Challenge Events Fundraising Guide

The time to fundraise is

Right now, breast cancer is at a tipping point

More women are surviving breast cancer. But more are being diagnosed than ever before. And every 45 minutes, another woman in the UK dies from the disease. With your help, we can change that.

We’re Breast Cancer Now, the UK’slargest breast cancer charity created by the merger of Breast Cancer Campaign and Breakthrough Breast Cancer – and we’re dedicated to funding research into this devastating disease. We believe that if we all act now, by 2050, everyone who develops breast cancer will live.

What’s in your guide

The time is now

Getting startedTom & Chris’ story

Fundraising ideas

Claire's story

Fundraising ideas

Rachel’s story

Top tipsPromoting your event

Paying in your money

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We support nearly 400 of the world’s

brightest researchers.

Working together to find ways to prevent, detect, treat and stop breast cancer.

Get inspired now

At more than 30 institutions across the

UK and Ireland.We’re working with

hospitals across the country to make sure

breast cancer patients get the best services

and support.

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Find out more about what we are doing in your area: breastcancernow.org/inmyarea

But that doesn’t mean we’ve got breast cancer under control.

More than 50,000 women in the UK will be told they have the disease this year. That’s one woman every 10 minutes.

Research has made incredible progress, but despite all we’ve achieved breast cancer still kills – and it kills on a heart-breaking scale.

Nearly 1,000 women in the UK have their lives cut short by the disease every month.

We can’t live with that. It’s time to act.

The time is nowThank you for joining us. Whether you walk, run, cycle, skydive or swim to raise money for Breast Cancer Now, you’ll be supporting cutting-edge research to find ways to stop this devastating disease taking lives.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK. One in eight women will face it in their lifetime. Nearly 700,000 people living in the UK have experienced a diagnosis.

Survival rates for breast cancer have increased dramatically. Over 80 per cent of women who develop breast cancer will now live beyond five years. 40 years ago, it was only around half.

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Get off to a flying startYou will either have a minimum sponsorship pledge to achieve, or an idea of how much money you’d like to raise. Here are our top tips to getting off to a hugely successful start - it all revolves around your online fundraising page.

Online fundraising makes raising money quick and easy. Set up your page as early as possible and share it with as many people as possible. The two most popular sites are JustGiving and Virgin Money Giving - here are some top tips from ourChallenge Events team about how tomake a successful page:

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Get offto a flyingstart

5. Don’t stop!Update your page after your

event, adding information about how you got on and

any photos and videos from the day.

6. Thank everyone thatyou can via social media.

It will inspire others to donate.

3. Email a link to yourpage to all of your contacts

and include it on your email signature.

4. Keep updatingyour page to let everyone

know how you’re getting on with training and fundraising for

your event. Post a link on Facebook and Twitter, with regular updates to let your

friends know how hard you’re working.

1. Tell people whyyou’re doing your event

and why raising money for Breast Cancer Now is

important to you. Add a photo of yourself or the person that

inspired you to take on your challenge.

2. Set a fundraisingtarget, and then keep

increasing it. Research has shown that online fundraising

pages with a target raise significantly more than pages

without one. Also, average donation amounts reduce

once a target has been achieved, so keep

upping it.

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“We take on these running challenges to try and do what we believe our mum would have wanted us to do - get back up, brush ourselves down and realise that there are people who are still suffering from the impacts of this disease that we can help.”

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Fundraising ideas

Never giving upTom and Chris have been running to raise money for breast cancer research since losing their mum to the disease in 2007. So far they’ve raised nearly £10,000.

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Get the office in a flutter Organise a sweepstake for the Grand National, the X Factor, the World Cup – or whatever event or tournament ishappening at the time.

Give something up Whether your weakness is chocolate, your morning Latte or being glued to your mobile phone, get sponsored to give it up for a day, week or month. You could also donate any money that you save.

Gift amnesty If you have a birthday or special occasion, such as an anniversary, retirement or wedding approaching, consider asking for donations instead of gifts.

Fundraising in 30 minutes

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Get bakingRecruit your friends, family and colleagues to help you bake lots of yummy sweet and savoury goodies. Then sell them at your work, school, church or club.

Clear out your clutter Head to your local car boot sale or list your unwanted items on eBay. Remember, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure!

Sponsored head shave If you’re feeling brave, ask people to sponsor you to shave off your hair.

Fundraisingin 30minutes

Fundraising in half a day

Our Challenge Events team is always on hand to provide you with more hints, tips and advice.

events@breastcancernow.org0333 20 70 300 breastcancernow.org/hintsandtips

You are powering ground-breaking research

Professor Clare Isacke works at our dedicated Research Centre in London; if we are going to find new ways to treat breast cancer, and prevent it from spreading, it is vital that we continue to fund scientists like her. By being at the heart of cutting edge research, Clare is helping to bring forward the day when breast cancer no longer takes the lives of the women we love. And with you behind her, she’ll be able to do this faster.

