As my Dad used to say, “Shy kids get nowt”. If you think someone might be able to help, ask them, they can only say no.

B Bag packing

Here’s a useful bit of advice.  Grown-ups don’t like other grown-ups packing their shopping bags.  Unless you have a small army of angel-faced kids on hand to do the actual packing, this method isn’t always that welcome.

What does work, however, is rattling buckets in the foyer of supermarkets. We have, on more than one occasion, seen fundraisers rake in over £1,000 in one weekend just by standing at the door of a Morrison’s with a bucket.  If you can set up a bit of a display and rope in some help, it can be hugely beneficial.  Have a look at these photos; this effort banked a grand for CFC.

C Corporate Sponsors

Asking big businesses to give you a hand can be daunting, but it can also pay off big-time.  As our experience with EDF Energy shows, when a large organisation sets their mind to it they can raise a huge amount of money.

But remember, corporate people are busy people. They don’t have time to come up with ideas for you; be clear, specific, and direct. Tell them exactly what you want from them and, above all, don’t be surprised if they don’t respond.

Cyclists Fighting Cancer have developed a selection of form letters which you can use as templates when asking for support.  Contact us on info@cyclistsfc.org.uk

D Determination

Don’t be scared to just ask someone for money. If you’re cycling your legs off, the least they can do is give you a tenner. This applies particularly to businesses and corporate sponsors (link).

E Email

As a mass communication tool, email is still king. It’s free and it reaches loads of people. Remember though, people get a lot of rubbish these days, to make your correspondence stand out try to stick to these simple rules:

·         Keep it short and to the point

·         Keep it friendly – don’t demand people’s money

Cyclists Fighting Cancer have a very worthy mission, there’s no doubt about that. But a message about the event, with a bit of humour and some photos, mentioning how people can contribute, will be far better received than a long story about the ugly face of paediatric cancer.

E Employers

We frequently hear of cases where employers have matched someone’s fundraising total pound-for-pound. Granted, your boss might not be able to do this, but they can offer a range of other support.  If you need posters printing, emails sending, access to a venue, transport, or volunteers, your company might be able to help – just ask.  If you work for a small company who don’t have these connections then make the most of that, ask if you can have everyone on the payroll for one afternoon. Take them down to the local supermarket and shake buckets at the shoppers.

F Facebook

Whilst traditional sponsorship forms will always have their place in fundraising, the internet is a very powerful tool too. Social networking sites such as Facebook are fantastic ways of spreading messages quickly. A simple message post or status update can reach the screens of hundreds of friends in no time. But be sure to tell them where to go to sponsor you.

G Google

As with anything these days, Google seems to have the answer for everything. For fundraisers, it’s an excellent way of carrying out research into new fundraising initiatives, whilst key contacts from a number of potentially helpful organisations can usually be found easily.

H Honesty

One of the best responses we’ve seen was to an email campaign with the subject line: “To be honest, I’m on the scrounge”.

This went out to a list of businesses asking them to donate prizes, and it worked a treat.  People seemed to like the fact that nothing was hidden, dressed-up, or skirted around. It got straight to the point and specified what was being asked for. Don’t try and fudge it, just ask.

I It’s a knock-out

No, we don’t want you to beat people up and take their money. But you could organise a fun evening of assault courses, quizzes, games and other challenges. Each team can pay a nominal amount to enter, with the winning team awarded a great prize (donated, of course, by a local company).

J Justgiving

Without doubt, this is one of the best ways of getting people to donate to a good cause – it’s simple, fast and effective.

We ask all our supporters to get along to virgin money giving and set up a page.  It should be one of the first things you do when planning your fundraising.  Once you’re set up, you can email the address of your page out to everyone you know, you can add it to your email signature, post it on Facebook, and write it on your CFC posters.

K Keep at it

The most important part of raising money is keeping the momentum going.  For every person who chips in, there’ll be at least two more that put it off, even if they do mean to help out.

These are the people you need to chivvy and chase.  We often get donations through Justgiving with a note from someone who promised us a tenner months, or even years back.  Keep reminding people, keep mentioning it.  If you can, get a name on a sponsor form to help you remember.

