We know the prospect of hitting a fundraising target can be daunting at times, especially if you’re raising money for the first time. So we thought we’d get some tips from some amazing fundraisers who are already using JustGiving to raise extraordinary amounts for charity. February’s fundraisers of the month are Chris and Connie Riddle. With the Vanessa Riddle appeal, they have used every tool available and reached out to a huge community, raising £330,000 so far.
In February 2009, a then eight‐year‐old Vanessa was diagnosed with stage 4 (high‐risk) neuroblastoma, a very rare, aggressive and difficult to treat form of cancer. After many difficult and often painful treatments at Yorkhill Hospital, Vanessa got the all clear in August 2010. However, in December last year came the devastating news that Vanessa had relapsed.
Vanessa’a parents, Chris and Connie, now hope to take their daughter to the United States for relapse therapy treatment , which will dramatically increase her chances of long‐term survival. But this treatment is likely to cost more than £500,000.
With the help of Neuroblastoma Alliance UK, Chris and Connie began fundraising and in little over a month, they have raised well over £275,000.
To raise such a huge amount of money in such a short period of time, it’s important to reach out to a wide community and use every available tool for your fundraising. Vanessa’s appeal has done just that.
By using the power of social media, Vanessa’s story has reached thousands of people. It has been shared by 32,000 people on Twitter and 6,000 on Facebook. Text donations have also played a huge part in the appeal, with over £18,000 being raised by text message alone. What’s more, Neuroblastoma Alliance UK have created a team page, allowing anyone to join and help raise funds for Vanessa’s treatment. Over 60 extra fundraisers have set up a page to help with the appeal, taking them £43,000 closer to their target.
Vanessa’s appeal page is a great example of how to boost your fundraising. Here are our top 3 tips to help you get the most from your fundraising too:
- Use social media. Sites like Facebook and Twitter are absolute gems when it comes to fundraising. Using our Facebook app or sending out a quick tweet with your page address publicises your page to all of your friends and followers. Ask your Facebook friends to share your page with their friends and your Twitter followers to retweet your link too. You could reach a whole new group of potential supporters.
- Get a JustTextGiving text code. If you have a fundraising page on justgiving.com, you also have a text code which you can personalise in your account. Now any of the 50 million mobile phone users in the UK can sponsor you anytime, anywhere!
- Start a team. Ask your friends if they want to fundraise too and help you reach your goal. You can set up a team, linking all of your pages and showing a collective total of just how much you have all raised together.
If you would like to help the Vanessa appeal, you can donate at justgiving.com/vanessa-appeal or by text, texting VANY99 and an amount (either £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10) to 70070. You can also fundraise for the Vanessa appeal by joining the team at justgiving.com/teams/vanessa-riddle
Tags: appeal, Fundraising Tips, Neuroblastoma UK, Vanessa Riddle