Last Summer, the #Run5Donate5Nominate5 running challenge went viral, with members of the public running 5K, donating £5 and then nominating a further 5 friends to take on the trend. This social media sensation raised £7million for the NHS COVID-19 appeal through mobilising 1.5 million participants, 71% of which were under 34. The charity Run for Heroes were the creators behind the challenge and now they’re back with a new virtual challenge, 5K May, and your charity can be part of it!

What is 5K May?

Run for Heroes know their stuff when it comes to virtual fundraising and they’re taking all of their learnings from last year’s challenge and making it bigger, better, and open to all charities! Led by a social media campaign and promoted through press and media announcements, the virtual challenge will span the whole month of May. Members of the public will be asked to complete 5K in whatever way they can – whether it’s run, roll, walk, cycle, swim, skate or even skip – then donate a minimum of £5 to one of the charities that have signed-up, finally nominating five friends to carry on the awesome fundraising trend!

Why your charity should take part in 5K May

There are no sign-up costs for the event, so if you already have a JustGiving account then you’re good to go! We’ll be sending out 5K May toolkits to all of our registered charities, making it easy to start sharing the exciting news with your supporters and direct them to your JustGiving page, where they’ll get to donate to you whilst enjoying 0% platform fees.

Not already a member? It’s free to join JustGiving and we charge 0% platform fees. There is a 5% fee for our optional Gift Aid service and standard payment processing fee of 1.9% +30p. It takes a few days to have new charity members approved – so find out more and join today!

Virtual: Participants can take part from anywhere in the world and regardless of lockdown limitations

Viral: The Run for Heroes team are great at using social media to leverage extra participation and they’ll be helping charities every step of the way to maximise their reach and gain extra fundraisers

Sustainable: Minimal carbon footprint!

Community: The challenge unites people through the power of donating and it’s a great way to mobilise your charity’s own communities, particularly at a time when people can’t come together for in-person challenges

Customisable and adaptable: Run for Heroes will be sharing artwork that your charity can easily customise and re-use

Simplicity and ease: Easy for you to sign-up and easy for supporters to get involved!

Inclusion and accessibility: 5K May is totally inclusive and available to all. Charities and members of the public can put their own spin on the challenge, giving everyone a chance to be a fundraising hero

How we’re going to support you

Together, JustGiving and Run for Heroes will be giving you lots of support, guidance and resources to help make 5K May a huge success for your charity! This guide will share lots of new updates and links over the coming weeks, so make sure that you bookmark this page!

To start, all JustGiving charities will be given their own 5K May landing page, if you’re an existing charity then you should have now received this link through an email. Each link is unique to your charity, so it will include a charity ID number in the url, meaning it looks like this https://runforheroes.justgiving.com/get-involved?charityId=2694296.

If you can’t find the email containing the link in your inbox, then don’t worry! We’ve made it super easy for you to access your page by visiting the 5K May ‘For Charities’ site (here) and then just searching for your name in the ‘Find your charity page’ box.

You will also have access to an awesome 5K May Toolkit! The Toolkit contains lots of handy resources, including social media templates, videos promoting the event, newsletter copy, and lots of fun extras such as Spotify playlists and digital goodie bags!

You’ll also receive all of the handy support that you’re used to as a JustGiving charity, including reporting through your account and we will also email participants the day after their donation (where marketing permissions allow) to both congratulate them and provide them with shareable social media links, so they can get their family and friends involved. Plus, every 5K May donor will be sent an awesome digital goodie bag once they have donated. The goodie bag contains lots of exciting rewards, including:

• 15% off Runners Need
• 50% off HelloFresh
• £15 free driving credit with Zipcar
• 20% off Days non-alcoholic drinks
• 20% off Wild
• £5 off running socks
• 15% off Asics 10k

There will be even more to come from 1st May – so make sure you tell your supporters and encourage them to make a donation to you.

“Last year we launched the viral fundraising campaign Run 5 Donate 5 Nominate 5, which raised an incredible £7 million thanks to the generosity of the public. This year, our team has decided to take it to the next level, launching 5kMay; an inclusive and sustainable fundraiser that all charities can get involved with.

We have put together an epic toolkit with everything you’ll need to create your own social media led virtual event and partnered with JustGiving to offer charities that extra level of support and confidence. The more all charities can get behind it, the greater impact we can have not just individually but collectively – together we can make May 2021 an incredible month for UK fundraising.”

Olivia Strong, Founder, Run For Heroes

Key dates and timeline

What happens next?

All charities registered with JustGiving are included on this event and we have emailed you with your toolkit and landing page details. Make sure that your JustGiving account has the correct email address and check that your email preferences are up to date! If you haven’t received your email then please click here to search for your page.

New to JustGiving? It’s easy to join for free! Plus, if you use the code 5KMay when signing up, our team will be able to easily identify and process your application, helping to ensure that you’re set up in time for the challenge to begin.

If you have any extra questions then we recommend watching our 5K May on-demand webinar. There is also a handy FAQ document available in the Toolkit to help you get started, you can find this here. And remember, we’ll be updating this guide so bookmark this page and keep your eyes peeled!