Overseas challenges attracted over 8,000 participants in 2004
Howard Lake | 26 June 2005 | News
Charity event specialists Skyline report that over 8,000 people took part in overseas challenge events to raise funds for charities in 2004. The number of charities raising funds in this manner has risen from 10 to over 1,000 in 10 years.
Skyline says that it has contributed to this rise in the number of charities raising funds from overseas challenges through the introduction in 2003 of its ‘Open Overseas Challenges’. The ‘open’ format allows UK charities to benefit from this type of fundraising opportunity “with no commitment to numbers and minimal financial risk.”
Event participants are required to raise a minimum sponsorship level. These vary according to the location of the challenge but tend to be around the £2,500 mark, with challenges closer to the UK having a lower sponsorship level.
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Fair Haven’s Hospice in Essex is one charity which has benefited from the Open Overseas Challenge. Fundraiser Lauretta Fox said: “I am delighted to say that we will have raised £25,000 for Fair Havens Hospice and Little Haven Children’s Hospice from the recent China Cycle Ride.”
Skyline’s first two trips of 2005 are now full but there is still some availability for their open Peru Trek in September and their open Vietnam Cycle Ride in November.
Part of Skyline’s service includes giving charities free promotional materials (such as colour posters, photography and information packs) to promote the event and to help them find participants to take part on their behalf.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.