The money you raise could help our researchers:

· Understand the causes of breastcancer and predict who is most atrisk of developing the disease

· Develop effective new treatments andfind ways to prevent drug resistance

· Identify which patients are most atrisk of their breast cancer spreading,

allowing us to help them sooner.

Cinema night Ask your local cinema if they’ll do a special showing for you and then sell tickets. Well-known films such as Grease and Star Wars are always popular – and you can encourage people to dress up too.

Fun and games Whether you’re into quizzes, darts, bingo or bridge, why not ask a local pub, club or school to let you put on an event?

Pamper evening You can either provide your own face masks and nail varnish or contact local beauty therapists to ask if they’ll come along and offer treatments. Charge an entry fee or a price per treatment.

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Fundraising in an evening

Get packing Ask your local supermarket if you can spend the day packing bags in exchange for donations. And why not get your family and friends involved too?

Dress down day at work or school Ask everyone to donate to wear pink or to spend the day in their onesie or favourite football shirt. Don’t forget to organise a raffle and cake sale on the same day to raise as much money as possible.

Hold a bucket collection Get collecting in your town, train station or shopping centre. You’ll need a licence or permission, and some willing helpers, but you could raise a small fortune from your generous local community!

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Fundraisingin anevening

Fundraising in a day

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Since her mum overcame breast cancer, Rachel has raised over a £1,000 by taking on a bike ride to help others.

PedalPower

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PedalPower

“Fundraising was an extremely moving experience. I was shocked at the support from family and friends, even an anonymous donation on my JustGiving. I regularly posted my training rides and photos on Facebook and Instagram to make everyone know how motivated I was to complete the ride in a good time and raise as much as possible.”  

Top tips

1. Do it togetherAsk friends, family and

colleagues to support you, whether by taking part

themselves or by assisting with some of the planning.

2. Gift Aid itAsking people to add Gift Aid to a donation

means we can claim an extra 25% at no extra cost to them. They just need to

be a UK taxpayer.

3. Shout about itTell your friends about

your fundraising, take to social media to spread the

word and use our media toolkit on page 20 to let your local

papers know.

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Top tips

6. Enjoy it!It’s your time to do

something amazing to support Breast Cancer Now and we want you to have a

blast doing it. So many of our fantastic supporters catch the fundraising bug from their first event – we hope

you do too!

4. Think legalSometimes you need

permission from your local council to host an event.

You might also need to put together a risk assessment. Get in touch with us and we can talk you through what

you need to do.

5. Let us help youWe’ve got a dedicated team at Breast Cancer

Now ready to support you with ideas, suggestions,

fundraising materials or just a bit of a pep-talk.

Don’t hesitate to give us a call on

0333 20 70 300

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2. Contact your local mediaMake a list of newspapers, radio andTV stations and websites that coveryour local area and find out theircontact details. Then start getting intouch and telling them about whatyou’re doing. Don’t forget to includeyour contact details so journalists canget in touch with you.

3. Use social mediaFacebook and Twitter are greatways to let people know about yourfundraising. Post on Facebook, tweetabout it and don’t forget to include alink to your JustGiving page! We canalso help promote your fundraisingthrough our Breast Cancer Nowaccounts on:

@breastcancernow#teamnow

Breast Cancer Now

breastcancernow

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Your time to shine Getting in touch with your local press is a great way to get some exposure for your fundraising – and it might encourage other people to get involved!

These useful tips will help you promote what you’re doing. Our experienced Challenge Events team will always be here to offer you support when dealing with the media, so if you have any queries please do contact our fundraising team on 0333 20 70 300 or email events@breastcancernow.org

1. Tell your storyTo make your story as interesting aspossible to your local media,remember to:

• Make it about people: tell themwho’s involved and why

• Make it new and different:your local journalist is always lookingfor an angle to a news story. Theiraim is to be first, better, different andinteresting. That should be youraim too

• Make it local: local papers reallyvalue stories about outstandingachievements from people intheir area

• Make it eventful: special awards,celebrity attendance, and largenumbers being involved all mean agreat story

• Make it colourful: photographs area brilliant way to get your local pressinterested, so make sure youtake lots!

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Paying in your moneyWhen your fundraising is complete and you’re ready to send in your money there are five easy options:

1. You can send cheques, postalorders or CAF vouchers (please don’tsend us cash) together with the moneyreturn form in your pack to:

Breast Cancer Now Freepost RTGZ-KUHJ-XHKUBreast Cancer Now2A Halifax RoadMelkshamSN12 6YY

2. Pay in your sponsorship moneyonline at breastcancernow.org/eventsponsorship

3. Call our Supporter Engagementteam on 0333 20 70 300 to make acredit or debit card payment.

4. Pay via your online fundraising page.

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Payingin yourmoney

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Registered charity nos 1160558 (England and Wales) 1200 (Isle of Man) and SC045584 (Scotland).

Research holds the key to a world where everyone who develops breast cancer lives. We believe that if we all act now, by 2050, we will live in that world.

We’ve got a once in a lifetime opportunity to stop women dying from breast cancer. Your time, your energy, your commitment - you will make all the difference.

Thank you

0333 20 70 300breastcancernow.org