Fundraising

We need your help just as much as ever. Fundraising is challenging for all charities, us included. All funds raised by you will go direct to provide support for someone affected by cancer. It may be towards a 1:1 therapy session to alleviate pain; a talk or workshop sharing ways to manage stress and anxiety; or a group where they can talk or share about their experiences to help others ….. whatever it is you will be directly helping them.

We are so grateful to all the people and businesses that continue to support us. There are loads of ways that you can raise money for us, we’ve shared some ideas below. Starting with ideas that won’t cost you a penny!

If you are in a position to make a donation to us, that would be amazing. Donations can be made via our website. 

You can read more about where your donations go here.

1. No cost ideas

Helping us does not have to cost you anything!

• Sign up for easyfundraising and Give as you Live then thousands of retailers will make a donation to us each time you shop. It can be your weekly grocery shop, a holiday, just about anything. It doesn’t cost you anything extra.

• We have partnered with Recycling for Good Causes to raise money from unwanted electronic gadgets, mobile phones, out of date or foreign currency and unwanted jewellery and watches. We also have our own eBay shop where we sell good quality second hand clothes. If you have anything to donate please get in touch. You can see what we currently have for sale in our eBay shop here, not exactly a free option, but you might find a bargain!

• Follow our Facebook page and share our social media posts. The more people that see our posts the better.

2. Fundraise with friends

You can raise money for us and have fun with your friends or family at the same time.

• A night in instead of a night out could be a dinner party, a film night or a games night, ask your guests to donate the usual cost of going out to us.

• Attend any of the fundraising events that we organise. They are always publicised on our social media pages.

• If you have a birthday party or any other celebration planned and you don’t want or need presents, ask people to donate the cost of a present to us instead.

• Facebook will helpfully prompt you to set up a birthday fundraiser about a month before your birthday, just follow the prompts, it’s easy to do, then people can donate money instead of sending presents or cards.

3. Involve the kids

• Could you get your children involved in raising money for us? Getting the children involved does involve some challenges! You need them to be keen, but you don’t want too much work for the grown ups. Here are some of our ideas:

• Sponsored silence – it’s got to be worth a few pounds for them to keep quiet for a bit!

• Make a sell birthday cards – might keep them entertained for an afternoon as well.

• Car wash – if your neighbour has just taken delivery of a brand new Ferrari, they might not be keen, but there must be some neighbours who’d be glad to get their car washed.

• Sponsored walk – gets them out for some exercise and maybe they can take the dog too.

• Give something up – do they have a bad habit you’d like them to break, like biting their nails. Could sponsorship give them some encouragement?

• Sell old toys – have a clear out, sell anything that’s in good condition and donate the money to us. Might help to encourage them to part with some things.

4. Fundraising at work

• Fundraising at work can be great for office morale as well as helping us. If you and your colleagues could help us with some fundraising, that would be amazing. Everyone loves a cake sale, but there are plenty of other options. Here are our ideas:

• Office recycling project. Good for the environment, raises funds for us, doesn’t cost you anything. What’s not to love? We can raise money from: old mobile phones, cameras (old film, digital and video), stamps and gadgets (sat-navs, Ipods, MP3 players, games consoles, games & accessories). Just collect them up and let us have them.

• Matched giving. Many employers will match the funds you raise for charity or give paid time off for voluntary work. It’s not just for really large companies, so if your company does not already do this, it’s worth suggesting it!

• Dress down day. These probably used to be easier to organise, but lots of places dress down every day now! There is still loads you can do though: messy hair day, wear a hat day, pyjama day, colourful clothes day, maybe even a dress up day – whatever the boss will let you get away with!

• Get the boss in the stocks! Is there someone at your office that people will pay good money to throw a wet sponge at?

• Provide lunch. If your colleagues usually pop out for a sandwich could you bring in a pot of soup or a batch of chilli and sell it to them instead?

5. Company fundraising

Local companies support us in lots of different ways, which is very much appreciated.

Companies typically donate: Gifts in Kind – actual items as well as service and advice, sponsorship for events we run – like our fayres, and monthly financial donations.

If you as a business want to support us, then get in touch and we can have a chat.

6. Activities

You could be sponsored to do something, or maybe even to not do something! Here are our ideas for brave people, active people and ‘please don’t make me do anything scary’ people!

There are plenty of fundraising platforms (such as Just Giving that make it easy to set up a fundraising page that you can share with friends and family.

• Ideas for brave people:

Let’s start with the classics, do a skydive or shave your head. Or you could abseil or do a bungee jump!

• Ideas for active people:

A sponsored run or walk would be great, something informal with a few friends would work if you don’t want to sign up for anything formal. Walking is just as good as running, there are loads of apps that let you record the route you have taken. Or maybe a sponsored swim is more appealing?

• Ideas for ‘please don’t make me do anything scary people’:

You can ask people to sponsor you for just about anything! Is there anything that you need a bit more motivation to achieve? Maybe stopping smoking or giving up chocolate for a month? Making a public commitment should give you that extra push! Is there someone that would be delighted if you did a sponsored silence??

Tip – If you decide to do something to raise money for us, tag us in any social media posts and set your post to public.

7. Run an event

Could you run an event to raise funds for us? Events are a really useful part of our fundraising, we run our own events and our supporters organise their own events too. It can be anything you can think of, but here are some previous ideas for a bit of inspiration:

• A gin tasting evening – with the gins donated by local companies.

• Open gardens – if you have a garden you’d like to show off, charge people a small fee to have a look round and sell them a slice of cake whilst they are there!

• Badminton tournament – charge players for entry and give out trophies
Cycle ride – the Sutton Spinderella’s Charity Cycle Team covered the equivalent of Lands End to John O’Groats on static bikes.

It could be a small event with a few friends or colleagues, or it can be as big as you like! We can help with sponsorship or online forms, publicity for the event and so much more, so please get in touch!

8. Just make a donation!

There are some very kind people and companies who just pop in with a donation, which is always a lovely surprise.

A massive thank you to anyone and everyone that continues to raise funds for us – we really can’t do it without you!