You might have seen on my social media that I’ve partnered with Race for Life as one of their Training Squad. I’m going to be sharing running tips, race day advice and workouts here on the blog in the lead up to the Race for Life events this Summer to encourage first time runners, experienced runners and all of you lot to sign up and train for an awesome race series. 

I’ve fundraised for a few different events in the past, most notably for the London Marathon back in 2012. I was running in memory of one of my friends (I’ve talked more about Vic here) and so didn’t have to do any sort of fundraising at all – his friends, my friends, my family, colleagues etc donated very generously, allowing me to surpass my target and give the charity £3500.

I’ve found that the more you fundraise, the harder it gets to tap your friends and family up for cash, so you need to get more inventive with your techniques.

Here are 10 ways to help you fundraise for your next charity event;

1. Tell your story. Explain to people why this charity is so close to your heart, why you’re so passionate about it and what their money will go towards. This could be in a Facebook message/post, email, or written letter, sent to everyone you know or think would be interested. It makes a huge difference when they can see you’ve chosen a charity for a special reason, rather than just because they had places available! 

On that note – I would say that if you chop and change charity too often, people might not take your fundraising efforts seriously – choose one or two and work hard for those individual charities!

2.Put some money in a pot for every training run, walk, ride you undertake. It could be you, your partner, parent or friend who donates £1 for every step you take towards your race. 

For the London Marathon, I would text my Mum after every single run, (even the 2 milers) and she generously put £2 in a jar, which turned into hundreds of pounds by race day morning.

3.Host a quiz night at your local pub – invite locals as well as your friends to get involved. The pub might even throw in a prize for the winners if you frequent it often enough! 

4. Start betting on sports fixtures…OK I’m not suggesting that you go down to the bookies, instead go round the office asking ppl to put £1/£5 in to lucky dip a team for Euro 2016, one of the Ascot races, or another event. Winner gets a prize, your charity gets the cash! 

5. Organise a fitness event and have people pay for tickets that cover costs and raise funds. This works particularly well if it’s linked to your race, e.g. a run or bike ride. 

We were lucky enough that Boom Cycle gave us their studio and an instructor to host a charity ride last year, raising over £1000 by selling seats in the spin class.

6. Swap your daily coffee/tea habit for a homemade one and use that money towards your fundraising total. Alternatively you could offer to do the coffee runs in your office in exchange for the change… 

7. Rather than a traditional cake sale, did you know that Krispy Kreme often donates their one-day old doughnuts to be sold for charity? See if your local cafe will donate some goodies, or feel free to bake your own if you’re the next Mary Berry. Why not make some healthy versions like these Avocado Chocolate Brownies.

8. Sell your stuff – get on ebay, Vinted, Gumtree or to your nearest car boot sale. I’m sure there’s clothes/shoes/equipment you don’t use anymore that could go to a good home for a couple of quid. 

9. Have people bid to choose a fancy dress outfit for you to run in. Usually the more ridiculous you look, the more they are willing to cough up. 

10. Say THANK YOU! I so appreciate when I get a text, email or even card from the person I’ve sponsored, either after I’ve donated or after they have completed their challenge to let me know how they got on. It’s the personal touch that makes the difference, and means people are more likely to sponsor you again in future! 

Look out for more collaboration posts with Race for Life in the coming months…these are not sponsored posts, Cancer Research UK is an awesome charity that I want to support through this blog and their Summer races.