Fundraising from home is now more important than ever given the current national lockdown restrictions. And, with a little thinking outside of the box, there’s no reason why you can’ still fundraise from home. Whilst this last year has taught us all how to adapt to new situations, online fundraising is a great way to raise money for your chosen charity whilst staying safe and following Government guidelines. Let’s discuss our guide to fundraising from home to help you on your way.
The Importance of Virtual Fundraisers
There’s no doubt that this past year has been exceptionally challenging for everyone, regardless of age and ability. However, for those who have cancer, this year has been especially hard. Since March 2020, the impact of Covid-19 has unfortunately resulted in the halt or delay of cancer treatment for one in three people. Undoubtedly this has had devastating effects on many lives. Macmillan estimates that over 50,000 people with cancer have gone undiagnosed due to the impact of Covid-19; whether that’s individuals not being able to book a GP appointment, scans being postponed or the worry of attending a medical environment during the current pandemic.
In July last year, Cancer Research UK sadly reported a 30% decline in donations. However, people can change this by adapting to virtual fundraising to ensure cancer charities can continue to receive donations and develop their research to fight this disease.
Our Best Fundraising Ideas From Home
Thanks to online fundraising, charities such as Cancer Research UK and Macmillan can continue to receive donations. Although traditional fundraising methods, like bake sales, are out of the window, there’s still innovative ways to fundraise from home.
We’ve broken down our best fundraising ideas into four fundraising categories: from home, whilst socially distanced, whilst working at home and for students.
For Fundraising From Home
1. Zoom karaoke
There’s no doubt that everyone is missing the social interactions found at a good old karaoke night. With the help of screen share on Zoom and other video call software, you could host a virtual karaoke night alongside your friends and family. All you need to do is donate to sing your favourite karaoke song, or you could all sing together – you may be a little bit out of time with one another, but that’s part of the fun!
2. Virtual Quiz
By now, we’re sure you’re a master at virtual quizzing! A quiz is always a great way to raise money for a good cause, especially from home. You can make any quiz as interactive as you wish or about any topic. Fundraising from home doesn’t have to be dull, so make that PowerPoint quiz as fun, challenging and interactive as possible.
3. Virtual Class
What better way to fundraise from home than to get involved with a virtual class? This is your chance to try something outside of your comfort zone but from the comfort of your home. Perhaps it could be a virtual language learning class? Or one that shows you how to make and sew face masks? The more face masks you make, the more practical objects you have to donate to good causes.
4. Online ‘Come Dine With Me’
Now you might be thinking, how could this work? With a bit of planning a virtual ‘Come Dine With Me’ night is possible! You could do this in any sized group that you wish. Each ‘contestant’ donates to enter and sends over a list of ingredients and a recipe to their ‘competition’. You then decide as a group which day of the week you will make each other’s recipes. At the end of the week, you can have a video call to give each other scores on whose dish was the tastiest! You could also eat your meals together on a Zoom call each night to make it more of a social occasion.
Socially Distanced Virtual Fundraiser
1.Walking
The current lockdown regulations in England allow you to exercise outside with one person not from your household in your local area. Therefore, you could set yourself a challenge of walking 10,000 steps or more each day for a month. You could challenge your friends and family to take part as well, and have your own competition of who can walk the furthest in their local area.
2. Running
Running is a great way to raise money online; whether that’s setting a challenge to run a set distance every day for 30 days, or you take up running for the first time with the end goal of running 5km in a set time! Getting outside is a fantastic way to clear your mind during this challenging time and a chance to practise some self-care.
3. Dance-a-thons
Who doesn’t love a boogie? A great way to fundraise from home or outside with one person outside of your household is to dance! You could set a challenge to dance continuously for two hours or more. If you’re feeling brave, you could live-stream this on your social media to encourage others to donate. Think of the classic dances like the Cha-Cha Slide, Macarena, Saturday Night, or just let your hair down and dance away to your favourite songs.
Online Fundraising While Working From Home
1. Donate what you have saved from the ‘home commute’
One benefit of working from home is that you would have managed to save money on your commute to work. Whether that’s saving petrol money or bus, tube, or train fare, it will add up. You could donate what you would have spent on your weekly or monthly commute (and the morning coffee) to your chosen charity.
2. Crazy hair or dress-up day
If you’re working from home, it shouldn’t stop you from being able to fundraise alongside your colleagues! You could all decide to have a crazy hairstyle day whilst working from home, or decide to work whilst dressed up as your favourite character. This is a great way to change your working from home routine and raise money for a good cause. To encourage those outside of your organisation to donate, you could include your virtual fundraiser’s link in your email signature.
3. Video call dares
Although we are all prone to the latest Zoom or virtual meeting technology, they can sometimes feel a little repetitive. But, a game of video call dares can change that. There could be one ‘dare ringmaster’ who gives out the dares to each colleague. For example, you could be dared to pretend to fall asleep on the team social video call or say a random word multiple times within the conversation. The more mysterious and bizarre, the better!
Fundraising From Home, For Schools
1. Go and fetch…
Go and fetch is one of our best fundraising ideas and is ideal for anyone of any age. It’s especially fun for those who need a break from home schooling at the minute. For this virtual fundraiser, each student donates a set amount to attend the Zoom call. The game is essentially a race at who is the fastest to fetch a specific random item around the house. For example, a teacher could say “go and fetch…a white top” and then it’s a race for the students to go and find that item in their home and get back to their seat as quick as they can. The person who wins overall is the person who was the fastest to fetch each item. The sillier, the better! Some great examples include going to fetch a toilet roll, a hairbrush, toothbrush or a frying pan!
3. Sports day
For those in primary and secondary schools, sports day is a highlight of the school year. This online fundraising idea is super simple, and a great way to encourage everyone to get moving and each student can donate online to participate in this virtual sports day. For this virtual fundraiser, start a video call with your students. Then it’s the fastest to do whichever exercises you tell them, such as squats, bunny hops and frog jumps. Or each student could be sponsored to take part in an online P.E with Joe class every day.
3. Give something up
Although our home comforts are a supportive way to get through this difficult time, fundraising from home is about how you can selflessly raise as much as you can to help others. For this fundraising idea, you could be sponsored to give something up for a week or month; whether that’s your favourite food, drink, or putting down your games console.
We hope that you feel inspired by our best fundraising ideas from home. At Simply Wigs, fundraising and raising awareness is especially important to us. Our amazing wig wearing community have supported various charitable causes over the years, from Macmillan coffee mornings, carpool karaoke, to running the Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life. These charities need our support more than ever to ensure they can continue to provide their services during Covid-19. Happy fundraising!
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