can create by clicking here .

Your personalised web page can cut the time spent on fundraising and enable you to collect donations by credit or debit card from friends and family all over the world.  Creating a fundraising page is simple:

  1. Follow the simple instructions when you click the CREATE SPONSOR PAGE button or notify us of your intention to run for the charity, provide a personal message and a picture.  A web page with your details will appear.
  2. Email the page address to everyone you know. It’s the most secure and efficient way to collect money for any Marathon or other fundraising events you take part in.  No more dog -eared sponsorship forms:  We do all the hard work for you.

SCHOOLS & YOUTH
To have a successful fundraiser you don’t need a lot of up front money. All you need is some willing people who are ready to make a difference and support the work of HELP A POOR CHILD.

A popular fundraiser that gets everyone involved is a bake sale. You may be thinking “everyone has a bake sale”, but there is a reason why this is done over and over again: it works! Simply solicit the members of your group, or their families, to donate a baked item. Bake sales do especially well if set up at summer festivals and school and local community fetes. Bake sales can also be made to be specific, such as a pie sale or a biscuit or cake sale.

Another good choice is a community dinner. These dinners are open to the community for a fee or donation, and are usually theme related around holiday time. Near St. Patrick’s Day you may have “corned beef and cabbage”, or a “sweetheart’s dinner”, complete with dim lights and candles near Valentine’s Day. Spaghetti and meatballs is always a popular dinner any time of the year. Again, you need the cooperation, volunteer time and cooking ability of your members.

Craft books and cook books are a great fundraising idea. Collect favourite recipes for favourite meals, or if you are dealing with children you can combine it with their favourite craft ideas or recipes, such as homemade playdough, etc.

For printing, often a local business is willing to print up the pages once they are laid out, and binding can be done with regular looseleaf type ring binders. These make wonderful gifts, and momentos, for all involved.

There are any number of fundraising ideas, along with these traditional ones. All you need to do is get a few willing heads and hearts together and you can with one of your own unique ideas, make it a worthwhile fundraiser.

GENERAL
Any help you can give us with our fundraising would be just great. Every penny raised is so important to us: Here are just some ideas for your school, club, company or even just for you.
As long as its fun then anything is possible. Please call us to discuss any ideas you have.

Aerobics Marathon
Organise a mass aerobics session either in the club or at a local school, church or community centre to attract others who are not currently members of your club. Participants could be sponsored and/or be charged to enter.

Art Exhibition And Sale
Ask local artists or galleries to donate pictures (originals or numbered prints) or to donate a percentage of the proceeds of their own at their art sale.

Art or Photography Competition
Hold a competition and people pay to enter.

Bake Sale
Not just cakes and cookies – include low fat foods and healthy alternatives; guess the weight of the fruit bowl etc.

Barbeque
Hold a lunchtime, afternoon or evening barbeque either in your grounds, or if this is not appropriate then look at private gardens etc.

Beach Party
Requires a back yard or open-air venue. Hold a beach-style party with barbeque, beach rules volleyball, French cricket and other beach games. Charge entrance fee and/or team entry for sporting competitions.

Beard Trim
If any of your friends/colleague has a beard or moustache, then sponsor them to shave it off.

Bike Ride
Work out a safe and scenic route and all participants gain sponsorship.

Blind Auction
Ask everyone to bring in an auction item. Bidders then write down their pledges, and the highest pledge wins. Should be held over a long period of time.

Book Fair
Collect unwanted books from friends/colleagues and hold a book sale at your club/school/work.

Car Washing
Designate a day, for a fee, when all colleagues/staff have the choice for their car to be washed.

Cheese & Wine Evening
If possible get local suppliers to provide some cheese and wine. Sell tickets in advance. Could combine with other events such as an award evening.

Chocoholic Challenge
Ask as many members as possible to give up chocolate for a set-period and ask friends and other members to sponsor them.

Climbing
Organise a trip (with qualified supervision) to the hills or a tower and ask participators to get sponsors for each meter.

Concert
Ask local bands or orchestra’s to play a concert and donate some or all of the ticket money.

Cricket Match
Organise a friendly cricket match with a local club/school/company or against a local cricket team. Players could raise money per run scored/wicket taken.

Danceathon
Organise an all day event where people are sponsored for every hour of the day on the dance floor.

Highland Games
Requires some open space. Organise a day of caber tossing, curling, haggis eating, bagpipe playing etc. Either charge an entry fee or raise sponsorship for distance thrown etc.

Horse Racing Evening
Two options here! Ask a local racecourse to organise a charity race where a percentage of the takings go to the HELP A POOR CHILD. Or hold an indoor event where you hire horse-race films (Special films/videos of 8 horse race are available) and sell ‘tickets’ on each horse. The winning tickets get a percentage of the takings for each race. You can make up race cards or ask local companies to name and sponsor a horse for each race. The films are played in random order.

Karaoke Night
Sell tickets for an evening of awful singing at a pub/bar/club/school hall or private venue; you could get people to donate money to stop their friends from singing or invite companies/schools to send teams.

Pantomime
Time to see the staff, colleagues or friends in full array!

Parachute Jump
Some parachute jump clubs run charity events for novices to do a day’s training and a single parachute jump. (Will need to be over a certain age).

Press-ups
How many press-ups can you do in a set time? You could ask people to sponsor your improvement over a set number of months.

Quiz/ Trivia Evening
Charge an entry fee for individuals or teams to take part: questions could be on a set theme or general knowledge.

Raffle
Gather suitable prizes (from local businesses’ to donate) and sell tickets. Most gaming regulations state that tickets must be a fixed price, so you may need to sell 5 tickets for the price of 4 since it alters the odds.

Rounders Tournament
Challenge teams, clubs or groups to a series of rounders.

School Sports Day
All events should be guaranteed to slow down the fastest athletes e.g. three-legged race, sack race, wheel-barrow race, egg-and-spoon race, etc. Enter teams for a small fee and award prizes for each race or for the winning team. Could be part of a general fundraising day with stalls, sideshows, refreshments or barbeque.

Snooker/Pool Tournament
Charge an entry fee for a knockout competition. Each heat can be best of three matches, perhaps with a final for which you might charge admission. Again, get pubs/clubs/ local businesses/other schools to send teams or individuals who are sponsored per ball potted.

Sponsored Silence
Staff, colleague or friends could be sponsored to remain silent for a day.

Swim
People are sponsored to swim a set distance. The most able swimmers can set standards.

Three-legged Race
This could just be a three-legged race or even a three-legged pub crawl! (over 18’s).

Themed Night
Everyone must dress up sporting a theme. This could be a toga, sporting heroes, star wars etc.

Treasure Hunt
Everyone is sponsored to find/solve clues and/or objects on a set route. Entry fee is charged for competing.