Fundraising for Twestival

“How on earth do I fundraise for my Twestival Local charity?”
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Prepared by Claire Thompson, Waves PR, for Twestival fundraisers, August 2009 with thanks to teams for sharing their learning (claire@wavespr.com; t: +44(0) 118 944 0394)

before you start
Some people will say no.
Relationships are more important than the gift – yours, Twestival’s AND the charity’s.
So enjoy the fundraising, make new friends along the way, and GOOD LUCK!
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1. target your sponsors
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‘demographics’: ask your team...
Who are you targeting to come to your event?
these are what the sponsors are interested in, so pick target organisations and people who sell to this kind of person OR
Which charity have you chosen?
some companies/organisations want to be associated with the charity eg cat foot or pet shops for a cat shelter; home developers for a homeless charity; eco companies for green charities
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your fundraising list
1. companies to target for sponsorship based on demographics
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2. what can you ask people to sponsor
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website sponsorships
do take a look at: http://cornwall.twestival.com/
main sponsors paying to be in right hand bar
sponsors get blogged
some sponsors will pay just to have a link from your site – they want to be associated with Twestival
If you know or think of someone who should be sponsoring nationally, suggest it to Claire or Nicola
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things you need for the event
goods and services that people can donate for use at the event:
venue (could they also offer part of the bar takings for the evening?)
music*
entertainment
PA/lighting system
food & drink
printing
filming
photography
* idea from Tees Twestival: scrap the DJ: Spotify + request system
work with your charity to see what contacts they have, what support they already have available, and, importantly, how they prefer to receive their money/handle accounts
*
tips
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things for the raffle
what would your audience like to have?
food, drink, playthings always go down well
people can donate services: a visit from a poet, a house clean, teaching people how to...
goodies from the band, the venue, the charity
what’s local: cinema, theatre, national park? Ask for tickets
gyms and hotels are great because there is little extra cost in donating use of high value facilities – a promotional opportunity for them
restaurants, spas, beauty parlours
many council run facilities like swimming pools have allocations of tickets for charities
stay legal ……
tips
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raffles – staying legal
tickets sold in advance need a Society Lotteries licence from your local council or metropolitan borough (lots of form filling & you will need to have your raffle tickets printed)
you will not need a licence for a one-off event provided that:
tickets are only be sold during the event
there are no cash prizes to come from the ticket money
no more than £250 is spent on the prizes (donated prizes do not count
tickets must not be more than £1 each
the result of the raffle must be drawn at the event.
tip
agree in advance what will happen if committee members win raffle prizes
tips
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auction items
could local sports venues offer 1-2-1 training eg tennis as a prize; football clubs may donate gear – or even send along a player
anything original – artwork, jewellery, signed books pics, CDs, trip backstage at a theatre or concert, tour of local radio or TV station
would your local MP agree to be a slave for the day? Or go into ‘stocks’
pubs, clubs, local limo companies
think local – magazine subs, organic food or drink deliveries
local celebrity donations eg Kate Winslett’s mum’s pickles; Jordan’s bridal veil; Uri Geller’s bent spoon (they may even turn up to auction for you!)
tips
have some fun and be creative
could you have a brainstorm meet, and tweet your best ideas – people may help you with new ones?
don’t forget to ask the charity – they may have events to publicise by donating tickets, or local supporters
try running on and/or off line
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at the event/1
can a local DJ or radio presenter MC for you for the night?
could a local auction house provide an auctioneer?
giveaway T-shirts – sponsorships to pay and print (don’t forget a range of sizes plus lady fits)
‘guess the number’ - get people to guess how many lollies, marbles or similar in a jar to win (don’t overdo – it may end up like a school fete!)
you can even ask for donations on the night – you could make it fun – if we raise £50 extra the organising committee will do a rendition of ...; x will shave have their head shaved/hairy chest waxed; the band will play x (works well if you ask a heavy rock band to play a Cliff Richard song, or vice versa)
make sure that you have plans for when in the evening these things will happen
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at the event/2
consider a programme for the event– can include details of the organisers, details of the charity, what’s happening, ‘thank you’s, and, of course, a plug for the money making activities at the event, and sell advertising space! Samples are up on the Twestival 09 Google Group
ask talents to attend eg table magician, juggler
can the charity be involved/bring things along?
could they/someone who uses their services give a short talk?
what does the charity need – start a volunteers roster at the event?
music from Mali, a box of kittens or rescued animal, a video message, disabled artists come along and do charicatures, children singing…
