Fundraising Made Easy Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance Guide to Fundraising
Content page Our Fundraising Team 3 What your Fundraising could do 4-5 Ten Steps to Success 6-7 Fundraising Ideas 8-9 Planning your Activity 10 Favourite Fundraising Ideas 11 Promote your Activity 12 Keep it Safe, Keep it Legal 13 How to Send us the Money 14 Tell us About your Activity 15 Without people like you, we wouldn t be able to provide our lifesaving service. We are truly grateful. This booklet makes fundraising easy by providing all the information you need, including helpful tips and plenty of inspiration and creative ideas. THANK YOU For choosing to support Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance. Our Fundraising Team Head of Income Generation: Rachel Scholes-Hamilton rachel@hiowaa.org Event Fundraiser: Sophie Gunner sophie@hiowaa.org Schools and Youth Fundraiser: Joanna Hennessy joanna@hiowaa.org We are here to support you every step of the way. If you have any further questions, our Fundraising Team are always happy to help. Challenges Fundraiser: Ian Browning ian@hiowaa.org 2 3
/Fundraising Take a look at what your fundraising could do. We rely on voluntary donations to keep the Air Ambulance flying. Our work simply wouldn t be possible without people like you. No matter how big or small your donations are, they will always be put to good use. We really appreciate your help. 85 of the money you raise will provide a Red HEMS Coat for one of our crew members. 1,200 of the money you raise will provide Flight Suits for two of our paramedics or doctors. 160 of the money you raise will provide Boots for a member of our crew. 1,700 of the money you raise will provide a Flying Helmet for one of our doctors or paramedics. 100 of the money you raise will cover the cost of Thermal Tops for a couple of our crew members. 55 of the money you raise will provide Disposable Gloves for our crew for a month. 820 of the money you raise will cover the cost of a Blood Tracking System used by our doctor and paramedics. Thank you! /Fundraising
/Fundraising Tips /Fundraising Tips Organising your own fundraising event Fundraising may seem complicated, but just take it one step at a time. Here are 10 steps to success. 2 1 Choose your theme, event or activity. If you love getting active, you could organise a sponsored ride or sports tournament. Perhaps social events are more your thing, so how about arranging a cheese and wine evening or bingo night? Or get crafty and bake cakes or make cards to sell. You ll find lots of ideas and inspiration throughout this booklet and you ll also read about people who ve done amazing things to raise money for us. Find The Perfect Venue Pick an Idea Find the ideal place to suit your activity. Look for a free local venue and ask if they can help decorate it for the event too. 4 Think About the Date If there isn t a particular occasion, choose the ideal date and time for people to attend. Make sure there s nothing happening already that might clash. Avoid public and national holidays if possible. 3 Guests Consider who your event is suited to, who to invite and if you have a maximum or minimum number. Why not plan a fun day out? In your local park or in your back garden. Do something you ll all enjoy eg. Kite Flying or HulaHooping. More on pages 8-9 5 Plan the Activity Even the simplest activities need some planning and preparation. The better prepared you are, the more smoothly your activity will run, helping you to raise even more for HIOWAA. Think about how you re going to raise funds and what will work best for you. So if you re putting on a social event, will you charge an entrance fee, or price drinks and snacks individually? Ensure there is enough time before the event to achieve everything. Don t be afraid to ask for our help. 6 Know your budget. Set a realistic income target making sure your costs are covered. Budget Quick Tip: Try not to buy any equipment, food or drink. Acquire, borrow or get items donated. If a company can sponsor your event, ask if they can help to promote it too. 7 Reach the Top To be really successful, you should consider and make use of all opportunities. Find as many ways as you can to make money around your event or activity. It could be as simple as charging for tickets or asking your venue if they would like to donate a percentage of the sales they make during the event. This will make a big difference and will maximise your income. Promote your Event 8 10 Give Ask local businesses for support. They can donate money, raffle prizes or provide some of the resources you need. To make the most of your event, make sure you promote it well. Once the details are decided, it s time to drum up lots of interest from your friends, family or work mates. Make it easy for everyone to donate, even if they can t come along on the day. Set up an online donation page, add a photo and a reason to support you. yourself the Thumbs Up All your hard work has paid off. All funds you raise or donate go directly towards delivering our life saving services. Thank you so much for everything you ve done. Social media is one of the most effective ways to promote your event and it s FREE. Search for relevant websites where you may be able to advertise your event for free such as local community what s on sites or local sports societies. The more people you tell, the more donations you will attract. 