More virtual fundraising ideas when you are stuck at home
Howard Lake | 22 April 2020 | News
Last month we shared over 20 ideas for fundraising for charity when you are stuck in lockdown at home. Since then we have come across even more inspiring creativity so have plenty more ideas to share for your charity and its supporters.
Of course we have to start with the ongoing achievement of Captain Tom Moore, who is currently at £27.4 million for walking 100 lengths of his garden under lockdown, as he approaches his 100th birthday.
1. Walking, running and more in your garden
Some alternative/virtual fundraising campaigns have already raised millions of pounds each.
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- SEE ALSO: Virtual fundraising ideas during the coronavirus lockdown (30 March 2020)
https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1251574500375900160
How about a marathon each week at home?
The Scouts are being encouraged to hike one mile at home to raise funds for Children in Need and Comic Relief. Altogether they hope to hike to the moon. Of course, anyone can get involved – not just Scouts.
[Tweet at https://twitter.com/UKScouting/status/1251197291400245248 no longer available].
The 2.6 Challenge
Others have been set up to benefit multiple charities.
An ambitious opportunity for anyone to raise funds for any UK charity, the 2.6 Challenge is brought to you by the founders of the London Marathon after they had to postpone it. They want to enable as many people and charities to take part and benefit.
The 2.6 has multiple meanings, but most importantly it gives flexibility to participants, who can choose almost any kind of distance or activity for their event. And 26 April was the original date of the London Marathon this year.
Some established events can still run from home e.g. Age UK’s Big Knit in partnership with Innocent drinks.
Many other popular charity events have, like the London Marathon, switched to online or virtual versions:
Big Yellow (sunflowers) – Child Bereavement Trust
Race for Life
Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life is now Race for Life at Home, in partnership with Tesco. You can now take part in your back garden (if you have one), local park, or on your daily exercise.
Parkrun
If you’ve switched your parkrun to your back garden or indoors, you can mark this period with a personalised Contra t-shirt which will raise money for parkrun.
You are now able to customise apricot with a message of your choice, this may be the name of a new location you’re (not)parkrunning in, a message of solidarity, or a personal mantra to help you through these times.
Each tee is finished with a ‘we’ll get through this together’ patch on the sleeve and the price includes customisation, the patch and delivery.
- SEE ALSO: Virtual fundraising tools for the coronavirus period (20 April 2020)
2. Climbing your stairs
- Climb the equivalent of Everest and live-streaming it
- Margaret Payne, 90, is climbing the equivalent of Highland mountain Suilven – 731m (2,398ft) – with 282 trips upstairs at her Sutherland home, in aid of NHS Charities Together.
There are endless variations on this. Although the following wasn’t suggested as a fundraising idea, it could easily be adapted to one:
3. Lifting the weight of your home
In the form of a series of press-ups of course!
Phil Grosset has started lifting the weight of his house in press ups and aims to complete it by the end of the month. He is raising funds for NHS Charities Together.
He says: “I have cystic fibrosis, which like 100s of thousands of others puts me on the shielding list. I’d love to be out and about doing something to help, but staying at home and doing this is what I can do.
“I hope to raise a little money, but if watching a middle aged man making a fool of himself brings you or me an ounce of pleasure, then that is also a result.”
Here’s his calculation. “One square foot of a two story house weighs around 125kg. Our house is around 1200 sq ft, so around 150,000 kg. For an 80kg man, each press up is around 50kg. So our house will be 3,000 press ups, or 300 a day.”
4. A birthday bar
How to celebrate your birthday under lockdown? Offer a creative ask to invite your friends to buy a birthday drink (in the form of donating to charity) via JustGiving.
5. Remake a movie scene at home
[This tweet from @lukemanley11 is no longer available]
6. Tea and coffee
If that is all too much effort for you, then you can always join in a tea party or coffee morning. Today you could join in a Guinness World Record at the same time!
https://twitter.com/hcalow1/status/1252529920821125120
7. 24-hour live-streaming of a DJ set
Professional and amateur musicians have kept us entertained, as have DJs and other performers. This 24-hour set was raising funds for the National Emergencies Trust’s coronavirus appeal.
8. Gaming
Gaming has kept many people occupied during lockdown. Of course, it’s a very popular way of raising funds.
https://twitter.com/MakeAWishUK/status/1243492965474897921
9. Buy charity vouchers as gifts
If you want to mark someone’s birthday, anniversary or another occasion, you can always buy a charity voucher:
https://twitter.com/charityvouchers/status/1246716565636239362?s=12
10. Hashtag campaigns
Need another gentler way of fundraising?
Share a post on social media with a hashtag and you’ve unlocked a donation a donation from a company. Sometimes you have to do a tiny bit of extra work, like take a photo of yourself after you’ve worked up a sweat exercising, but even then this is about the easiest fundraising you can do.
https://twitter.com/bhamupdates/status/1251075958737682432?s=21
- Property software company VTUK is encouraging the population to a screenshot from their Zoom videos with their thumbs up. It will donate £2 for each one that is shared on social media with the hashtag #CallforCancer.
- Andrex®, the toilet tissue manufacturer, has committed to donating one million toilet tissue rolls to In Kind Direct. It is asking consumers to share their acts of kindness on social media such as: safely sharing products when you have more than enough, calling an elderly neighbour for a daily chat or demonstrating support for key workers, using the campaign hashtag. In return, the brand will donate £1, up to £100,000, for each use of the hashtag between April 6 through June 1 2020.
11. Sing
Singing and group singing has proved popular amongst many during lockdown. Some existing choirs and other newly formed since lockdown have recorded singles in aid of a charity.
https://twitter.com/LondonCityVoice/status/1251193385244930049
12. Donate points
Various retailers will let you donate your loyalty card points to charity. Usually you can’t donate them just to any charity – it has to be the charity, or one of a few charities, selected by the retailer.
Nectar
You can donate your Nectar points to support Comic Relief and BBC Children in Need as part of their joint The Big Night In Appeal on 23 April.
Nectar 360, set up by Sainsbury’s to manage the system, has said: “Every 500 points donated gives £2.50 to the charities and we will match all donations made in Nectar points, so your donations will go twice as far.”
For Good Causes
For Good Causes is a new service that helps consumers donate their unwanted rewards and loyalty points to charity, with BP and Rakuten among the new brands joining the platform. They say £7 billion of unused points are available.
14. Buy via Amazon Smile
If you are buying from Amazon you can generate a small donation from Amazon to a charity of your choice at no extra cost to you. Just shop through Amazon Smile, a near parallel version of the site. Same prices, some products, but each purchase generates a small donation to charity.
Look out for charities’ wish lists on Amazon Smile too – you can choose to buy something that a charity has listed on its wish list. Do it via Amazon Smile and the charity could benefit twice – first from your donation/purchase of the item, and secondly via the small amount that Amazon will donate, if you select the same charity.
Charities’ lists of virtual fundraising ideas
If you need more ideas for virtual fundraising, many charities and organisations have started sharing them:
Advice from the Fundraising Regulator
Given so many people are responding to current times by setting up their own fundraising event or campaign, the Fundraising Regulator has shared some advice on how to go about this. This is the charity regulatory body and it is their Code of Fundraising Practice that charities and professional charity fundraisers sign up to adhere to, so this advice comes from a key source.
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.