ICS volunteer April Quigley absolutely smashed her £800 fundraising target to raise a whopping £1245 before her placement with Raleigh in Nepal. Check out how she did it and her top tips to help you reach your own goal.
Pick your flagship event
April decided to host the ‘Quigley Quiz’ with fish and chips in her local church hall. Don’t panic if you’ve never run an event like this before. Your Fundraising Support Officer and friends are here to help.
April got her best friend to help out which she says ‘freed me up to sell raffle tickets, get anyone a drink, and also tell everybody about the work I’m going to be doing with ICS! If you know anyone who has done quizzes before I would highly recommend asking them to be the quizmaster and/or write the quiz for you.'
Use your skills and do things you enjoy
‘I visited Thailand a couple of years ago and had a Thai cooking lesson so felt confident enough in my cooking to charge people for the dinner party. It was BYOB to save on costs and was a wonderful and very successful evening that all 12 guests thoroughly enjoyed’
Use your networks
April worked in a food hall so a supermarket bucket collection was a no brainer. ‘I contacted my Fundraising Support Officer for a fundraising pack of posters and balloons to create a display about ICS. A bucket collection is a great fundraiser as there are minimal costs and work involved; just a smile and cheery hello do the trick! I would definitely recommend getting in touch with any of your local supermarkets to do one. It’s great way to increase your fundraising without feeling like you’re always asking the same friends and family members to your events as well as raising awareness for ICS and global poverty.’
Add on those extras
‘For raffle prizes I went into many different shops, local businesses, supermarkets and restaurants armed with my letter of authority and simply asked if they were able to donate raffle prizes for a charity fundraiser. Obviously not everyone said yes, but a lot of shops have an allowance for charity donations and are more than happy to help! I also got in contact with a few family friends who are business owners and they also donated some raffle prizes, so definitely utilise all the contacts you have!’
Repeat events
After the success of her first bucket collection and her big quiz night April repeated both. If you’ve found something that works for you keep going! Whether that’s a car boot sale every weekend, stuffing your colleagues face with cake multiple times or having a weekly film club with a few friends. As long as you’re enjoying it and your networks are happy to keep donating then just keep going!
It wasn't all plain sailing...
'Due to the unlikely snow in March I had to reschedule the quiz, which was disheartening after being so organised by sending out invites and posters months in advance. Thankfully I managed to reschedule for only three weeks later and although some guests were unable to make the rescheduled date, people who were invited and unable to join us on the original date were now able to attend, meaning that the number of attendees fortunately remained about the same!'
But it was all worth it!
'Through my fundraising I have definitely improved my time management and planning skills. Setting dates for your fundraising events as well as daily and weekly goals keeps you from feeling overwhelmed by your fundraising target and helps you stay on track, and also gives you the satisfaction of a well laid out plan coming together.
Discussing the work ICS are doing to tackle the roots of international poverty whilst creating lasting and sustainable change has increased not only my self-confidence, but also my confidence about the work we’ll be doing together.'
One last word from April:
'Stay positive, motivated, and enthusiastic. Remember what you’re fundraising for and why you want to do ICS. Your fundraising target may seem intimidating at first and you may have no idea where to begin, but you will get there and will reach your target!'
How do I hit my ICS Fundraising target? Here's how Lydia did it!
