Brighton Half Marathon 2012 - Information for runners

On Sunday 19th February 2012 The Sussex Beacon Half Marathon will be taking place. We have now sold out all of our charity places for this event. We are delighted to be fielding a 40 strong team at the 2012 race and want to ensure all our runners have the best experience possible. Below is information to assist with your fundraising to help you reach your £225 target.

1. Your Fundraising Pack

By now you will have received your Fundraising Pack in the post. The pack contains our fundraising guide, some sponsorship forms, some thank you postcards for your supporters and a charity collection pot. You can download more sponsorship forms and Brighton Half Marathon posters below:

2. Setting Up an Online Fundraising Page

This is by far the best way to fundraise. You can create a fundraising page with Virgin Money Giving or Just Giving. We prefer Virgin Money Giving because they are a not-for-profit organisation, and therefore only take enough commission from online donations to cover their operating costs (around 3%, half the amount of Just Giving). However, we know that lots of runners are more familiar with Just Giving and make use of their onlines tools such as the Facebook application. Either way, it's great that you are choosing to fundraise for Pass It On Africa!

3. Personalise Your Page

Pictures - Putting pictures on your fundraising page engages people and encourages them to give more money to your cause! Add pictures of you running, fundraising, pictures from any training sessions and any other engaging photos you have.

Up to date - Keep your page informative and up to date. Make sure to add as much information to your page as possible abpout why you are taking on your challenge, detailing eaxactly how hard it is, how long you will run for and how your training is going - engage your sponsors.

Information on Pass It On Africa - Make sure to also explain why you have chosen to support our cause. This can be found on this site, in particular on Our Mission page.

Make It Bright - You can brand your fundraising page with colours and make them bright and engaging.

4. Promote Your Page

Social Media/blogs - If you are on facebook / twitter / youtube, make sure to link your online fundraising page to your profile to help spread the word. Blogging is a great way to encourage people to give and keep your supporting up to date. Some research shows that by blogging you can double the income coming into your page. To set up a blog to to www.blogger.com

Remind people - Keep sending the link to your fundraising page out to your friends, family and colleagues. Everyone receives a lot of emails so can easily forget to miss yours. Don't be afraid to remind them! Pay day is a great day to choose to send a reminder - everyone is more generous!

Information on Pass It On Africa - Make sure to also explain why you have chosen to support our cause. This can be found on this site, in particular on Our Mission page.

Email signature - Add your page onto your email signature to reach and remind everyone you can.

At work - Use every opportunity you can to advertise your online fundraising page on work newsletters, the internet, company magazines or newspapers. Try to contact your CSR team to check for opportunities, in particular whether or not your company does Matched Giving.

5. Fundraising Ideas

Click here to see an A-Z list of innovative fundriaisng ideas to you could use with your family, friends and collegues.