FUNDRAISING

CHAMPI

ONS GUIDE

Contents

1. What is a fundraising Champion? (Page 2)

2. What is a fundraising Champion Network? (Page 2)

3. Fundraising Champion Case study (Page 3)

4. Simple guide to putting on a workplace fundraising event (Page 5)

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5. Fundraising top tips (Page 6)

6. How to engage fellow staff members, saying thank you and communicating the need message (Page 7)

7. Fundraising dos and don’ts (Page 9)

8. How to pay in money and make sure the money is tracked (Page 10)

What is a fundraising champion?

A fundraising champion is one of several people who volunteer to act as the spokespeople for Red Nose Day activities in their company.

There are often one or two champions per department or company site area to ensure the whole organisation know about what is going on and how to get involved.

These people are the drivers behind fundraising and encourage everyone to get involved

These are people who lead on organising fundraising events and activities.

What is a fundraising Champion Network?

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All fundraising champions meet on regular basis to help and support each other in organising fundraising events and activities.

They often are part of a fundraising committee

Each company is different and one size doesn’t fit all

Example of Champion network -

Fundraising Champion Case studies

Mars Champion case study

Mars set an employee fundraising target of £10k and raised £47,377 for Red Nose Day 2013

Mars has one major site but has a lot of different departments. This includes factory staff, marketing, HR and finance team plus

many more.

They had one key project leader and a network of 16 charity champions from each area of the business. They held a workshop in December and came up with several fundraising ideas. They all agreed to meet once a fortnight to progress with their plans. By mid-December they had an agreed strategy and began to execute their plans from January.

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Gravel Inspection Team Fundraising

ChampionChris and Lucy

Facilities Team Fundraising Champion

Chris and Lucy

Accounting Fundraising Champion

Nigel

HR Fundraising Champions

Helen and Andrew

Gravel LimitedFundraising Champion Committee

Key things they did were to plan varied activities so there would be something that would appeal to everyone. They planned some small activities and organised one big activity on the day of Red Nose Day which they organised together. They thought about the different types of workers and organised activities that would work for them such as factory workers and office workers.

They also put together a clear internal comms plan to ensure everyone knew about what events were going on where.

Kellogg’s champion case study

Kellogg’s wanted to use their Red Nose Day employee fundraising not only to raise money but to inspire and energise colleagues to convey the message that Kellogg’s is a great place to work, plus provides opportunities for personal development. They decided to focus their activity on three key sites.

To recruit champions they created a three stage comms strategy. The three stages were Unveil, Excite and Involve. This involved the following.

Unveil - At their main staff conference in November they announced there were going be getting involved in Red Nose Day.

Excite- In early January they created a big bang in their comms about how exciting it’s going to be and called out for volunteers to support the fundraising activity.

Involve- All staff were invited to attend a lunch time information session to find out more about getting involved and to sign people up.

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From this they got a fully engaged work force and a strong team of fundraising champions. They held a variety of event over a two week period. 93% of people said Comic Relief made them feel proud to work for Kellogg’s and all activities received high engagement from staff. They set an initial target of £10k which they tripled and raised over £30k.

Simple guide to putting on a workplace fundraising event

Get a team of volunteers together Putting on a fundraising event on your own can be a really tricky as there’s often lots to do. Ask colleagues or other champions to help you put on your event.

Plan Once you have a group of volunteers put an event plan together including a timetable of what needs to be done when and who’s doing what.

Think about your ROIIt’s very important to remember your return on investment. What amount of money will you make from your event? If it is very little is it worth putting on the event for the amount you’ll get back?

Advertise

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Think about the most effective ways to advertise your event in your company. Is the intranet regularly used or is there an all staff email that goes out you could use? If there is a lot of staff who don’t work at a computer notice boards and word of mouth might be more effective.

Put on the event Make sure you have enough people to help on the day and enjoy it. This is the fun bit!

Thank you and celebrate Once the event is finished make sure you thank everyone who has taken part in the event and celebrate your success. Get photos and a story in your company newsletter for example. Also make sure you mention the difference the money raised will make.

Pay your money in The final and most important thing to do is to pay your money in. Make sure you know how your company is paying in their fundraising money to make sure the money goes towards your company total. This might mean paying it directly to your central contact.

Fundraising top tips

Keeping it simple and allow flexibility Flexibility and simplicity allows all staff and departments to get involved Simple allows for clear messaging about getting involved Staff feel immense pride and are more motivated when they own it

Get your senior management involved Engaging staff from the very top can inspire the whole organisation This gives staff the license to get involved and do something silly Senior management involvement can get good PR for the company

Ensuring there’s a simple way to track employee fundraising money Knowing how much the employee collective has raised is a great motivator for staff It can be a significant amount which adds to the company total Tracking fundraising money being raised means you can make it competitive between teams

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Focus on engaging your colleague with Red Nose Day and local projects Focus on engaging employees should be a key focus in any Employee fundraising strategy Engaging colleagues with where the money goes in a great motivator. Comic Relief can tell

you about funded projects near to your company sites.

Set a fundraising target and work out how you’re going to achieve it If you set a high target and you don’t reach it this could be really detrimental to staff morale Setting a target and working out how to achieve it will help you with your planning and what

you’re able to do.

Celebrate your success and make sure you thank staff It is just as important to advertise the event once it has happened. This is especially

important if it’s one of the first events as it will encourage staff to get involved in future events

When celebrating the success of a fundraising event or activity ensure you also mention the positive impact your fundraising has had. The staff will want to know how their money has helped.