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goody bags
we’re trying to find someone to pay for/supply the goody bags across the UK (yell with any ideas!)
help encourage attendance and offer value to event
ask people to give things to go inside:
promotional items
vouchers
Samples (food, drink, toys)
if people want to place leaflets, you could charge them to do this (but if it’s vouchers, think carefully)
tip
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money
you can ask for money in exchange for brand association, publicity, exposure to audience – sometimes even just for a link to/from the Twestival site
decide what you can sell – it may be things already mentioned, it could be event or charity specific
once you have spoken to someone they may ask you for more details to get approval internally – there are letter/email templates on the Twestival 09 site
agree your price and create a sponsorship pack
But think laterally too: Inverness recently had a great success when a cruise company they had approached agreed to donate a portion of their ticket sales to Twestival
there are sample sponsorship packs uploaded to the Twestival 09 site already. Last time’s Oxford organisers (thanks to Sylwia Presley for this one) gained extra publicity by creating a presentation, and uploading to Slideshare)
tip
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sponsorships - considerations
however you divide up your sponsorships, try and be transparent
don’t give away exclusives lightly – the US team suggested an overall event sponsorship of $10k for sponsoring an entire event and, after a while, look like they have it
think hard about the money you’re taking. Try not to accept from overtly political or religious groups
if you think that ANY questions will be raised about accepting the money, run it past Nicola and Claire
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3. who can you ask for goods or sponsorship
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some ideas
friends, tweeps, work colleagues… they often know someone who…. or may have hidden talents to donate (hand made cards, paintings, music)
target companies who may want your target audience (tweeters) or who want the association with the charity for business reasons eg cat food companies or vetinary insurance for the cat charity, garden centres and organic food for environmental charities, bedroom furniture for homeless charities, children’s toy companies for children’s charities – remember that goods can be as good as cash for the charity!
in companies:
start with someone you know if possible – they can ask on your behalf
chat to the receptionist to get pointers
departments that may help: marketing, CSR, PR, ‘comms department’, sponsorship department (unlikely, but some still do!)
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companies to target for sponsorship based on demographics
donations of goods or money needed to make event happen
raffle and auction donations
event activities
goody bags
cash!
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4. making the most of what you’re doing, with limited resources and limited time
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tickets
consider setting your ticket prices at different levels – contributors and charity (free, but shows as sales and no-one has to be first) early bird (a little cheaper), standard and ‘unable to attend, donate £x)
ask the charity to sell too (perhaps through site links)
and the sponsor companies (ditto!)
for those who haven’t started selling tickets yet – you will need a bank account to pay into. The charity’s account is best – you will need the details to set things up through Amiando
tip
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targets
is there a specific financial target that the charity would like to meet? If this is publicised, people know what they’re paying for (10 beds stay open, 500 vaccines, 10 animals fed for a year, four children’s dreams come true)
can you have a competition amongst volunteers to sell the most tickets?
don’t forget to offer regular updates
tip
a great tool for setting targets :
Giftrangecalculator.com
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event activities
goody bags
cash!
tickets and targets
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5. amplify
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market your event
your Twestival blog
social media inc. bloggers
trad media
networking
posters
more info on marketing your event to follow.
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event activities
goody bags
cash!
tickets and targets
amplify
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don’t worry: a series of support skype calls is planned! (thanks Amanda!)
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with thanks to...
Alisa Gilbert <sulook@mac.com>
Gradon Tripp <gradon@gradontripp.com>
Marc A. Pitman <marc@fundraisingcoach.com>
and to fellow Twestival Local UK co-ordinator, Nicola Riordan, for arranging the call.
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claimr
the views here are my own, based on the things I’ve learned across the years, information I’ve researched, and the invaluable experience of the professional fundraisers mentioned. I’m happy to stand by them but do check on the legal bits: I’m not a lawyer!
my own fundraising experience is limited to working alongside charities, the school PTA and helping a children’s football club, so feel free to add
share to your heart’s content – the information here was learned from others and was created to help the numerous charities benefitting from Twestival: if it’s useful to others, that’s an added bonus
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Fundraising for Twestival

by Claire Thompson on Aug 21, 2009

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Fundraising for Twestival — Presentation Transcript