9Pay in your Money Once the fundraising is over, it s time to collect donations and send them to us. There are several ways you can pay us. Find out more on page 13. 6 7
/Fundraising Ideas /Fundraising Ideas A-Z Fundraising Ideas Here s a quick list of fun and interesting fundraisers - you may want to mix a number of ideas to maximise your success. -A- Abseil Afternoon Tea Apple Bobbing Art Exhibition Arts and Craft Stall Auction -B- Bad tie day Baked Bean Bath Challenge Barn Dance Beer Festival Bike-a-thon Bingo Boat Races Book Sale Bring and Buy Sale Bungee Jump Burns Night -C- Cake Sale Car Boot Sale Car Wash Carol Concert Casino Evening Coffee Morning Christmas Raffle Collection Tins Colour Run Come Dine with Me Evening Conker Championship Cricket Match Custard Pie Throwing -D- Dance-a-thon Darts Tournament Dinner and Cabaret Disco Dog Show Dress Down Day -E- Easter Egg Hunt Eating Competitions Egg and Spoon Race Egg Rolling Competition -F- Face Painting Fancy Dress Fashion Show Fete Film Night Fireworks Display Flower Arranging Foam Party Football Tournament Foreign Coins Fun Day -G- Game Show Garden Sale Garden Party Gardening Go Kart Racing Guess the Name of the Teddy Guest Speaker Gunge Tank -H- Halloween Party Head Shave Heads and Tails Hockey Match Hook-a-Duck Hula Hooping Competition -I- Indoor Games Evening It s a Knock Out Inflatables Ironing -J- Jam Making Jazz Festival Jelly Eating with Chopsticks Jewellery Making Juggling Contest Jumble Sale -K- Karaoke Kite Flying Knitted Goods Sale -L- Left Handed Day Line Dancing Look-a-like Competition -M- Magic Show Marathon Medieval Evening Mile of Pennies Mini Olympics Music Concert Musical Chairs Musicals Night -N- Name that Tune Nature Trail New Year s Resolutions Nearly New Sale Neon party Night Walk Non-School Uniform Day -O- Obstacle Course Odd Job Day Opera Night One Day Silence Ornament Sale -P- Paintballing Pancake races Pantomime Pet Competition Playstation Play Off Photography Exhibition Plant Sale Play Your Cards Right Pop Concert Puppet Show Pyjama Party -Q- Queens and Kings Party Quidditch Tournament Quiz -R- Race Night Raffle Raft Race Rainbow Day Ramble Recipe Book Relay Race Roll-a-Ball Roll the Dice -S- Santa s Grotto Scavenger Hunt Shoe Shine Silent Auction Silly Clothes Day Skydiving Sponsored Slim Sponge Throwing Sports Day Stars in Their Eyes Strawberries and Cream Street Collection Swap Shop Swear Box Swimathon -T- Table Top Sale Talent Show Teddy Bears Picnic Ten Pin Bowling Three Legged Race Tombola Toy Appeal Treasure Hunt Tuck Shop -U- Ultimate Challenge Unwanted Presents -V- Valentine Party Variety Show Volleyball Tournament -W- Water Sports Waxing Wedding Favours Weight of the Cake Wellies Full of Jelly Welly Throwing Wheelbarrow Races Wine and Cheese -X- Xmas Evening Xmas Hamper -Y- Yacht Racing Yo-Yo Competition Yoga Marathon -Z- Zodiac Evening 8 9
/Fundraising /Fundraising Planning your Activity Some simple planning can mean the difference between an average event and a fantastic fundraiser. We are so grateful for what you re doing to help Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance. We want to be as helpful as possible, and so we ve created this Fundraising Planner which will help you organise and smoothly run a great event. Take a look at our A-Z of Fundraising for creative ideas. What? Pick something you enjoy doing. If you have a good time, more people are likely to respond. Ask your friends, family and colleagues what they think about your idea. Keep it simple. If you re stuck for ideas, turn to our A-Z Fundraising suggestions on page 6 and 7. Aim to raise at least three times as much as you spend. List your costs and ask for a charity discount or a donation of goods from all your suppliers. Look at ways you can maximise the money you raise, such as holding a raffle at your activity or asking your employer to match your fundraising total. When? Avoid clashes with local or national events. Write a plan and keep it updated. Allow enough time for any travel, accommodation or suppliers to be booked in cheaply. Where? Where are you going to hold your Fundraising activity? Indoors or outdoors? Do