Charities rely on donations to be able to fund essential work, and one of the biggest sources of funding is often physical challenges like marathons, triathlons, fun runs and long-distance cycle challenges.
The format is often the same: an individual or a team pledges to complete a specific challenge. They ask for donations in support of their cause, and these donations are sent once the challenge is completed. Failure to complete the challenge can mean that donations are returned (but often this is not the case), so there is a sense of duty to follow through with the challenge.
If you’re thinking about taking part in a challenge but aren’t sure how you can make a difference, you might be surprised to learn the many different ways that your participation will help.
In this short guide, we’re exploring some of the ways you can support charities with a physical challenge – so you can not only challenge yourself to achieve something incredible, but you can also do something charitable at the same time.
Raising essential funds
The most obvious way that your participation will help is through fundraising. When you take part in a physical challenge, you will either pay to take part, or you will ask for donations from friends, family and the wider public. In some cases, there will be a minimum fundraising target that you need to reach.
Physical challenges often require training to prepare for the event, so this is an ideal opportunity to share your journey and ask for donations. When you think that every person taking part in the challenge is asking for donations from their entire social network, it’s easy to see how this can quickly snowball to create a significant impact.
Raising awareness
It’s not just the money that is beneficial. It also helps to raise awareness for the charities and increases their public profile. This can help to shine a light on the incredible work done by various charities. For smaller charities working in niche fields, this additional exposure can be vital for their work.
It’s not just about raising awareness about the kinds of work they are doing, but also putting their charity in front of the kind of people they might be able to help. Lots of people are unaware that charities are actively working in fields that could benefit them and their family members, so any additional exposure is so important.
Every time you take part in a challenge and share this on social media or tell your friends about it, you’re lightening the load for the charity in terms of outreach and marketing.
Encouraging others to take part
Your participation could help to encourage others to take part. This snowball effect helps to further amplify the message and increase fundraising efforts. Sharing and talking about your challenge in any context can help to drive more attention to the work of the charity.
The people you are sharing it with might decide to set up a regular donation, add the charity to their will, or they might choose to give their time and volunteer with the charity. All of this can help to further the goals of the charity and help them to help more people.
How to increase the impact of your support
If you have signed up for a challenge and want to know how you can increase the impact of your participation, here are some of our favourite tips.
- Get to grips with the charity and their goals. Learn more about what they do, who they help, and how people can get involved. This will help you to talk about them with confidence, as you’ll be able to guide people in the right direction to get involved.
- Share your journey on social media. Every time you do something related to the event, make sure you share it on social media and remind your followers to donate. Your enthusiasm is sure to be infectious.
- Encourage your friends, colleagues and family members to sign up. They don’t have to limit their support to a donation. Encouraging others to sign up for the same event can help to amplify the fundraising efforts and will also make the event more enjoyable for you.
- Share your feedback after the event. Reviews and testimonials can help to inspire others to sign up in subsequent years, so don’t be shy about sharing positive feedback. If there are issues with the event, we recommend tackling these privately, as your personal experience might put others off without good reason.
- Wear your event t-shirt with pride. You’ll often receive a finishers pack containing a t-shirt you can wear after the event. This is a great way to continue to promote the event long after it has finished, and this could inspire others to sign up.
