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Fundraising & Supporting the Lighthouse Project

The Lighthouse Project is part of Inspire Middleton, a self-funded local Charity, and as such we have to raise all of our own finances in order to run and provide the various projects and services we offer. People often assume that we are a council project, or a Government funded organisation, but this is not the case, we are a peer led local independent charity.

We are local people working in the community, and our aim is to ‘welcome and support, so YOU achieve…

We rely on donations, fundraising, volunteers, and grants to do what we do, and this is where we need your help.

Some of the ways you can support us

# Through personal or business donations as regular monthly giving, or one-off gifts.
# You can become a fundraiser who raises money on our behalf, by doing a particular task or challenge, e.g. running a marathon, climbing a hill, or holding a cake sale, etc., and then donating the proceeds to us.
# By volunteering your time and skills to support our projects and activities.

Information about donating
Information about being a fundraiser
Information about Volunteering
Fundraise via JustGiving

there is more fundraising information below the news...

A selection of our fundraising & donation stories...

Become a Fundraising Champion for us

Personal Donations

Give via JustGiving
Give via LocalGiving

Personal Fundraising

You can help raise funds for our work by arranging your own fundraising events or activities and then donating the proceeds to us. 

If you do this all you need to do is let us know what you are planning to do, and copy us in on any any publicity, or social media sharing that you do. 

We can potentially share this information on our own sites to help showcase what you are doing, and potentially boost support, or attendance. 

All donations to us are recorded and acknowledged as required. This can include a photos completing the task, or activity, or handing over the donation, etc., 

You will also receive a donation certificate acknowledging the donation which can be shared with anyone who has supported your efforts.

When you raise any donations this way it is important to follow good fundraising practice which maintains integrity and public confidence.

Fundraising using a donation platform

You can link your fundraising directly to one of our existing donation pages on the JustGiving or LocalGiving platforms.

The biggest advantage of doing this is you don’t need to handle the money yourself. With a ‘linked page’ all money donated through your fundraising comes direct to us, so you and your donors have confidence knowing the money is safe, and going straight to the cause you are supporting.

The donation platform handles the donations and they can also deal with any Gift Aid that people might want to add to their donation, which is not possible when you collect donations personally. This boosts donations by 25%.

To use a donation platforms you simply register for a free account,  then create your fundraising page and link it to our site.

You are in charge of your fundraising page, you can add lots of content, explain what you are doing, and encourage people to support us. 

You can display a donation target, post regular updates, monitor donation progress, etc., and donors can also leave supporting comments about their participation.

JustGiving and Local Giving both have useful  Resources and Help Pages to guide you through the process, and there are links to some of these pages below.

Fundraise via JustGiving
Fundraise via LocalGiving

In the section below is information from each of the donation platforms so that you know what to expect if you want to set up a fundraising page with them.

JustGiving Platform

Easy Steps JustGiving start-up video

Start with some of these topics
Boost your fundraising / Charity Fundraising checklist

Are you getting the most from your fundraising page? Use this checklist to make sure you’re taking advantage of all the different features!

Have you:

1.  Added a photo? Fundraisers who add a profile picture tend to raise 15% more.

2.  Added a fundraising story? An engaging story can make all the difference. Not sure what to say? Here are some pointers to help you write a great story

3.  Set a fundraising target? Target setters raise up to 46% more, so it’s a great way to kick-start your fundraising.

4.  Added a fundraising summary? Make sure your supporters know what you’re doing, for who and why. A page with a summary raises an average of 9% more. 

5.  Added updates? Regular updates keep your page looking fresh and give you plenty of opportunities to share it. We’ve found that you could raise an average of 6% more for every update you make!

6.  Chosen a page theme? Give your page a background that really reflects your fundraising.

7.  Joined a fundraising team? There really is strength in numbers – pages that are part of a team raise an average of 10% more.

8. Joined your company’s fundraising? If your company has a JustGiving profile, add your page to it. It’s yet another place for people to find out about your fundraising.

9.  Added any money you’ve raised offline? Add any cash or cheque donations you’ve collected so everyone can see the total amount you’ve raised.

Local Giving Platform

Start your fundraising journey

This is what you’ll see when you sign up and create a page

After clicking ‘create a new page’

This is where you are able to choose the charity (Inspire Middleton) you are creating the page to support. Once you’ve chosen the charity, the system links the page with that charity so when funds are raised, they are sent to the charity’s bank account on file.

After this you are able to choose if you are fundraising via a special event, or other options. From here, once the page is created, you can add photos and additional wording to the page.

Once you have added all the information you want, the page will look something like this: https://localgiving.org/fundraising/Twmp/

Linked Fundraising (Other Platforms)

We are aware that there are other online donation platforms as well as JustGiving or Local Giving. If you come across a good one that you use or enjoy, then please let us know and we’ll check it out.

Top 10 Fundraising tips

1. Upload a photo

As they say, a picture tells a thousand words, so update your page with new photos to keep your page looking fresh. Uploading lots of photos is one of the easiest and most effective ways of personalising your page.

2. Set a target 

Setting a target is not only a great way of motivating yourself, but it’s great also encouraging for your supporters. Letting them know that they are getting you ever closer to your goal may just encourage them to give that little bit more.

3. Show donors what their support will do 

People love to know the impact of their giving, so if you can, tell them exactly how their donation will help. What could a £10 donation provide? What would a £50 donation mean to the charity?

4. Tell your story

We think an engaging story can make all the difference. If you’re challenging yourself with an event, let people know how much effort you’re putting in. If you’re celebrating something or someone, tell your supporters why. If they are visiting your page, they must be interested in what you’re doing, so make sure you tell them all about it.

5. Email your contacts in groups

It’s a great idea to email your family and closest friends first. As your most ardent supporters, they are most likely to support you and get the ball rolling.

6. Tweet your page

A website like Twitter is an absolute gem for fundraising, helping you reach out to a huge community. Tweet your followers with your URL and ask them to share it to their followers. The more people that retweet, the more people that will see your page.

7. Put your page link in your email signatures

Adding you web address to your email signature is a quick and easy win in terms of getting your page out there. You can just add a hyperlink. It only takes doing it once and then every email that you send out will be raising more awareness of your fundraising and attracting more donations.

8. Thank your donors

You can update the story on your page, send emails out to your donors or update your social media pages. Let people know how your fundraising went, just what their support has meant to you and what a difference it will make to your charity.

9. Send a follow up email

Be persistent. It takes more than one round of emails to reach your target. You know what it’s like – people mean to donate, but sometimes they don’t quite get round to it and they may forgot to do it later. Or perhaps when you first emailed them, maybe it wasn’t a great time, but now you’re catching them just after a pay day. Also, remember to thank the people who have already supported you so far and ask if they wouldn’t mind passing on your page to their contacts.

10. Contact your local press 

A bit of exposure such as a few lines in the local paper or an appeal on your local radio station can really help. If they publicise your page address, it will be really easy for readers and listeners to support you.

Example Fundraising pages