 | Christine Rowland | |||
 CHRISTINE ROWLAND has long experience of raising money for all sorts of charities (and generously volunteering for the Alzheimer's Society (see profile [0]). She offers three simple but effective tips for raising money for sponsored events:1. Use your employer Christine works for auditing giant PricewaterhouseCoopers. The firm matches donations of up to £250 each year earned through sponsored events. It also gives £250 to the charity helped by its Volunteer of the Year, which is a hotly contested internal competition. "This year I'm going for both," Christine says. PwC also gives up to £5,000 to a staff members' charities for special projects; this is judged once a year by a panel and awarded at a special ceremony. Related articles
Many companies have similar schemes and Christine urges everyone to investigate. "Many firms have similar schemes but they don't always advertise them very well," she says. 2. Bring in your work mates It's not just about your company's cash - it's also about fellow employees. Christine laughs. "I'm asking people to sponsor me all the time and they do get all sponsored out! But you can ask for sponsorship as a group, your network grows and you bring in more. For the Malaria Swim, six of us sent an email across the firm and we raised over £1,000 from staff - matched by PwC to make £2,094. This paid for 721 mosquito nets." 3. Let the web collect your donations "Using a website takes a lot of the blood, sweat and tears out of the fundraising process," she says. "In the past I've asked people for the money there and then, because it's really hard to get it afterwards. But for the Malaria Swim there was a site where people pledged money and it was collected automatically*. It worked really well." If your enthusiasm is stirred, Christine has one final tip: beware of your own success. "Once you've done a few things you get roped into other stuff too - and you have to learn to say, 'No!' It's great to do all this work, but you can get a bit swamped if you're the willing donkey!" *If your charity doesn't have this facility you can set up your own at www.justgiving.com |