Fundraising
We at the MS Trust are enormously grateful to all those individuals who raise funds on our behalf. Our fundraising team is here to support you and if you want to get involved in fundraising we would love to hear from you.
A week in the life of the fundraising team...
Monday
We have had two calls today from people who are organising their own fundraising events. A lady from Scotland has called to say she is collecting in her local supermarket - Claire will send her some collection boxes, T-shirts and stickers. We have also spoken to someone who plans to organise a charity ball this time next year. It’s the first time he’s organised an event like this so he needs some advice.
Ruth is responding to enquiries about our Jump in June parachuting event. Earlier this year she sent a mailing to large companies near airfields, to encourage their staff to sign up for skydives. The mailing has been very successful and we are already seeing lots of money coming in via our skydivers’ online sponsorship pages on the Justgiving website.
Tuesday
It’s the week after the London Marathon and time for Janet, who manages this event, to breathe a sigh of relief that everything has gone well. Lots of members of staff are involved in supporting our team. We usually have about 50 runners in the London Marathon and hope to be able to raise £100,000 from this one event.
We had a stand at the London Marathon Exhibition last week where as well as meeting our runners, we also promoted our next Peru trek via a prize draw. Claire is currently sifting through all the entries and sending further information to anyone who requested it. A couple of our Nepal trekkers have requested fundraising materials, so Janet will get their collecting tins, balloons, stickers and posters in the post today.
Believe it or not, Ruth and Jo are working on our Christmas card catalogue! Christmas cards are a year-round job for us and we are constantly on the look out for new and exciting designs to offer our supporters. Card sales have been a crucial source of income for the MS Trust since it was first established in 1993, and are still essential in raising funds and awareness to support people with MS.
Wednesday
It is now just under a year until our third Monster Ski challenge, which takes place in Whistler in April 2010. We are looking for lots of skiers and boarders to get involved. Laura has been contacting skiing websites and magazines today to try and get more publicity for the event.
Ruth is busy preparing for the Great Manchester Run, which will take place on 17th May. We now have a team of 30 runners in this race. Ruth is pleased to get an email from a runner who has bought his own place in the run. He has chosen to support us as his brother has recently been diagnosed with MS and he’s found our information useful.
Claire is sending brochures to people who want to trek in Nepal or cycle through Vietnam in support of the MS Trust. Challenge events like these require a great deal of commitment in terms of training and fundraising and it’s always interesting to hear why people want to get involved. The majority of our fundraisers have close links to MS and are very passionate about supporting the work of the MS Trust.
Thursday
Our volunteer Trusts fundraiser Carol is in today, writing an application for funding for a reprint of our Exercises book. Trust fundraising involves a great deal of research - lots of time goes into selecting the right trusts to apply to and putting together the detailed applications. Of every ten applications that are sent off, we would be lucky to get one accepted. However, it is worth the effort it involves as the funding that can come in from trusts can be significant.
We now have a team of over 100 runners preparing for the British 10K London Run. The race takes place in July and our team need support in raising their sponsorship. Laura is setting up a group on Facebook so our runners can contact each other and swap training and fundraising tips.
We still have quite a few places to allocate for the Great North Run, so today Janet will email everyone on our runners database to see if she can fill the remainder of our 75 places.
Friday
Laura has just finished editing the latest edition of our Make a Difference newsletter that is published twice a year. This edition contains information about all our upcoming events, as well as articles on some of our fundraisers and the great things they have done to support our work.
Janet is working on some website pages with details of new overseas events we will be running next year - we always start promoting these events over a year in advance. Once the copy is ready Laura will put the pages up live on our site.
Ruth is responding to letters from people who have donated, raised money through their own fundraising schemes, collected money at weddings, funeral services and other occasions. Writing to thank people for the money they have raised is a very important job and something that we do every single day. People give up their own free time and money to support the work we do and it’s important they are given the recognition they deserve.
Many of our supporters are either affected by MS themselves, or have a loved one affected by the condition. For some, fundraising for the MS Trust can be a very positive thing to focus on when MS has left them feeling powerless to help. By raising funds so that the MS Trust can continue to inform, educate, research and campaign on behalf of people with MS, individuals really can make a difference.