L Lawn Mowing

Yes, this one may not be as fun as some of the other options, but that’s why it’s a very good idea. Nobody really enjoys mowing their garden or plucking weeds from the undergrowth, which is why they might just pay a few pounds for you to do it for them. Knock on doors, post flyers through letterboxes – let people know you’re services are there.

M Marathon Events

You could run an actual marathon if you wanted, but if that’s not your thing then you can organise long sessions of badminton, table tennis, disco dancing, karaoke…anything. You can even give the Guinness Book of World Records a call if you think you could break any records!

N Nearly New Sale

Classier than a jumble sale, but not quite a day of retail therapy at Harrods, a nearly new sale is a great way of making money out of things that people have lying around.

It could be that George Foreman grill that’s sat untouched (and possible still partially wrapped in Christmas paper…) for two years, or that gorgeous dress that your mum never quite got around to losing weight to fit in to. Ask friends and family for donations and set a stall up anywhere…as long as it’s free, of course!

O Office Collection

This is a great way of getting money of people ‘there and then’. Obviously it’s best if you work with a lot of people – and avoid lunch time if you can – but simply ask everyone within grabbing distance for any pocket change they have on them. It can add up to quite a lot!

P Parties

Another fundraising idea that’s easy to get people interested in. It could be at your house or in a function room at your local pub. Arrange a DJ, make cocktails…and don’t forget to charge people!

Q Quiz Nights

A staple part of any fundraising campaign, a quiz night is easy to organise, cheap to run and fun for everyone. Research four or five rounds worth of questions on the internet – but don’t make them too difficult. Ask all your friends to come, ask them to bring at least three other friends and charge everyone a few pounds. Easy.

R Raffles

Another simple but effective means of raking some fundraising cash in. Contact local businesses, friends and work colleagues – ask whoever you can think of to donate some interesting prizes. It might even be worth doing this in conjunction with a quiz night and get people when they’re already feeling generous.

S Sports Events

Yes, this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but think of everyone you can who is remotely interested in sport and you can organise a day playing whatever people want. It could be a mini 5-aside football tournament, or a day playing various racquet sports – whatever takes your fancy.

T Tell Everyone

The first thing to do when you’ve decided on your challenge is to go out tell everyone you know what you’re doing and about the cause you’re doing it for.  This has the double effect of keeping you going during the event and during those long hours training because you don’t want to let anyone down especially the kids you are going to help!

U University Challenge

Okay, this will depend on whether you’re at university/college or not. If you are, this can be a very lucrative fundraising venture given that many institutions have tens of thousands of people enrolled.

Rather than arranging quizzes with rival universities though, for ease you can arrange it between departments…so you can see whether the IT geeks, media moguls or nursing students have the biggest brains.

V Video Evening

Simple, but the best ideas often are.

Email, text or – if you’re old fashioned – telephone your friends with a choice of two or three movies to watch. Whatever the most popular choice is, rent it out on DVD and charge everyone who shows up the full cost of the rental. This would be a bit cheeky normally, but for a good cause you shouldn’t get too many grumbles. You can even provide pop corn and cups of tea – for additional fees of course.

W Window Cleaning

This is another one that falls into the same category as lawn mowing. Have a look around your neighbourhood for some particularly filthy windows and knock on their door. Don’t tell them their windows are filthy of course, simply explain your cause to them and ask them if they’d like you to clean their windows for a few pounds.

X Xmas Party

Similar to organising a normal party, except this one is at Christmas time – which means that people will be full of festival cheer and happy to participate in whatever party games you have in store for them.

For other times of the year, you could hold an X-files evening or do a xylophone marathon…work with us here!

Y YouTube.

People may not know how much work you’re putting into training for your feat of endurance. Put together a short video of yourself in action, record a voiceover explaining what you’re doing…and even overdub some emotive music!

Most computers come with easy-to-use video editing software these days and once you’re done, upload the footage to YouTube and send a link to prospective donators!

Z Zzzzz

Fundraising can be tiring. Whilst it’s important to raise as much money as you can, you don’t want to be exhausted when it comes to taking part in your big sporting challenge. So get plenty of sleep in between your money-making exploits and make sure you’re in tip-top condition for when it matters most.