Charity fundraising opportunities around the FIFA World Cup 2014
Howard Lake | 12 June 2014 | News
With millions of people about to enjoy the spectacle of the FIFA 2014 World Cup in Brazil, charities as well as companies are trying to make the most of the opportunity. Here is a selection of fundraising events, ideas and campaigns that we have spotted.
1. The 10 richest footballers at the 2014 Brazil World Cup
A 10 richest World Cup footballers list has been assembled by ultra high net worth intelligence and prospecting firm Wealth-X.
The England team has more ultra-wealthy players than any other country in the World Cup, so makes a tempting target for prospect researchers. Wayne Rooney is worth $95 million, Frank Lampard $60 million, and Steven Gerrard $55 million.
In addition eight footballers on the list are current or past players in the English Premier League.
The top five are:
- Cristiano Ronaldo
- Lionel Messi
- Wayne Rooney
- Didier Drogba
- Samuel Eto’o
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2. Guess2Give World Cup Sweepstakes
British Tinnitus World Cup Sweepstake on Guess2Give
Guess2Give.com says that its Group Sweepstakes are ideal for World Cup and some of these are already underway for individuals.
The company has also created the Super Group Sweepstake. This is where the ‘pool’ of teams (if it were the World Cup) is constantly replaced once all 32 teams have been taken. This means the prize fund is unlimited. It does mean that there could be any number of people with the winning team, therefore the system will randomly select first, second and third from all those that have the winning team.
British Tinnitus has set up one of these Super Group Sweepstakes for the World Cup.
3. Red Card for MND Association
Happy World Cup Eve! Support @RedCard4MND and guess the number of reds in Brazil for #MND: http://t.co/IWazhD4EpV pic.twitter.com/a8ncyqq7ow
— MND Association (@mndassoc) June 11, 2014
Given the link between red cards and MNDA, the charity has created Red Cards for RedCard4MND, a World Cup Prediction Competition. They are encouraging supporters to predict the number of red cards shown in Brazil. Just donate £2 via their Just Giving Page (“don’t forget to Gift Aid it” they remind us) and “then contact us with your prediction of number of red cards and as a tie breaker of the number of yellow cards”. The winner will be the person who guesses correctly or closest to the final total. They will receive half the entry pot, up a maximum of £50, with the remainder going towards the MND Association. All entries must be made by 21:00 on 12th June 2014.
4. World Cup Sweepstake
The Sick Children’s Trust’s World Cup Sweepstake
The Sick Children’s Trust is one of many charities inviting its supporters to run a World Cup sweepstake at the office or among friends and family. They’ve made it easy by creating a free to download World Cup Sweepstake kit. It comes with advice on how to run the sweepstake, how much to charge, how much to offer in prizes and so on.
5. Help Smile Train give every football fan a championsh
Smile Train’s first World Cup SmileyGraph
Smile Train, the world’s largest cleft repair charity, has launched a campaign to drive awareness of its global work among football fans. It has published the first of four sharable infographics, or ‘SmileyGraphs’, that link Smile Train’s work internationally with 14 of the countries playing in the World Cup. It highlights the 17,000 smiles that the charity has brought to Brazil. Future social posts will highlight how one cleft surgery can be completed in just 45 minutes, one half of one of the World Cup matches. Each SmileyGraph includes a request to donate to the charity.
6. Get Your Kit On for Motability
Motability’s Get Your Kit On campaign poster
Motability is asking supporters to wear their football shirts with pride during the World Cup and organise a Get Your Kit On event. They are offering a free fundraising pack download which includes a fundraising sweepstake.
7. Donate your third beer to Alcohol Concern
Alcohol Concern is using the World Cup to encourage people not to “go too mad on the beer” and to raise funds by asking people to donate their third beer, or the cost of it, to the charity. The charity says:
“if you’re watching the match and finish off your second drink, why not buy one for us? You can have a great night watching the games, while helping our work too. Simply text BALL24 £4 to 70070 to donate the cost of a drink to us.”
Other World Cup and charity initiatives
1. WorldCup +SocialGood
WorldCup +SocialGood is a series of virtual global panels to use the opportunity of the World Cup to highlight global issues centred around the Millennium Development Goals. “Let’s use the #WorldCup to work towards the biggest #WorldGoals”.
2. WorldCup Sport for Good
A round-up from Good News Shared of projects in all the different countries taking part in the World Cup in which sport is used for social good. Appropriately, the series of blog posts takes each World Cup group in order, so the first one covers Groups A & B. For example, Spain’s entry is the Real Madrid Foundation which promotes sport and uses it as an educational tool in Spain and internationally.
3. Psychic Puppy to predict World Cup matches and promote Dogs Trust
Psychic Puppy – Bailey helps promote Dogs Trust during the 2014 FIFA World Cup
In homage to Paul, the Psychic Octopus, who was said to have predicted the outcome of matches in the 2010 World Cup, film company Nexus has created Psychic Puppy in which Bailey the puppy will predict the outcome of major World Cup matches. She does so in a series of six films being broadcast exclusively on Huffington Post UK. The films are dedicated to dog welfare charity Dogs Trust. Sausage dog Bailey was just 13 weeks old when filming started. She chooses a winner by selecting from two toys representing each country. Director George Wu admitted that bringing together the world of football, psychics and puppies was a weird task, but added:
“Being an enthusiastic dog owner myself, making Psychic Puppy was probably my dream job.”
He said he hoped this would drive more attention “for a charity close to my heart, Dogs Trust”.
4. Concern and Concern United
Development charity Concern has created Concern United to sign a football shirt in their campaign to end hunger.
“We’re asking supporters, both here and in Brazil, to put their names forward so Concern can add them to two football shirts that’ll be presented to the Secretary of State for International Development, Justine Greening, and to His Excellency Roberto Jaguaribe, Ambassador of Brazil to the UK.”
We are #ConcernUnited the #WorldCup team tackling #hunger & transforming lives. Join us! http://t.co/EbR3ddUTTC pic.twitter.com/QDwrzDXOmg
— Graham Cooke (@CHUGGERMASTER) June 18, 2014
What other World Cup fundraising initiatives should we add here?
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.