6 Great Fundraising Ideas to Support your Charity Skydive
13 Sep 2016
1. Spread the word
Letting people know that you are doing a skydive in aid of charity the key to your fundraising success. In short it’s a numbers game – the more people who know you are jumping the more people will sponsor you. There are oodles of ways to do this – here’s a few.
Social Media – we are all addicted to social media so make sure you use it to your fundraising advantage. Here’s a few post ideas
Tell people you are skydiving, the charity you are jumping for and when. Include a link to your fundraising page and select an image from our gallery to accompany your post.
Your next post could be some more detail about the charity – why they are such a good cause and why you are motivated to jump for them. You can probably grab an image from the charity website or ask the coordinator for one.
Keep people updated with your progress and how far you are from your target. Continue to use great images and video to keep people interested.
2. Set-up an online fundraising page
Your charity may have a preference as to which site you use or already have something set-up so please check with your jump coordinator. These are the most popular sites that charities currently use
Once your page is set-up share it everywhere! Add it to your social media posts, emails and texts!
3. Get support from your employer
Depending on who your employer is you may be able to get additional fundraising support. Some businesses will even match whatever amount you raise. Speak to your HR department or the MD’s assistant for advice. If there is a corporate newsletter ask if details about your skydive and how people can support you can be included. If there is a staff noticeboard put up a poster about your jump or circulate some flyers.
4. Friends and Family
An obvious one but sometimes overlooked. Older family members may be happy to sponsor you but not necessarily online – ask your charity jump coordinator for some good old fashioned sponsorship forms and then pop round and see everyone.
5. Set up a link from your personal emails.
Did you know that at the end of all your emails it is possible to add a standardized signature – however this doesn’t have to be a signature. Why not add “By the way I’m jumping out of a plane in aid of a very good cause, please sponsor me (then insert a link to your charity fundraising page). Check-out You Tube for tutorials on how to do this e.g search – how to add a signature to my Hotmail emails.
6. Local Press
Using your local press is a great way to build awareness about your jump and encourage more sponsors. Local news desks are generally very receptive to good news stories and very happy to support local charities.
Identify your local press and radio stations and check their websites under ‘Press’ or ‘Media’ for contact details. Alternatively this website will help you identify who you’re local press contact are media info
Put together a press release including a good strong title and the key pieces of information – who, why, what, where and when. At the end you can add all your contact details, the charity website and a link to your just giving page.
Email your press release at least two weeks prior to the event – potentially longer if the publication you are targeting is a magazine. Follow-up with a phone call to highlight it amongst the other stories that the news desk will have received and to ensure they have it. If necessary follow-up again a week before you jump and the day before to try and get an on air ‘good luck’.
After the event follow-up with photographs and video footage.