Fund-raising for a marathon? A few tips

I don’t know about you but I love having a go at new stuff. Unusual challenges. The first I can recall was back in 1972 when a bunch of us from school played in a 24-hour football match. You can imagine how it began - 22 spotty, gangly lads charging around like mad things, with no concept of energy conservation. Once we’d reached the 24-hour mark, we looked more like the walking dead than teenage footballers.

Other challenges have included walking the 14 Snowdonia peaks over 3,000 feet, finishing on Snowdon itself, in 12 hours 10 minutes. Then there was taking part in Strictly Northampton in 2011.

The first-ever London Marathon - 1981

Arguably my favourite challenge was the very first London Marathon in 1981. Yes - that's me in the picture. I know what you're thinking if you know me now - hasn't he aged well? A few more marathons followed … but I’ve totally neglected serious running for at least 30 years … until this year - the 40th London Marathon - April 26th.

Positive experiences

All these events have had their ups and their downs but, generally, they’ve been thoroughly positive experiences … except for one aspect - the fund-raising. I’ve always hated asking for money - don't know why - it just makes me uncomfortable. But, for this year’s London Marathon, I thought I’d give it a real go and overcome my resistance. In short, I’ve decided to ‘get over myself’ and go for it.

The cause I’m raising funds for is MENCAP - the charity that does so much to support people living with learning difficulties. I thought I’d share some of the fund-raising successes I’ve managed so far. Perhaps if you’re running a marathon this year, you might find some of these tips helpful.

Here we go -

1.     Social Media.

Yep - no surprises there. But there’s a special technique I’ve been using, which, although time-consuming, has worked especially well. If you just post a message on Facebook or LinkedIn to announce your event with a link to Just Giving or Virgin Money Giving, your post will have disappeared into the cyber-ether in no time. Success will be limited. But, here’s a social media technique that has worked wonders for me - on both Facebook and Linkedin.

Make it personal

Use the personal message function but - and this bit’s really important - make it properly personal. In other words, don’t just spam everybody in their message boxes. You’re more likely to annoy them. Begin with a personal bit, such as -

 “Hi Jenny - how are you keeping? Haven’t seen you for ages. How was your skiing holiday? Plenty of snow I hope?”

 Next comes your generic copy/paste bit, like this -

 “I'm on the scrounge. I do hope you can support me and - really important this bit - share this message. Thank you. Click on the link and you'll see a photo of me on March 29th 1981 - running the very first London Marathon. Will you support me as I take part in next year's 40th? Back then, I was 25 and weighed 10.5 stone. This time, I'm 64 and weigh a trifle more - so there's work to be done! The heart is willing. The legs less so. Training is going well. My chosen charity is Mencap - supporting people with Learning Disabilities. Here's the all-important link -

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/StephenChurch5.

Please support this great charity. It will make every step of those long, cold, winter slogs worthwhile.”

Finally, close with a friendly, personal ending, like -

 “There we are - that’s all for now. Thank you Jenny. Hope to catch up again before long ??.”

And that’s it. Yes, it’s time-consuming, sending each of those out individually but think of it as a labour of love. The results will be great, for the simple reason that you’re being authentically personal.

 2.     Make up some little business cards. Just design them yourself, print them out and guillotine them up - 10 or more per sheet of A4. Make sure that you

• describe the event you’re taking part in
• state the charity you’re supporting
• add the URL for your fund-raising page.

You can use these cards in several ways. Here a few -

 (i)                 You’re out with friends. It’s no good just telling people about your event. It’s too easy for them to say, ‘Yeah, I’ll sponsor you’. When you tell them about it, hand them one of your hand-made cards. Just having that in their pocket will massively increase the chances of them going online and sponsoring you.

(ii)               Do you ever go networking? I do. I’m an addict. Same again - tell your networking colleagues about your event and hand out your little cards.

(iii)             This one works surprisingly well. When you’re out training, hand out your cards to people you pass. Perhaps this only works with old codgers like me, who stagger along slowly - perfectly happy to pause and chat to friendly passers-by. Clearly, this policy can’t work if you do your training in the city. Far too many people to accost. However, if you train on quiet country roads, dog walkers and ramblers will often be quite happy to take a card from you.

3.     Hold an event - This one isn’t possible for everyone. It depends on your personal circumstances and the size and nature of your personal and business network. Put on an event. Use a room in your favourite pub or a village hall or even your local curry house. Arrange a night of entertainment - music, comedy, whatever. If you’re using a pub or restaurant, choose a quiet mid-week evening and negotiate a low price for the food. The venue will make plenty of money on drinks. You can perhaps arrange for music and/or comedy. Use your network to find performers who will do their stuff for a cut-price fee.

Find a sponsor

If you’re holding the event at a venue where you have to bring in outside caterers, get a friendly local company to sponsor the food. You’ll find that, with a bit of creative thinking, you can sell tickets for a tenner, give people a really good evening and raise plenty of funds. This could be via -

 -         a raffle

-         a sweepstake where people pay to guess your marathon finishing time

And there we have it - just a few approaches to fund-raising that could give your efforts the boost they need.

Good luck!

I'm Stephen Church. I occasionally break up my non-stop marathon training with a spot of copywriting. My company is Copywriter Pro. I get more and better clients for businesses by writing words for their websites which are clear, concise and compelling. Take a look ... and let's have a chat.

www.CopywriterPro.co.uk

Tel - 01604 378495