Karen Anderson is part of the Internal Communications Team at Mencap and in 2020 she signed up to undertake the biggest challenge of them all, the London Marathon.
With lots of training to do and a big fundraising target ahead of her she set out to make herself a plan to keep her on track with both parts of the challenge.
Karen's biggest piece of advice is "to put together a plan where you focus on a different fundraising activity each month. It's also good to have things ticking away in the background at the same time.”
"If you have a talent or skill then find a way to use it to fundraise." - Karen.
Karen has put her all her talents and skills to good use to help her fundraise:
"I can sew and made blankets out of runner's race t-shirts that I charged for. I also made memory bears out of items of clothing. I appreciate that this isn't something everyone can do but a bit of creative thinking and you may have something that could bring in donations.
Friends donated good quality clothing that they no longer needed, and I sold them on Vinted and eBay with the proceeds going to my fundraising.
I contacted some of the larger retailers such as John Lewis and Next who were extremely generous and donated huge boxes of items that I was able to raffle off - get in quickly because they seem to have a quota and people who tried after I did were turned down
I organised a curry night at my favourite restaurant. They arranged a menu at a set price, and I sold tickets that included a donation. We had some fun games and a raffle and also had collection buckets out for people to pop extra cash into.
I sold 'memory miles' where each mile of the marathon was available to buy for £10. They could buy for themselves or in memory of someone else. When they were all sold, I printed the names onto temporary tattoo paper and had them on my inner arm. It was really motivating to see the names there as I was running. You could have names added to your t-shirt as another option. The 'wall' miles of 19, 20 and 21 could be sold for a higher price if you wanted!
I approached a contractor who I was working with at Mencap and asked them for a donation, they were quite generous.
What I found was that people seemed more likely to donate when they were getting something in return. I suppose the biggest thing is to not be afraid to ask people to support you. The worst that can happen is that they say no and you're no worse off than before you asked!”
Karen admits that the fundraising can sometimes seem more daunting than the running, but you just need to stick to a plan.
With a great fundraising plan in action and a range of ideas to get her to the target, Karen managed to raise an amazing £7000 for Mencap and we could not be more thankful to her.
Karen's most successful fundraising ideas
- Bucket shakes in supermarkets, in town centres and at tube/train stations - "I did them all and each brought in hundreds!"
- Scratch card fundraisers - "You can find these on Amazon where people buy a square and then they get a share of what you have sold. 50 squares at £5 each could mean £50 if their square is under the scratch off section and £200 for Mencap."
- Cake/pasty sales - "I approached bakeries who were happy to donate at the end of the workday. I then offered them for a donation the next day at the office and at events (I had pasties at Park Run!)."
- Virtual runs with a medal sent to out to everyone who supplied proof of completing the distance. "I got flyers printed for free and put them on all the cars at a half marathon that I had entered, got loads of people signing up."
By Mencap