How to Raise Interest in Fundraising Project?
Q.
My daughter is trying to raise sponsorship in order to stage a pantomime in aid of one of the Deaf Children's charities but has so far found it impossible to get any interest in the project. Can you help her with advice please?
A.
There are a number of ways you and your daughter could go about raising support and awareness for the event your daughter is putting on.
Have you contacted any of the deaf children’s charities that you are aiming to raise money for? Often they can help fundraisers by providing advice and also promotional material such as posters and T-shirts.
Has your daughter set up a justgiving page? This is a website that allows people to receive charity donations and sponsorship online. If she sets one up she could email loads of people asking for help.
How about sending a press release to the local paper? An article on your daughter’s project could raise a lot of interest. Look at the article “How to Publicise Your Event” on this website for some tips on getting press coverage. You could write the press release yourselves or approach local PR professionals to see if they can help out free for a good cause.
You could also write to local companies asking for sponsorship. Look at the article on this site “How to Write a Fundraising Letter” for tips on how to put the letter together and what to write.
Has your daughter looked into matched giving if she is in employment at the moment? If she isn’t working, another business may be able to help also. Through matched giving, a business agrees to match the money which you have raised yourself.
You could also look into making posters and leaflets and distributing them around town and in places that you know, such as local houses and businesses.
Finally, what about using social networking tools? If you’re not set up, ask around and see if anybody that you know is using sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. These sites are a fast and free way to reach a lot of people.
Get as many people as you can to help you have a go at these awareness-raising activities as there’s a lot you can do. If you try all, or at least some, of these tips, your daughter’s project should be off the ground in no time. Good luck with it!
