Figures 💪💪💪 So it turns out that yesterday I placed 12th out of 1098 people in the Vertical Rush for @sheltercharity clocking up a time of 5m:15s 👆👆👆. It's finally sunk in as I spent the most part of yesterday feeling dizzy 😂😂😂. Big shouts to the whole team who all clocked up fast times too. @gemma.soul @beckyduffypt @emugeddon @thegymandme 🙌🙌🙌 And Thank You again to all who've been so supportive or have donated. 🤗🤗🤗 #YesWeDid #shelter #charity #verticalrush #tower42 #932steps #team #WhatYouStairin'At #psycle #fam #love #ITookLiftsWherePossibleToday #MenLieWomenLieNumbersDont💪💪💪 (at Tower 42)
Yes We Did 💪💪💪 A huge thank you to everybody that has either supported us or donated in our attempts to raise money for the @sheltercharity - We managed to raise over £2000 (Over Double our initial target), and today was the day that saw us embark on our challenge of climbing the 932 steps of Tower 42 in the fastest possible time.... We came, We saw, We conquered and all of us made it to the top👆👆👆.........................932 steps later, a bag of vomit (Yeah I threw up 😷😷😷), and lots of determination, teamwork and strength, this is us celebrating together................Big Love to @emugeddon & @thegymandme for organising our team and drafting in myself, @beckyduffypt & @gemma.soul representing our @psyclelondon fam................................................The shelter charity actually helped me when I was homeless at the age of 19 so it was even more rewarding to be able to give something back and possibly help end someone elses struggles 🙏🙏🙏 #verticalrush (at Tower 42)
Every year I get lots of emails from people who are nervous about reaching their pledge. This is totally normal and I totally get that fundraising can be difficult, especially when I took the plunge and signed up for Vertical Rush last year. Suddenly I was on the other side of the fence and instead of giving the fundraising advice, I was taking it. So this was what I did to hit that £160 sponsorship pledge.My main fundraising tactic was setting up an online fundraising page ASAP and sharing that bad boy at every chance I got. I personalised my page with (if I may say so myself) a rather fetching photo of me and a cheeky photo of Tower 42 just to show people the scale of the challenge, and included the targeted amount for all to see. This was my page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Beth-Cox3 ... And it worked!
What works?
The more personalised your page is, the more compelled people are to donate and, according to the lovely people at Just Giving, those who put a photo to their page tend to raise 14% more. Not bad for a few extra clicks of the mouse! It’s also really important if you’re asking people to sponsor you to let them know what their donations can do and how they will help. I know that getting this information can be tricky sometimes so I’ve put together a small breakdown of stats for you to use to show people the kind of impact they’ll be having by supporting you in this Tower running challenge.
What your £160 can do:
We can only answer 56% of calls to our helpline but
£10
could help us answer an urgent call that stops someone losing their home.
£80
could pay for a three hour drop in session, providing up to six people with advice that could help them keep their home.Reaching your
£160
pledge could mean the difference between a home and homelessness for a family by paying for urgent legal advice. But don’t just take it from me. Yes I ran it, (here’s the photographic proof!) Yes, I fundraised and yes I hit the sponsorship target….
But I’m not the only one. Since Vertical Rush began, over 7,300 people have stepped up to the challenge, topping the tower and their pledge, raising over £2million pounds for Shelter. That’s a lot of experts. So I went on a mission to ask some of the past runners what their top fundraising tips were and this is what they came up with:
Send regular light-hearted emails to friends and family
Start early!
Emphasise the challenge – most people were shocked when they realised what I was doing!
Highlight what Shelter does
Push post race with timings, photos and letting people know about the experience
Putting a link to my fundraising page in my email signature Make it fun Give it the personal touch – why it’s important to you.
I sent round a sweepstake of times: 4mins – 45 mins
Just be persistent!
So there you have it, the magic formula to online fundraising: Start early, keep sharing your page, personalise it, and just keep going. I promise you, you’ll smash it!
