Sponsorship tips
It can be daunting to ask people to sponsor you. However, take heart; past experience has shown us that most people are very willing to sponsor someone to take part in hospice events. Here are some tips to help you along...
1 - Tell people if they aren't up for doing the event themselves, would they mind sponsoring you? The sympathy vote often works wonders!
2 - Make sure that they know it is for a local charity serving the local community. Every penny of your sponsorship money will go towards the £3 million the hospice needs to provide our FREE specialist care to local people each year. We help 100 local people every day!
3 - Set up your very own shiny new fundraising webpage! We recommend Virgin Giving. This offers free, simple fundraising pages the enable people to sponsor you online, and make payments directly to North Devon Hospice. Simply follow the instructions, link to North Devon Hospice, and add a photo and some blurb and job done! You can also add a fundraising link or widget to your Facebook, Myspace or Youtube page.
4 - Take your sponsor forms into work, or see if you can put it on a notice board for others to sign. Make a poster and pin it up next to a collection tin (available from the hospice reception on 01271 344248) and ask for spare change or sponsorship.
5 - Ask your place of work if they will match or donate towards your sponsorship.
6 - Remind your sponsors that this year the hospice is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
7 - Increase your sponsorship by 25% through Gift Aid. If your sponsors are UK taxpayers, make sure they tick the box and all their address information and postcode is completed - simple!
8 - Give something up for the event and use the money saved towards sponsorship. Eg: Smoking, Drinking, Sweets, Chocolates, Magazines or even the hair somewhere on your body (people will definitely pay to see this!). The possibilities are endless...
9 - Play a 'sweepstake game' with your friends and family. They pay £1, £2 or £5 and guess your finish time/distance covered etc. Give a small prize to the winner and keep the monies. Hey presto!
10 - Hold your own quiz night. Ask your local pub, they may hire a room for free in return for extra customers. Charge an entry fee ensuring entrants know the proceeds are for North Devon Hospice. If you can't come up with questions why not try a Karaoke night instead.
11 - Email your contacts list and ask your friends on Facebook or Myspace. These are people who you may not see day-to-day but who would definately sponsor you.
12 - Gather your friends and family together for a community car wash. Charge £5 per car with proceeds for the hospice.
13 - Clear out those cupboards and drawers. Take everything to a local car boot sale. Donate all or part of sales to your event sponsorship. Ask your friends to do the same and donate items for your cause.
14 - Ask your place of work if you can organise a 'dress down day' and ask your colleagues to donate to participate. Or have an outrageous tie/sock/outfit day. Pay £1 to enter and £2 forfeit for not entering.
15 - Have a night in. Get all your friends around and have a girly/lads night in. Donate the money saved to your event sponsorship. You could even put on drinks and nibbles and ask people to pay on entry.
16 - Contact your local paper and see if they will run a story on you entering the event. Ask for local businesses and individuals to sponsor you. They may even include a picture.
17 - Hold you own treasure hunt. Have a small prize at the end and ask people to pay to enter.
18 - Turn pennies into pounds. Think about how to encourage everyone to help you to reach your goal. For example, if the first donation to appear on your paper and online sponsorship forms is around £2, then most people will follow suit, giving a few pounds more or a few pence less. But if your first donation is around £10 the people who follow will be inclined to give a bigger sum. Identify a few people from your list who are likely to be good lead sponsors and ask them first. Remember this principle doesn't work infinitely, if your first sponsor gives £50 people will see this as exceptional and set their own rate without reference to the earlier donation. But if you get the first few donations right you can increase your overall fundraising income without any extra effort.
19 - Fundraise online at no cost to you! Sign up to www.everyclick.com the search engine that donates half its revenue to charity. You can select North Devon Hospice as your chosen charity and raise money for us every time you use everyclick to search the net. This really really works!
20 - Do you know people who own a busy pub, work at a football club or gym etc? Ask permission, dress silly and hold a collection. We can provide tins and/or buckets for you.
Please don't hesitate to give us call on 01271347213 if you have any questions or would like support for your fundraising activities. Thank you so much for doing an event for the hospice. We really appreciate all your effotrs. Good luck!