The rise and rise of the fun run
Howard Lake | 4 August 2014 | Blogs
Many fundraisers are wrongly under the impression that the only runs that can generate the level of fundraising that makes the time investment worthwhile is marathons. These days, that’s simply not the case: shorter, fun runs can generate valuable income for charities too.
No doubt you’ll have seen the large number of fun runs across the country: these create access for more supporters, and generate substantial income for charities, including smaller, local causes. Attracting ten fun runners can generate the same income as one marathon runner, yet the level of commitment on the supporter’s part is a fraction of that needed to train and complete a marathon.
Charity challenges give supporters the opportunity to push themselves to the limits; physically and often emotionally, and adds an extra dimension to their fundraising capabilities. Sometimes that is a marathon. For many more, that could be a fun run. Friends, family, colleagues and the wider public will often donate more to a fundraiser if they’re challenging themselves for the cause too.
If, as charitable organisations, we can help to deliver the best fundraising experience for our supporters, we have a better chance of attracting repeat support, increased participation and maximum funds.
DoItForCharity
At Skyline we have seen this trend grow over several years, and we have helped people raise over £85 million for over 3,000 charities. Our online charity events portal DoItForCharity lists many of the event opportunities open to individuals to help a charity.
DoItForCharity’s fun run series allows all charitable organisations to fundraise from charity challenges, without the large financial commitment from any one charity to execute the event under their own umbrella brand. It enables smaller charities or those with less resource or capacity, as well as larger, higher profile organisations, to access an additional revenue stream and create an opportunity for maximising their message through participants.
Superhero Run
Superhero Run by Skyline Events
Spring saw the most recent DoItForCharity fun run take place with Spiderman, Batman and the Hulk all joining in the fun of the fourth annual Superhero Run in Regent’s Park. With over 2,000 runners supporting 85 different charities, each runner raised an average of £284 in sponsorship for completing the 5km and 10km courses. The event as a whole raised over £568,000. Established as the first mixed fun run of its kind, open to all ages, charities needn’t focus on one particular group of supporters to attract participants.
Santa Run as part of DoiTForCharity.com’s series.
London’s largest Santa Run, which attracts over 5,000 runners to run round Victoria Park, will run again this winter as part of the DoItForCharity fun run series. On 7th December, thousands of Santas will park up their sleighs and sport their running shoes to raise hundreds of thousands for charities up and down the country.
Participants select their own individual charity to run for so whether a charity has one supporter running or 200, they can utilise the DoItForCharity fun runs as a way to raise additional income. Year on year we see the popularity of these fun runs increase from participants and charities alike and we continue to welcome all charities to get onboard and take advantage of them.
Siobhan Dillon is Co-Founder of Skyline and DoItForCharity
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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.