How to raise money

Street Child Africa's supporters are committed and creative. Each event provides the opportunity not just raise money but to also to raise awareness of street children and their plight. 

Examples of events that our support groups have organised.

A quiz night with a supper

Quiz nights are very popular and a great focus for an event. Suppers tend to be simple, e.g. pie and peas. Sometimes dishes or ingredients are donated by local butchers and restaurants or a restaurant will provide a simple meal at a discounted rate. 

We have an existing Africa quiz, but more often our supporters run a general knowledge quiz. One groups of supporters recently did a general knowledge quiz (theirs was from the internet) and then did part of the quiz around our name - i.e. a section on Street (What was the pilot name for Coronation Street?), Child (the origins of different nursery rhymes) and Africa (match the flag to the African country) which worked very well.     

A dance with supper

Dances are also popular events; some events have bands, others use recorded music. The food can be more formal but it does not have to be. Supporters have run dinner dances and balls, ceilidhs, and discos. Often there is a raffle and/or an auction as well.  

Coffee mornings 

For a simple and informal event, coffee mornings can be a big success - sometimes there will be a short talk, sometimes a stall (e.g. near Christmas selling our cards and merchandise). Often supporters have a coffee morning to raise awareness, as well as funds and to keep us in people's minds if there isn't a big event planned in the near future.   

Sales

Selling goods that have been donated is a great way to fundraise. Our supporters have organised car boot sales, jumble sales, table top sales, nearly new sales, book sales and many sell our cards and merchandise through their churches and community groups. These may be stand-alone events or a stall at a local fete or fair.  

Swishing

For those of you who haven't come across swishing, it's the latest credit crunch event for women (and men!!) who want to look good. People bring their good quality, but unwanted clothes and accessories and then friends have the opportunity to buy ‘new-to-them' bargains. You might wish to charge an entrance fee and/or ask that people donate 50% of the money they make from their clothes to Street Child Africa. It's a great way to raise money and update your wardrobe!         

Concerts

Choirs, orchestras and bands have all performed to raise money for us. Last year, one group of supporters arranged a ‘scratch concert', so there were not even weeks of rehearsals.

Sponsored events

Doing something and being sponsored is something most people can do, especially if they participate in an existing event and pick Street Child Africa as their charity. We have sponsorship forms and many people create a page on the Just Giving website so people can donate securely on line. Creating a Just Giving page is extremely straightforward and it makes it very easy to add Gift Aid to their donations - see www.justgiving.com. 

The most popular event is a sponsored walk and two of our supporting parishes run an annual sponsored walk, which in both cases is straightforward to organise and a good fund-raiser. We also have people walking Hadrian's Wall, climbing mountains and running marathons for sponsorship. 

Turning time and skills into money

This is one of the more creative ways to fundraise. By considering the skills and time available, supporters have identified opportunities to raise funds from these; e.g. car washing, a promise auction. 

In 2008, a Mothers' Group at one parish organised a ‘Pamper Evening' with beauty therapists donating their time and women paying a small fee for a short beauty treatment.

Work based funding

Many employers will support staff who fundraise for charity, often with matched funding. Therefore, if a supporter works for a company which does this, it is worth asking them to investigate if and how their company can support their fundraising effort.

Organisation

We understand that everyone involved in supporting Street Child Africa has different commitments and works in different ways, so it's easiest to organise yourselves in a way that best suits you. Whatever you decide, the keys to success are to ensure you are well organised and share the load. 

Some of our supporters have quite formal arrangements, with different people taking the roles of Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer as part of a committee. Others have more informal arrangements with people coming on board or taking on roles to help run a particular event. Often, it's a mixture of the two, with a core group of committed people and other people joining in as needed.

Most supporters have meetings to discuss how they are going to fundraise and plan a timetable of events for fund-raising for a year. Our existing supporters only run one or two big events per year so local people aren't overwhelmed. Sometimes supporters run smaller events as well, but these can require as much organisation as the big events!  Some of our support groups focus their efforts, meeting for part of the year and then having a break, so everyone has some time off and can come back fresh and ready for action.

Planning

When planning an event, it is useful to think about the following:

• Potential audience - What does the potential audience already do for charities e.g. sponsored events? What do they do socially?
• Defining a successful event - What do you realistically hope to raise from any activity? What potential costs are involved? What permissions/people do you need to get on board?
• Resources - Who is involved and what are their skills or contacts? Would local businesses provide support in return for a mention in the publicity?