(Fundraising) Life is a Rollercoaster

Let's be honest and say it up front. Fundraising is not fun. No one really likes it, do they? It's all a bit embarrassing and uncomfortable to ask for money/donations. Whether it's a 5k fun run, London Marathon or a fundraising trek, up Kilimanjaro, it's never a walk in the park. Pun most definitely intended.

However, all that aside, The Big Give does reap huge benefits. The one-hit wonder of fundraising in a single week, not to mention the incentive of the Double Donations, does make the discomfort worthwhile. However much we know that, it is quite a rollercoaster of time and emotions. 

The Anatomy of the Fundraising Rollercoaster looks a bit like this:

July - October: Putting in the application to the Big Give; lots of WTA  team discussions about the greatest areas of need at school, at The Rock and at Connect. Lots of words, lots of minute taking. Relatively calm.

October, Uganda: More meetings, lots of video clips and interviews with students & teachers. Lots of Big Give explaining. Calm, time-consuming but fun.

November, UK: Feels like preparing for an exam. Do the careful preparation. Will it work again in 2025? What if it doesn't? Start writing sending out individual emails. Slightly sicky, apprehensive feeling.

December 2: Kick off Day. Lots more emailing every day. Start posting, responding, recording & editing new clips. It is too much, too little? Too informal? Does anyone even read this stuff?! Donations start trickling in. A slow build and a good sign. Small sigh of relief ...

Middle of the week: Best not to watch the total or check online too much. Donation rates go up and plateau, but then it all goes a bit quiet. Don't look at other charities' speedy success rates. Keep calm and hold the line. Screen time is off the scale. Have great sympathy for other smaller charities who are finding this week really tortuous, struggling to reach their goal.

Social media Rage: The sinister algorithms are hard to navigate. We won't pay money to 'promote the post'. We won't use funds to make the campaign all slick and business-like, so that it trends effectively. A useful and good video can get lost and almost unseen. We rely on reposting, 'likes' and sharing, which seems needy. But we do ask for help from trusty, media-savvy friends, which helps.  Back to the calm of emails and proper words. Levels of great rage & childish frustration simmering down to calm.

December 7-9: Donations start to climb up again. Turns out that most people (like us) don't actually take action until they need to and until the deadline is fast approaching. Do we remind people who have promised to donate? Is that polite or is that nagging? However, just like last-minute revision, last-minute donations do (literally) pay off. On the final evening, the Big Give donations reach the total and slide over the top. On the final morning, they creep up even higher and hit a fantastic total of just under £40,000, (including the additional match-funding and Gift Aid). Hooray and Phew! Switch off phones, laptops, cameras and stop. Levels of excitement, massive relief and calm. 

Now write and thank everyone. Calming and therapeutic. 

PS. Memo to self. Videos need to be short, fluent and to the point. Ideally under a minute. Sometimes it definitely takes more than one attempt ...