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Hints & Tips

Organising your event

If no ideas spring to mind immediately - or if you have too many and are finding it difficult to shortlist them - then chat to your colleagues to see which fundraising events they've enjoyed the most, and what they would be most keen to try in the future. You could also look at your HR strategy, because you may already be planning a team-building event which you could combine with the fundraising elements of the 4 Hour Challenge, killing 2 proverbial birds with one stone.

Also think about the size of your organisation when planning your event - in a big organisation it may be more manageable to put people in teams or departments so they can compete against each other, but if you are a smaller team you may want to come up with an event where you can all work together towards a common goal.

For many more hints and tips about the practicalities of organising a fundraising event, please download our comprehensive ‘Guide to Organising your own Event'.

Promoting your event

To promote the event and recruit participants, hook up with your internal communications department and brainstorm all of the different facilities that already exist. Here are some ideas to get you started...

• Insert a message into everyone's wage slips.
• Promote your event by sending a circular email to everyone or put it on your intranet or staff newsletter.
• Fill in the details of your event on our blank poster template and put the posters up on notice-boards around the office.
• Download our promotional poster and send it to all department heads to encourage them to sign up their team.

You'll probably want to let your clients and suppliers know what you're up to so that you can raise money and show off your CSR credentials, so download one of the 4 Hour Challenge banners or buttons and add it to your website or email signatures to let everyone know that your company is up 4 the 4 Hour Challenge and encourage them to support you!

The 4 Hour Challenge is also a great opportunity to get positive PR for your brand, so why not get your press office involved, or call Meningitis UK's own media officer - Nicola Clarke - on 0117 373 73 73 or email nicolaclarke@meningitisUK.org

Fundraising tricks

Some of the best ways to raise money through the 4 Hour Challenge are by collecting sponsorship, selling goods or services or by holding a cash collection. Once you've decided on what your challenge is going to be, one of these methods should naturally start to stand out as the best option, but if you are unsure then give Laura a call on 0117 373 73 73 and together we can work out what will work best for you. Here are some examples of what works well together...

Sponsorship

Personal feats and challenges which are really tough or scary (eg. skydiving and abseiling can raise a lot of money if you ask people to sponsor you, either in sympathy or to pressurise you into doing it!) People or groups can also be sponsored as part of a team, so if you are organising a relay or group event then you can also fundraise collectively.

Selling

Your salespeople may believe that they are the best in the business, but challenge them to test their powers of persuasion by hosting an auction or competing against each other to see who can raise the most money from a single book of raffle tickets.

Collecting

Cash collections are a simple way to raise money when everyone is aware of what you are doing, and they are perfect if people don't have time to collect sponsorship pledges in the lead-up to the event. This is an easy way to collect money for an event such as a dress-down day where everyone could donate a certain amount such as £1 (and maybe £4 for Mangement!). Simply print out a bunch of our collection bucket wraps and get shaking around the office!

Raising Money through Justgiving

If you are organising a sponsored event, a fantastic way to raise money is to set up your own page on JustGiving. This can be done individually or as a team, and you will be given your own personal web address so you can email the link to friends and colleagues anywhere in the world. You could even include a special ‘widget' on your email signature, which shows people how much you've raised so far. To set up your own 4 Hour Challenge sponsorship page, simply visit the 4 Hour Challenge Page on Justgiving and follow the step-by-step instructions.

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Justgiving, the hassle-free way of raising money

www.justgiving.com/muk

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Getting your money to Meningitis UK

Once you have held your 4 Hour Challenge and collected your money, there are three easy ways to get the money to Meningitis UK:

1. Visit JustGiving and pay your money securely using our online donation facility.
2. Pop in to any branch of Barclays Bank, Northern Bank, or the Bank of Scotland and pay your money directly into our account using the paying-in slip provided in your registration pack. If you received your registration pack by email or can't find your slip, here are our account details: Sort code: 20-13-34, Account Number: 50631531.
3. Send a cheque - made payable to Meningitis UK - to Meningitis UK, 25 Cleeve Wood Road, Downend, Bristol, BS16 2SF.

If you would like to chat about the plans you've got or need any further advice on how to organise, promote and raise money from your event, please call Laura on 0117 373 73 73 or email laurachapman@meningitisUK.org

Thank you so much for your support and we look forward to hearing from you!