Hey everyone, I want to start fundraising for my little girl, we would like to get her a safe padded play area so she can roll around safely without hurting herself. At the moment she has a second hand ball pit (without the balls) from a bouncy castle company which is great - but it wont be long before she outgrows it. Does anyone have any advice? Having never done anything like this before, I am not sure where to start. Thought I might grab a few family members and do a 50 mile sponsored cycle ride? I know I can try charities for money, but feel like I want to do something for her myself. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks very much, Deanna x

Hi,

I would make sure that you have extra sponsor forms for grandparents, school, doctor surgery etc as they can help with raising money even if they are not taking part in the cycle ride. I also get the local newspapers involved before to ask for sponsors to help with tshirts, food for the day and then a photo afterwards to thank all involved and try to get as much sponsorship money as possible!

I did a Snowdon run last year with close family and friends to raise money, we had a local butcher paying for our pink tshirts, tesco supplied the food and energy drinks for the day and the Renault garage gave us 2 mini buses for the day to drive us up and back!! It's worth asking, I didn't like doing it at first but then unless you ask you don't get hey!!! Also Barclays bank doubled our sponsorship total for us!! Good luck.

There's loads you can do, but the cycle ride sounds good!
We've done all sorts from car boots and raffles up to my best friend shaving her head!
Definetely get local businesses involved if you can, if not in the form of money you might get help in other ways, either publicity or as ilovecake suggested above.
Have fun doing it - it can be hard work but don't let it be seen as a chore as it'll put you off.

Good luck Deanna. You could also try collecting at the local supermarkets as you don't need a license. If you could borrow a turbo trainer from someone (it attaches to your bike and turns it into an exercise bike) or an exercise bike you could cycle in the foyer as a way of attracting attention and getting more money.

Thank you all so much, you are all a real inspiration and have come up with some great ideas which I will certainly do. I also wanted to create a just giving page but have been told that you need to be registered with a charity. Have any of you done this? Thanks again for your replies xx