you need to plan a route or book a venue? If so, can you get one for free? Ask local schools and community centres. Make sure that the venue can be accessed easily by public transport e.g. bus, train, tube. Check the venue s public liability insurance and make sure it covers the owner s liability risks. Who? Think about who you will be inviting to your activity and how you ll do it. Don t be afraid to ask friends, family and colleagues to help you. Use people s skills (i.e. if you know someone who is great with social media ask them to help publicise your activity). Why? What does Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance mean to you? Have they helped you or someone you know? Tell everyone why you are fundraising and about the great work that Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance do. Use blogs, social media and anything else you can think of. Remember to include a link to our website. The more people know about the charity, the more they will give. Favourite Fundraising Activities There are many ways you can raise money for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance. Here are just a few to get you ready and running. Fancy Dress Who doesn t like dressing up? Music and a happy party atmosphere are what it s all about. Put on your best wig and host a fun, enjoyable evening. Sponsored Challenge Feeling adventurous? Why not organise a trek, cycle ride, mountain climb or sky dive. Quiz Night Fun and popular, it works so well! Ask the pub to provide you all with a free entry drink and then charge your friends 10 to join the quiz. Coffee Morning Hosting a coffee morning is easy and fun. A perfect chance to catch up with friends, enjoy some treats and collect donations. Piggy Backing If you don t have the time to organise your own event from scratch, you can still fundraise by piggy backing on existing events. Raffle Cheap and easy, raffles are always a huge success. If the prizes are donated, the only costs are the printing of the tickets. 10 11
/Fundraising /Fundraising How to promote your activity We ve put together some helpful tips and resources to help you advertise your event even better. Keep it safe, keep it legal We want you to have fun and keep things as simple as possible. To put our minds at rest and to stop you from accidentally breaking any laws, please read the information below. Engage with the community. Tell everybody you know about your event. You will be amazed at how many people will be willing to support you. Posters and flyers are going to attract even more interest in your event. They are available in our Resources Pack. Advertise your event on local noticeboards, ask shops to display your posters in their windows. Press Release - the local media are often looking for stories about people who are doing amazing things. One of the keys to getting their attention is to have a local angle. If you think that you have a strong story with a local angle, try writing a press release and emailing it to the News Desk for print stories and Forward Planning for Radio and TV. A press release template to get you started is also included in our Resource Pack. Word of mouth is one of the most effective forms of PR E-mail signature is a great way to raise awareness for your activity. You can change your office or home e-mail signature, include an appeal for sponsorship and link to your fundraising page. Get more people involved - ask friends and colleagues to add the appeal to their signatures too. Social Media - promote your event on all of your favourite social media channels, from Facebook and Twitter to Instagram and Pinterest. Photos and videos are always a good way to get attention. You could also post your event on the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance s social media pages to reach our many followers. JustGiving - friends can support you whenever and wherever, by donating securely on JustGiving or Facebook and if you re in the UK, by text message. Your fundraising story is unique. With photos, videos and text, you can tell it in your own way. What you re doing is amazing. Whether it s a triathlon or a cake sale, the money you raise will make a difference. Food Hygiene Food hygiene is vitally important. Please take great care when handling food and work to basic rules for safe preparation, storage, display and cooking. Food safety laws apply when food is available, whether it is for sale or not. You can find more useful information at www.food.gov.uk and www.eatwell.gov.uk /keepingfoodsafe Licences Ask your local authority whether or not you need to obtain any special licenses (e.g. public entertainment, collection or alcohol licenses). If you are holding the event in a public place, you must have permission from the council. Raffles If you