Well you guys know by now what I'm going to say - build an online fundraising page - as everyone here has internet access and hopefully lots of your friends have too.
Advantages:
- speed - it's quicker to email everyone in your address book at once rather than run round and ask them personally for money,
- personalisation - you can add a photo and your friends can leave short messages when they donate,
- money gets to charity before the event
- gift aid tax (28% extra) is added to the donation automatically for UK tax payers
- interactive - you can keep people informed of your training on a regular basis
- put your web address in all your Xmas cards this year or if you are sending out e-cards
Here's the link:
Free sponsorship webpages for the London Marathon.
In terms of
online fundrasing hints and tips once you have built your page there are some here.
For other ideas - off the top of my head - that I've seen from our runners and in this forum too:
Auctions - there's a website that specialising in providing signed sporty items specifically for charity raffles. It costs you nothing apart from having to organise the auction.
"Guess the time I'll finish" sweepstake - put some times in a hat for people to choose and they pay a fiver to enter and get a prize
Car boot sales
Wine tastings - get your local off licence to sponsor it (or give you the booze or a hefty discount) in return for some publicity and the fact that it's for charity
Divide the Golden Bond amount up and get members of your family to raise a few hundred each for you then the total seems less daunting.
If you work for a reasonable sized company find out if they have a marched giving scheme. Some companies have a budget where they will personally match an amount their employees raise for charity - so you can double your total in this way!
I'm sure others will have lots more ideas as to what's worked for them in the past.
