Fundraising is a massive part of the Uganda Marathon. Whilst there is no set target that you have to raise in order to come, Masaka Town and the amazing NGOs who work with the communities have opened their doors for runners to come and experience this incredible place, so in return we do all we can fundraise for the work that they are doing.
So after you’ve signed up for the marathon, you’ll be able to start thinking about which of the 11 projects you want to fundraise for, and what your target fundraising amount is. Once you’ve done this, it’s time to set up your fundraising page!
If you’re looking to do this now, we’ve set up a handy page, with instructions on how to do this for The Uganda Marathon.
This can be quite an intimidating task – the page that you’ll build is going to be the link that you send people who want to support you, the page that people will see on your Facebook, the front page of your fundraising. You need to get this one right!
So to support you in this, we’ve put together our top 9 tips for setting up a fundraising page, these have been put together from many years experience, having seen many different fundraising page. Make sure you give it a read before you put yours together.
Tip 1: Personalise your page
Make sure you fill your page up with lots of information about you and the project. Don’t just leave the standard blurb up because your friends and family won’t be able to relate it to you.
Tip 2: People don’t sponsor causes, the sponsor people with causes
People tend to respond to your passion for a project much more than the project itself. Your endorsement for the project shown by your passion will drive the size of their donation. So make sure you include your passion for the cause and the challenge, and make it as compelling as possible.
Tip 3: Facts and figures help to add context to your cause and challenge
Over the coming months, we are going to put out lots of information about exactly how much of a difference your fundraising is going to make. Include that into your page as it will give people context around the money that they are donating. This also helps with the challenge, as people will be able to relate the size of the feat to things that they have done (26.2 miles, 1,200m high, 30-degree heat etc.).
Tip 4: Write about why you, yourself are taking on the challenge.
Your donors are far more likely to relate to an emotion driven story than anything else (that doesn’t necessarily mean a sad story, it’s one that talks about what emotions drove you to sign up). So make sure you include the emotional side of why you are taking on this challenge and choosing this project.
Tip 5: Treat it as the front page of your fundraising.
You are going to put this page in front of a lot of people over the next few months, this is an awesome challenge! Only 200 people a year from outside of Uganda are going to be able to do what you are doing and so it’s going to attract a fair bit of attention. Therefore, this should be a 1 pager where someone who has never heard of the challenge or your project before, can get all the information they need to donate.
Tip 6: Get the people who you think will sponsor you the most to donate first
A lot of studies have shown that the size of the first few donations on your page play a big part in driving your future average donation size. People will look through the size of your previous donations and donate more to match.
Tip 7: People normally need to see a plea for donations 4 or 5 times before taking action
Don’t be discouraged if the first time you post it on Facebook, or send someone the link you don’t get people responding. Keep plugging away and giving different bits of information and you will see lots of people who you never thought would donate, send you money.
Tip 8: You’ll get most donations when you publish your page and in the two weeks leading up to the event
There will be a steady stream of donations from now until the event but, the impact of your work throughout the whole of your fundraising period will be felt the most in the 2 week run up to the event.
Tip 9: Thank people publicly for sponsoring you
Facebook, Twitter, noticeboards at work etc. show people how grateful you are for their generosity.
Tip 10: Send us the link to your page
We are going to feature a runner’s fundraising page each week and add £10 to your total!
