The time to fundraise is Challenge Events Fundraising Guide
Right now, breast cancer is at a tipping point More women are surviving breast cancer. But more are being diagnosed than ever before. And every 45 minutes, another woman in the UK dies from the disease. With your help, we can change that. We re Breast Cancer Now, the UK s largest breast cancer charity created by the merger of Breast Cancer Campaign and Breakthrough Breast Cancer and we re dedicated to funding research into this devastating disease. We believe that if we all act now, by 2050, everyone who develops breast cancer will live. What s in your guide The time is now Getting started Tom & Chris story Fundraising ideas story Fundraising ideas Rachel s story Top tips Promoting your event Paying in your money 4 6 8 10-11 12 14-15 16 18 20 22 02 03
The time is now At more than 30 institutions across the UK and Ireland. We re working with hospitals across the country to make sure breast cancer patients get the best services and support. Thank you for joining us. Whether you walk, run, cycle, skydive or swim to raise money for Breast Cancer Now, you ll be supporting cutting-edge research to find ways to stop this devastating disease taking lives. But that doesn t mean we ve got breast cancer under control. More than 50,000 women in the UK will be told they have the disease this year. That s one woman every 10 minutes. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK. One in eight women will face it in their lifetime. Nearly 700,000 people living in the UK have experienced a diagnosis. Survival rates for breast cancer have increased dramatically. 80 per cent of women who develop breast cancer will now live beyond five years. 40 years ago, it was only around half. Research has made incredible progress, but despite all we ve achieved breast cancer still kills and it kills on a heart-breaking scale. 1,000 women in the UK have their lives cut short by the disease every month. We can t live with that. It s time to act. We support nearly 4 0 of the world s brightest researchers. Find out more about what we are doing in your area: breastcancernow.org/inmyarea Working together to find ways to prevent, detect, treat and stop breast cancer. Get inspired now 04 05
Get off to a flying start 1. Tell people why you re doing your event and why raising money for Breast Cancer Now is important to you. Add a photo of yourself or the person that inspired you to take on your challenge. 2. Set a fundraising target, and then keep increasing it. Research has shown that online fundraising pages with a target raise significantly more than pages without one. Also, average donation amounts reduce once a target has been achieved, so keep upping it. You will either have a minimum sponsorship pledge to achieve, or an idea of how much money you d like to raise. Here are our top tips to getting off to a hugely successful start - it all revolves around your online fundraising page. Online fundraising makes raising money quick and easy. Set up your page as early as possible and share it with as many people as possible. The two most popular sites are JustGiving and Virgin Money Giving - here are some top tips from our Challenge Events team about how to make a successful page: 3. Email a link to your page to all of your contacts and include it on your email signature. 5. Don t stop! Update your page after your event, adding information about how you got on and any photos and videos from the day. 4. Keep updating your page to let everyone know how you re getting on with training and fundraising for your event. Post a link on Facebook and Twitter, with regular updates to let your friends know how hard you re working. 6. Thank everyone that you can via social media. It will inspire others to donate. 06 07
Never giving up Tom and Chris have been running to raise money for breast cancer research since losing their mum to the disease in 2007. So far they ve raised nearly 10,000. We take on these running challenges to try and do what we believe our mum would have wanted us to do - get back up, brush ourselves down and realise that there are people who are still suffering from the impacts of this disease that we can help. Fundraising ideas 08 09
Fundraising in 30 minutes Fundraising in half a day Get the office in a flutter Organise a sweepstake for the Grand National, the X Factor, the World Cup or whatever event or tournament is happening at the time. Give something up Whether your weakness is chocolate, your morning Latte or being glued to your mobile phone, get sponsored to give it up for a day, week or month. You could also donate any money that you save. Gift amnesty If you have a birthday or special occasion, such as an anniversary, retirement or wedding approaching, consider asking for donations instead of gifts. Get baking Recruit your friends, family and colleagues to help you bake lots of yummy sweet and savoury goodies. Then sell them at your work, school, church or club. Clear out your clutter Head to your local car boot sale or list your unwanted items on ebay. Remember, one person s trash is another person s treasure! Sponsored head shave If you re feeling brave, ask people to sponsor you to shave off your hair. Our Challenge Events team is always on hand to provide you with more hints, tips and advice. events@breastcancernow.org 0333 20 70 300 breastcancernow.org/ hintsandtips 10 11
You are powering groundbreaking research Professor Clare Isacke works at our dedicated Research Centre in London; if we are going to find new ways to treat breast cancer, and prevent it from spreading, it is vital that we continue to fund scientists like her. By being at the heart of cutting edge research, Clare is helping to bring forward the day when breast cancer no longer takes the lives of the women we love. And with you behind her, she ll be able to do this faster. The money you raise could help our researchers: Understand the causes of breast cancer and predict who is most at risk of developing the disease Develop effective new treatments and find ways to prevent drug resistance Identify which patients are most at risk of their breast cancer spreading, allowing us to help them sooner.
