It’s not just adults that feel good after giving to charity, it can be just as rewarding for children as well. You may have already adopted a similar method to Sir Elton John and David Furnish to encourage your children to give a portion of their pocket money to charity, but how about stepping it up and organising a fundraising event?
Here at Winston’s Wish, we find that child-led or child-initiated fundraising can be incredibly lucrative; communities respond positively and generously to displays of philanthropy from children. Plus, it’s a great way to keep them (and you) busy over the summer holidays!
Your child might want to undertake one big adventure, a series of small projects or to take part in a Winston’s Wish campaign like Wear Wellies Day or Hope100. Encourage their ideas and identify how you can help them realise their ambitions. Get them to design posters and to use their own words to publicise their fundraising.
How three children raised money for Winston’s Wish
After a family friend was helped by Winston’s Wish, Rory (then eight) decided that he wanted to give something back and informed his parents that he would be canoeing 31 miles up the Thames for Winston’s Wish. Mum, Kelly, and dad, Chris, jumped on-board with the plan and also organised a cake sale at Kelly’s workplace and a non-uniform day at Rory’s school. Rory raised £2,000 and said that fundraising “gave him a nice feeling in his tummy, a bit like opening Christmas presents but better!”
When Ava’s dad died, her mum, Kirsty, sought help from the Winston’s Wish Helpline who prescribed a teddy bear for Ava to keep with her as a comfort. Seven-year-old Ava wanted to help others in the same situation, so she raised money for Winston’s Wish through a series of fundraising projects, including a bake sale, a 5k walk, a carwash, a sponsored spelling test, and a sponsored read. She was even sponsored to keep her bedroom tidy for a whole week!
Hayden (then four) and his mum, Hanna, signed up to our Hope100 campaign last year after the death of Hanna’s friend. They sought sponsorship to collect 100 pieces of plastic litter, but actually collected much more. One morning they collected 31 pieces of plastic during the five-minute walk to Hayden’s childminder! Hanna said, “The key thing about this challenge was that it’s something we can do together.”
Our top tips for publicising your fundraising events:
- Let us know what you are planning to do, so that we can provide Winston’s Wish promotional materials to help publicise your fundraising, free of charge.
- Set a realistic but ambitious target and explain why your child has chosen to fundraise so that supporters know you are serious. If you reach your target easily, increase it.
- Seek to engage your child’s school, extra-curricular club or community group and ask them to get involved with you.
- Contact your local press to let them know what your child has planned.
- If you are happy for your child to appear on social media, use it as a platform to fundraise (by setting up an online giving page) and shout about what you are up to and why.
- Keep us informed and, if you’re happy to, share with us any pictures of your fundraising so that we can publicise it, too.
Most importantly, have fun planning and executing your fundraising project together and enjoy the warm and fuzzy feeling in your tummies that helping others gives you!
You’ll find lots of ideas for fundraising and other ways to support Winston’s Wish here.