Donate to Tree of Hope today so that we can continue to help children
Fundraising is never always easy but Coronavirus is making things even more challenging for everyone. But don’t panic! We have a few hints and tips to keep those donations coming in for your campaign during these tricky times!
Are there any companies in your local area who might be able to help? Now could be the perfect time to dust off those writing skills and write letters to those and contact local businesses, Rotary Clubs, Masonic Lodges, Lions Clubs, etc to make them aware of your campaign and ask if they are able to support you. This could be a raffle prize for a future event or a donation towards your campaign. You are your child’s best storyteller, so explain what their help will enable your child to achieve. Please contact us for Tree of Hope letterheads – this provides extra validation and proof that you’re with a registered charity which is very important for getting this type of support.
This is far from ideal but in such circumstances, this may be out of your control. Where appropriate, offer other ways for your participants to support your child’s campaign.
This could be via a virtual version of the event they were due to take part in. Instead of doing a 10K run in a built-up busy area, could they do the same distance close to home? You can support them further by sharing route mapping and online tracking tools, copy for their social media and online fundraising pages and virtual cheer stations via WhatsApp or Facebook groups.
Communicate this to your supporters too. Let them know and keep them informed. This, may provide an opportunity for donations for those that would have donated by going to the event and may feel compelled to donate anyway.
Maintain your supporter’s engagement by saying thanks and offering tokens of acknowledgement, either a medal, certificate or social badge they can share with friends and family. Take the time to write certificates or letters to those people you’ve been meaning to thank, this could well remind and encourage them to support again. Ask participants to take photos of their accomplishment. This could be photos of their fitness tracker or app and share on their social media and online fundraising pages.
Register for easyfundraising and fundraise whilst you do your online shopping indoors. Some of our families have got up to 20 people supporting their unique cause and small amounts really do add up! So, register if you haven’t done so already and inform others to assist you!
To register, head to www.easyfundraising.org.uk/treeofhope and start sharing and fundraising whilst shopping!
This is a really simple easy way to start getting donations that you can add to all of your marketing bits and pieces and sharing with your networks. If you’d like a text code for you to use, get in touch with the team. You will just need to choose a short code you would like to use
For example: TEAMANNA
Donations can be between £1 and £20, so if someone wanted to donate £5, they would text TEAMANNA 5 to 70085.
Gift aid can be claimed on all text donations where applicable – the donor would receive a text immediately after they donate if they would like to claim gift aid on their text donation.
If you’ve been thinking you need to get savvy on social media, then now is an absolutely ideal time. Social Media is a very effective way of reaching a lot of people very quickly and staying at home presents opportunities to do things you normally may not have the time to spend doing. You may find people are a lot more active on social media with efforts on keeping up with current affairs and generally not out and about as much, so you’ll probably find that you have quite a captive audience.
Contact Georgie for a ‘How to’ Social Media Guide which gives you a complete and easy guide as to how to market your campaign on social media and maximise your fundraising potential, which doesn’t take up too much time once you’re all set up and can be great fun.
If you don’t feel confident, is there someone that could manage this for you or give you a hand setting it up?
Raffles and Auctions can very easily be held online via Facebook. See if you can get hold of some prizes. In times like these, restaurants, spas, shops may be willing to gift vouchers or experiences if business is on the quiet side and might be happy to contribute to something charitable. You could also get your friends and family to donate time or a service doing something as well. For example, half a day’s gardening, a car wash, ironing, the possibilities are endless! See what prizes you can get hold of and then essentially auction them off online on Facebook! You can get your own raffle tickets printed if you wanted to do something on a larger scale. Please contact our Fundraising Manager Karen for a copy of our license on this.
Seek opportunities. For example, is your local butcher busier than normal due to people staying local and not going to the local supermarket? Approach and ask if they will support your campaign and suggest a competition. This could be a Facebook engagement (followers need to like and share their business page) or this could be traditional raffle for customers and a prize could be a meat package offer. Competitions boost trade and awareness for the business whilst they are helping a local cause which may likely increase trade making it a great opportunity for all.
When you post on your Facebook page about your child, add a donate button to your post. Your post will be coded so these donations will go straight to your child’s campaign! These can be effective when posting a video or photo of your child, taking part in an activity that you are fundraising. It could otherwise be for anything you like. Facebook also do fundraisers for birthdays which anyone can do for you.
9. Stay safe
Most importantly, look after your teams and volunteers. Keeping your fundraising team healthy and supported will give you the best chance to limit the impact of the virus on your fundraising.