hold a small raffle on the day of your activity you do not need a license, as long as all ticket sales and the draw itself take place during the main event. Check the latest information and advice at www.gamblingcommission. gov.uk JustGiving To set up your page, please follow the link below: https://www.justgiving.com /fundraising-page/creation /get-started/ Risk Assessments Identify any hazards and assess any risks that you ll need to consider. Ensure you have adequate first aid cover available for the scale of your activity. If you re not sure, check with your local council. Insurance Please remember you are responsible for your fundraising activity and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance cannot accept liability for any loss, damage or injury suffered by you or anyone else as a result of taking part in the event. Please note that your event will not be covered by the charity insurance. Check the latest information and advice at www.hse.gov.uk The Money For your own protection, if possible, make sure you count the money you ve collected with another person present. Ask people who want to make a donation by cheque to make it payable to Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance, rather than you personally. Make sure any cash donated is kept in a secure place and is banked as soon as possible. Get consent You will need to get parental permission if children are helping at your event or if you re taking photographs of children. Children under the age of 17 must be accompanied by an adult. If your event is on private property, get permission from the owner or manager. Tell us about it We d love to know and see what you ve been up to. When you re spreading the word on social media, don t forget to include #hiowaafundraising Gift Aid it Gift Aid allows us to claim back the tax on every eligible donation. In order to help charities raise funds, the government allows us to reclaim the income tax you have paid on your donation, being 25 pence in every pound, which considerably increases the amount of your donation. 12 13
/Fundraising /Fundraising How to send us the money you raise We want to hear about your activity Thank you so much for all of your hard work! Please print this form, complete it and return to us at: 1 Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance, 4 Kings Park Road, Southampton, SO15 2AS Online with I/We raised for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance. JustGiving 4Bank Transfer I enclose cheque/s or postal orders payable to Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance, totalling You can make a payment directly into our bank account: There are lots of advantages to setting up a fundraising page on JustGiving. You can add a personalised story, images, video and updates and really bring your activity, and reasons for supporting us, to life. Link your JustGiving page to your Twitter account or Facebook, and you ll reach even more people. In turn, supporters can donate online, quickly, simply and anonymously if they want, and leave you messages of support. Even better, all donations are sent directly to us, so once your activity is done, you won t have to do any chasing. Visit justgiving.com to set up your fundraising page. 2 Cheque Write a cheque made payable to Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance and send it along with any sponsorship forms to: Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance 4 Kings Park Road Southampton SO15 2AS Bank name: Handelsbanken Branch address: 3 Carlton Crescent, Bank account name: Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance Bank account sort code: 40-51-62 Bank account number: 21533663 Please email us: enquiries@hiowaa.org to let us know when you have paid money in to our bank account, so that we can track and acknowledge your donation. 5 Collection Southampton SO15 2EY Sometimes we can arrange for a volunteer to collect your donation. Please ring the office on 02380 333377 to arrange this. What type of activity did you organise? Social event Quiz Performance Cycle Run Golf Swim Other: Tell us about your activity: 3 * Cash Bring cash into our offices at 4 Kings Park Road, Southampton, SO15 2AS. Our offices are open from 9am 5.30pm and it is always helpful if you are able to ring us in advance on 02380 333377 Don t forget to GiftAidIt, this will add 25 pence to every 1 of the money that you raise. See separate Gift Aid form. When did your event take place? Would you be happy for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance to share your fundraising experience with other supporters? Yes No 14 15
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance 4 Kings Park Road Southampton Hampshire SO15 2AS T: 023 8033 3377 E: enquiries@hiowaa.org W: hiowaa.org