Fundraising in an Fundraising in a day evening Cinema night Ask your local cinema if they ll do a special showing for you and then sell tickets. Well-known films such as Grease and Star Wars are always popular and you can encourage people to dress up too. Fun and games Whether you re into quizzes, darts, bingo or bridge, why not ask a local pub, club or school to let you put on an event? Pamper evening You can either provide your own face masks and nail varnish or contact local beauty therapists to ask if they ll come along and offer treatments. Charge an entry fee or a price per treatment. Get packing Ask your local supermarket if you can spend the day packing bags in exchange for donations. And why not get your family and friends involved too? Dress down day at work or school Ask everyone to donate to wear pink or to spend the day in their onesie or favourite football shirt. Don t forget to organise a raffle and cake sale on the same day to raise as much money as possible. Hold a bucket collection Get collecting in your town, train station or shopping centre. You ll need a licence or permission, and some willing helpers, but you could raise a small fortune from your generous local community! 14 15
Pedal Power Since her mum overcame breast cancer, Rachel has raised over a 1,000 by taking on a bike ride to help others. Fundraising was an extremely moving experience. I was shocked at the support from family and friends, even an anonymous donation on my JustGiving. I regularly posted my training rides and photos on Facebook and Instagram to make everyone know how motivated I was to complete the ride in a good time and raise as much as possible. 16 17
Top tips 1. Do it together Ask friends, family and colleagues to support you, whether by taking part themselves or by assisting with some of the planning. 4. Think legal Sometimes you need permission from your local council to host an event. You might also need to put together a risk assessment. Get in touch with us and we can talk you through what you need to do. 2. Gift Aid it Asking people to add Gift Aid to a donation means we can claim an extra 25% at no extra cost to them. They just need to be a UK taxpayer. 3. Shout about it Tell your friends about your fundraising, take to social media to spread the word and use our media toolkit on page 20 to let your local papers know. 5. Let us help you We ve got a dedicated team at Breast Cancer Now ready to support you with ideas, suggestions, fundraising materials or just a bit of a pep-talk. Don t hesitate to give us a call on 0333 20 70 300 6. Enjoy it! It s your time to do something amazing to support Breast Cancer Now and we want you to have a blast doing it. So many of our fantastic supporters catch the fundraising bug from their first event we hope you do too! 18 19
Your time to shine Getting in touch with your local press is a great way to get some exposure for your fundraising and it might encourage other people to get involved! These useful tips will help you promote what you re doing. Our experienced Challenge Events team will always be here to offer you support when dealing with the media, so if you have any queries please do contact our fundraising team on 0333 20 70 300 or email events@breastcancernow.org 1. Tell your story To make your story as interesting as possible to your local media, remember to: Make it about people: tell them who s involved and why Make it new and different: your local journalist is always looking for an angle to a news story. Their aim is to be first, better, different and interesting. That should be your aim too Make it local: local papers really value stories about outstanding achievements from people in their area Make it eventful: special awards, celebrity attendance, and large numbers being involved all mean a great story Make it colourful: photographs are a brilliant way to get your local press interested, so make sure you take lots! 2. Contact your local media Make a list of newspapers, radio and TV stations and websites that cover your local area and find out their contact details. Then start getting in touch and telling them about what you re doing. Don t forget to include your contact details so journalists can get in touch with you. 3. Use social media Facebook and Twitter are great ways to let people know about your fundraising. Post on Facebook, tweet about it and don t forget to include a link to your JustGiving page! We can also help promote your fundraising through our Breast Cancer Now accounts on: @breastcancernow #teamnow Breast Cancer Now breastcancernow 20 21
Paying in your money When your fundraising is complete and you re ready to send in your money there are five easy options: 1. You can send cheques, postal orders or CAF vouchers (please don t send us cash) together with the money return form in your pack to: Breast Cancer Now Freepost RTGZ-KUHJ-XHKU Breast Cancer Now 2A Halifax Road Melksham SN12 6YY 2. Pay in your sponsorship money online at breastcancernow.org/ eventsponsorship 3. Call our Supporter Engagement team on 0333 20 70 300 to make a credit or debit card payment. 4. Pay via your online fundraising page. 22 23
Research holds the key to a world where everyone who develops breast cancer lives. We believe that if we all act now, by 2050, we will live in that world. We ve got a once in a lifetime opportunity to stop women dying from breast cancer. Your time, your energy, your commitment - you will make all the difference. Thank you 0333 20 70 300 breastcancernow.org Registered charity nos 1160558 (England and Wales) and SC045584 (Scotland).