Fundraising support
When it comes to raising funds for us, you’re not alone. Our team of Community, Corporate and Event Fundraisers can give you guidance and suggest some ideas you might not yet have thought of. They are based all over the country, poised to jump into action to help you with your fundraising.
Our Customer Care Team, meanwhile, is also on hand to provide some expertise and know-how, as well as help you to get hold of any marketing materials you might need. You can reach them here or call 01256 366566.
Online donation pages
Being able to offer people a quick and easy way to donate to your cause is a sure-fire way to increase your fundraising. There are a number you can choose from, and we’ve got a guide to getting the most out of online donation pages.
Social media
The best thing you can do on social media is to post regularly, keep people informed of your progress and share all different sorts of things that are relevant to your fundraising. Share Charity content, take photos while you’re out training, post motivational quotes, share your reasons for fundraising (see below) do a countdown to the event, update on how close you’re getting to your target or even share any struggles you’re feeling as you work towards your goal. And make sure you’re posting when people are likely to be online; commuter times, evenings and weekends are more likely to be seen by someone than at 11am on a Wednesday.
Use your story
Wherever you’re talking about your fundraising, talk about your reasons for supporting us. Have you been supported yourself? What’s your connection to the fire service? Were you inspired by someone in particular and want to do this in their honour? Sharing your reasons for fundraising may feel a little intimidating, but the people you share about your personal story, the more chance you have of inspiring their empathy and generosity! And if you haven’t yet shared your story with us, why not get in touch and let us write it for you?
Use other people’s stories
As well as sharing your own reason for supporting The Fire Fighters Charity, you could also post some of the accounts we share of other people who we’ve supported with their mental health, physical health and social wellbeing. This will show your supporters what their money will go towards funding. We publish all our stories on our website and you can sort them by area to find people from your region who we’ve supported. Many of them include a PDF handout at the bottom, which you could print off and use as part of your promotion. We also have a YouTube playlist featuring stories of people who have been helped by the Charity which you can share on your fundraising page.
Create a livestream
Hosting a livestream is a great way to reach more people with your fundraising challenge. We have a livestreaming guide with more information and ideas.
Birthday fundraiser
Got a birthday coming up? Facebook has created a nifty little tool that allows you to quickly create a fundraiser to celebrate and allow people to make a donation in honour of your birthday. You can find a guide to setting one up here.
Sponsorship
Whatever you’re doing to raise funds for us, tell people! Sponsorship is a great way of raising both money and awareness, so tell everyone. Tell friends, family, neighbours, colleagues, the bloke down the chip shop… Get your message out there about why you’ve decided to raise funds for us and ask if they’d like to sponsor you. Carry a sponsorship form around with you so that whenever you get into conversation about it, you can capture people’s details (and don’t forget to ask them about GiftAid!)
Local press
Your local newspaper, magazines or online news channels are always looking for good stories to celebrate the people in their communities. A quick Google can usually reveal the contact details for the news desk to share your story, so drop them an email or give them a ring and tell them what you’re doing and your reasons for it. You could also Tweet them and tell them what you’re up to, or tag them in whatever you get up to online.
Noticeboards
We have blank poster templates that you can print off and stick up on office or station noticeboards. Do a bit of research in your local area, find out if supermarkets have somewhere to promote events in the area, or ask local businesses if they could put posters in their windows. And while you’re in there, ask if they want to sponsor you, or maybe donate a raffle prize?
Tell us what you’re up to!
Hey, you’re going to all this effort for us, the least we could do is help you to promote it. We have regional groups on social media where you can post your event, and if you email marketing@firefighterscharity.org.uk, we can include you in our fundraising stories and real life features as well. You can also tag us on social media, find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