Use the Red Nose Day fundraising resources available to you There are loads of resources available to you as fundraisers. Most of them can be found on

the workplace fundraising resource pack which can be found at the following link (add in link)

Your company will also have balloons and stickers available provide by Comic Relief

You can also order fundraising packs directly from Comic Relief or ask your central contact to do a free bulk order of fundraising packs from Comic Relief.

How to engage fellow staff members

If you’re reading this document then you’re probably engaged with Red Nose Day and feeling inspired to get involved. So how do you now get your colleagues feeling the same?

Make use of the Red Nose Day 2015 resources We have several documents that will help you get your fellow work colleagues enthused and motivated to get involved with your fundraising. Most resources can be downloaded from the Red Nose Day 2015 workplace fundraising resource pack which is available exclusively for our high level workplace fundraisers.

Red Nose Day highlights film This is a great way to excite your fellow colleagues by reminding them how much fun Red Nose Day is. You could put this up on your intranet or use it in a presentation or a meeting to get people involved.

Appeal films

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As well as exciting your colleagues it’s important to communicate where the money goes. Using appeal films is one of the most powerful ways to show your colleagues the difference they’ll be making to poor and vulnerable people both here in the UK and abroad.

Money buys Money buys are great ways to communicate the difference small amounts of money will make. This really helps when asking people to donate. We have a list of UK and international money buys for you to use. For example ‘£1 could buy textbooks for an orphaned girl in Zambia, so she can go to school and get an education’ and ‘£10 could buy a pair of pyjamas and a teddy bear for a child in the UK living in extreme poverty.’

Red Nose Day 2015 campaign wording We’ve got a whole sheet of descriptions and great wording you can use as part of your comms to be able to communicate about Red Nose Day brilliantly!

Fundraising ideas We have a bank to fundraising ideas to help you inspire your co-workers to get involved

Customisable posters We’ve got two fantastic posters which you can customise with your own detail to put around your office and on workplace notice boards

Using team meetingsThis is a great chance to show the highlights film and chat to your colleagues about what’s being planned and how they can get involved in Red Nose Day 2015.

Lunch time presentations/launch event If you have a well-used social space you could set up a stall over lunch time to chat to colleagues or if you’re feeling brave you could do a lunch time presentation. Some companies get their fundraising champions to do a launch event during a lunch hour.

IntranetIf you have an intranet that is well used by staff then this is a great way to engage your fellow co workers

Emails Everyone loves e-mails and they can be a great way to reach a lot of people all at once. But remember that some people get a lot of emails and so they might not read it.

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How to pay in money and make sure the money is tracked.

It is important to find out how your company is tracking their fundraising. If you just pay in the money to Comic Relief then the money raised cannot be included in your company’s total. Please ask the central organiser or workplace fundraising lead in your company to make sure you pay in your money in the correct way. Here are some different methods used.

1. Central in-house collection This is the most effective and simplest way for companies to track their employee fundraising money. The money is collected centrally and then paid into us in one lump sum.

Some companies have a central CSR bank account where all payments are made. They can then make the payment to us in one go. Any cash fundraising can also be paid in to this account by the CSR team.

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If a company has staff working in shops then sometimes the money can be tracked by paying it into the tills.

2. Using online giving pagesIf you are using the rednoseday.com giving pages to collect sponsorship then please let your central contact know so they’re able to track the money and make sure it’s included in the company total.

3. One central person collecting giro and postal receiptsSome companies tell their staff to pay in their fundraising via the fundraising pack giros and post counter donations and then staff can send over their receipts to a central contact.

Fundraising dos and don’t

If you are fundraising for Red Nose Day 2015, please make sure you stay legal – and take a moment to read the following guidelines and information before you start:

• Please make sure your fundraising materials (e.g. posters) include the line: ‘In support of Comic Relief, registered charity 326568 (England/Wales); SC039730 (Scotland)’.

• Your fundraising materials must not suggest that you represent the charity, only that you are fundraising in support of us.

• If you are raising money in the course of a business, deducting any amount to cover costs, or splitting the money raised between Comic Relief and another charity, then you’ll need a Fundraising Agreement. Contact us at fundraising@comicrelief.com to get one.

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• We don’t advise you to collect money in a public place or door to door. If you do choose to do so, you’ll need your own licence from your local authority (you should find details about this on your local authority’s website).

• If children (under 16) are involved in fundraising in any way, please make sure that they have permission from their parent or guardian, and are properly supervised by a responsible adult. Children should never approach strangers about fundraising.

• If you are planning any type of lottery (such as a raffle, tombola or sweepstake), please be aware that there are strict rules about what you can do. For England, Wales and Scotland, the Gambling Commission publishes useful guidance on lotteries at gamblingcommission.gov.uk. In Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action publishes a good practice guide at nicva.org.

• You should always consider whether you need appropriate insurance cover for your fundraising activity. If necessary, carry out a risk assessment and make sure participants are fully briefed about the activity.

• For more information on fundraising please see the Institute of Fundraising website, http://www.how2fundraise.org

• Please be safe! Whilst we really appreciate your support, Comic Relief is not responsible for organising, supervising or hosting your Red Nose Day activity. All activities, and participation in them, are at the organisers’ and participants’ own risk. Your activity should not pose a danger to you or any onlookers.

• Comic Relief does not accept responsibility or liability for any loss or damage, or for any death or personal injury, arising out of any fundraising activity including liability as a result of negligence (except death or personal injury caused by Comic Relief’s negligence).

• If you wish to donate to Comic Relief or sponsor anyone for Red Nose Day 2015, please note that your donation or sponsorship payment is non-refundable.

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Happy Fundraising!

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