Your OML Fundraising Playbook ~ Ten tips to hit your target

1. Ask

This is your number one, must do, top tip.

Ask your friends and family to donate.

Because if you don’t ask, you don’t get.

8 out of 10 cats folks who give to charity only donate when they’re asked to do it.

So, if you want someone to help you hit your fundraising goal, ask them.

You might file this stat under “well, yeah, obviously” but folks who ask for donations simply raise more money. Somewhere between 40% and 100% more than people who don’t ask.

So, ask.

2. Start early

Now, you wouldn’t start training for a marathon the day before the event, and you shouldn’t leave your fundraising until the day before either.

Fundraising takes some effort – even if you only have to raise £100.

The sooner you start fundraising, the easier it’ll be to hit your target.

3. Channel the busker’s hat

There’s a reason why buskers put a few coins in their own hats.

It makes it look like people have already given them money and it says to everyone else, it’s OK to put money in the hat.

Plus, it sets an expectation of how much to donate. If the hat’s got a few pound coins in it, people are less likely to throw in some coppers and more likely to also donate a pound.

The same is true with your online fundraising. Putting the first £10 in your own hat gets the ball rolling, and shows people it’s OK to donate. That tenner sets the bar on how much to give too – the first £10 will most likely make others give £10 too.

There is no shame in being your own first supporter. Promise.

4. Tell your story + the charity’s story

The people who are most likely to give you a tenner, your friends and family, will do it because they want to support you.

They want to hear what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.

They want to know the size of the challenge, the effort you’re putting in and how much you’re going to suffer (soz).

So, tell them.

Don’t forget to share the difference their donation will make to the charity too.

But remember, friends and family care mostly about you.

So, tell your story then sprinkle the charity’s story on top.

5. Message 10–20 of your closest friends and family

Ten pounds from ten pals. That’s what you’re after.

A personal message, on WhatsApp or whatever, to a close friend or family member is incredibly effective at getting that tenner.

Be really specific about what you’re asking – e.g. “can you donate £10?”. If you need them to get your fundraising started, let them know. If you’re just once donation short of hitting your target, tell them.

Folks really don’t mind these messages, if you don’t send them too often. Once or twice in the 6 months before the event is fine.

Plus, a nudge is OK too, if folks haven’t donated. Oh, and don’t forget to say thank you!

6. Share weekly training updates with a link to your fundraising page

People do need nudges with stuff like this.

Your fundraising might be really important to you, but it’s only a tiny part of other folks’ lives. If you don’t regularly remind them about it, they’ll just forget.

Sharing your training updates, the highs and lows, along with a pic of you out running is a really easy way to keep your fundraising in their minds.

Every run gives you something new to share.

And at the end of each update, add a line that says why you’re training and shares your fundraising page:

“I’m doing all this to run in a 12-hour ultramarathon for charity. Support me here [add the link to your fundraising page]”

It’s a little nudge that gives people the option to donate. These are the messages that really help you get donations.

7. Teamwork

Teams that raise together, stays together. Or something.

When you’re running, you’ll be each other’s biggest supporters, and you can be the same when you’re fundraising.

So, what can you do as a team to get your fundraising going? A quiz night, cake sale, film night, or maybe a raffle at the run club?

Ooh, we love a raffle. You’ll be amazed at who will donate a raffle prize if you ask them. So, pop to the local pub, hair salon, gym, mini-golf, waterpark - anywhere you think your club mates might want to win a prize from and ask them to donate one.

One good raffle could easily be your team fundraising goal achieved right there.

8. Ask if your employer does match-giving

This is a super simple way to double your money.

“Hello boss, can you match my fundraising?”

Regardless of whether you work for a big multinational company or a small local business, loads of places will now do match funding.

You just need to ask.

9. Ask (again)

People have busy lives and that event you told them about is ages away.

So yeah, they’re going to sponsor you, but later. Right now they’re taking the kids to school, doing the washing, busy at work. You know what it’s like.

So ask them again.

A reminder, sent when One More Lap is just around the corner, with a link to your fundraising page, is the way to get those last-minute donations from all those people who were just too busy to do it earlier.

10. Thank everyone + share your final total and some photos

Photo or it didn’t happen.

Some people need to see the evidence before they’ll donate.

Sharing pics on your socials or in the family WhatsApp group will help catch some late donations.

In fact, somewhere between 20% & 30% of all donations happen after One More Lap.

So, send some pics and some words of thanks. Share your total and the event total, tell them the difference it’s made, and send the link to your fundraising page one more time.