1. Overtime: Many people work in companies where they can choose to work overtime. If your company is like that, you could start working 1, 2 or 3 hours extra every day from now and donate that money to Ben Nevis. Depending on how much you make an hour, that could amount to £400 or more.
2. Red Roses: You could buy red roses and sell them for a profit at a busy intersection, or ask the owners of several nice restaurant to allow you to come in as people are dining and sell roses. Wrap each one in plastic and tie a bow on it...small, cheap touches that will make the rose seem well worth the price.
3. Rounders/football game: Make up 2 teams that will play on a certain day in the park and have everyone donate a set amount, £25 or £35. many people would love to play but don't go to the bother of organising teams. You could do the organising and reap the benefit. To add excitement you could have each team made up of a specific type of person... Jamaicans against Nigerians, Finsbury Park against Hackney, 30 year olds against teenagers.
4. Laundry service: You could place some leaflets or a notice in your building and offer laundry service. Many people find it hard to do their own laundry because both husband and wife work, so they could leave their dirty laundry with you in the morning and for a price based on how much they give you and how much ironing is involved, pick it up clean and ironed as they come home from work.
5. I'm a climber: If you're a climber...make a BIG deal about it! Tell people that the last mile is in the snow, that there are 70 mile an hour winds, that it's really cold at the end of November.
6. Handiman jobs: If you're a handiman (or woman) ask your neighbours and friends if they have any small repairs to be done around the house and offer to do them for a donation towards your target. (painting, small plastering + plumbing jobs, changing a door lock)
7. House/office cleaning: Offer house cleaning for neighbours and friends with proceeds going to the youth of Peckham. Alternately, if your offices do not have a fulltime cleaner, offer to come in to work an hour or two early and clean the offices for a fee.
8. Early Birthday gift: If your birthday is in December, January or February you could take advantage of that and ask people to give you an early gift by helping you reach your fundraising target. Use the birthday cards that the church has printed specifically for this.
9. Baloons: You could arrange a helium tank and sell helium filled balloons in the park. Children can't resist them.
10. Baby sitting: Offer to do baby sitting for friends and neighbours for a fee. Some people may say they can't do much for Ben Nevis because they have a small child. But if you stay at home and look after one child, why not offer to take care of one, two or three of your neighbour's children at the same time, and in your own house?
11. Foneaid: Get a Foneaid bag from your local UCKG branch and collect all the old mobiles that you, your family and friends no longer need or use. Doesn't matter if they work or not, or whether you have the chargers. Just bring them in. Foneaid will give us money for them.
12. Krispy Kreme doughnuts: Krispy Kreme sells donuts for a special fundraising price of £3.50 a dozen. You can then resell them for whatever price you want (£1 per donut or £6.95 per box of twelve). Log on to their website to get more information: www.krispykreme.co.uk/How-it-works. The minimum order is 10 dozen at a time and orders can be made only once every 30 days. Hats, banners and balloons are available upon request. Alternately, they offer vouchers for a dozen donuts for the same price.
13. Dog walking: Dogs need to be walked every day. You could offer to walk the dogs in your neighbourhood for a price every day.
14. Grocery bagging: At times supermarkets allow fundraisers to bag customer's groceries and to receive tips for it. You can have a tin available for people to place their donations in. The good thing about this is that people have extra change available after buying their groceries. (A couple in Cardiff are doing this successfully.)
15. Home cooked meals: If you're a good cook and have spare time, you could cook meals for your neighbours so that on their way home from a busy day at work they can drop by and pick up their hot, home cooked dinner.
16. Raffling Pele's shirt: The great football star, Pele, has come out to lend his support to the Ben Nevis Challenge and has signed a Brazilian National Team football shirt that will be raffled off in the coming weeks. You may also have something you want to raffle off. There are certain guidelines to raffles, so speak to your local pastor for guidance.
17. Door-to-door fundraising with a prize: Door-to-door fundraising must be done through the fundraising group of your local UCKG. As you go door knocking you could add a special touch by giving a prize to those who donate (chocolate bar, book mark). One assistant in Finsbury Park gives high quality Christmas cards to everyone who helps. That way people are encouraged to give because they're getting something in return.
18. Pound Shop: You could buy water, fizzy drinks, crisps, chocolate bars, etc. at low prices at a Pound Shop and then resell them for a higher price to raise money. If you're going to sell fizzy drinks and bottles of water it's best to keep them cold.
19. Selling used clothes: Good quality, name-brand clothes can be sold at Vintage Clothing Shops, which are spread throughout the city. Regular used clothes, on the other hand, are not generally bought by Vintage Clothing shops or even Thrift Shops. To sell them you need to find a Car Boot sale. (You do not need a car to be a part of a car boot sale...the name comes from how people generally bring their products to the sale.) These sales are advertised in community newspapers and school and supermarket bulletin boards. Generally they are held at schools, parking lots and open fields, and participants pay from £5 to £10 for a spot where they place their products on a tarpaulin or folding table. The items you intend to sell should be priced before leaving home to avoid confusion.
20. Anniversary gifts: If your wedding anniversary comes before 28 November, or soon after, you could send cards notifying friends and family and ask them to donate to Ben Nevis rather than sending you a gift.
21. Window Cleaning: Most people don't like, don't have time or don't have the equipment to clean their windows externally. Most are prepared to pay someone to have windows that they can actually see through! Of course health and safety rules should be followed when working on high level windows, but it could generate quite a lot of money and be enough to cover the cost of a safe ladder or the hiring of appropriate equipment. Worth looking into. Plus, this fundraising idea could turn into a business in the future. People can get ideas and materials from this site: http://www.cleaningspot.co.uk.
22. Rain Gutter Cleaning: Like idea, many people are unwilling or unable to clean the rain gutters of their house or business. In autumn and winter leaves, stones, dirt and the odd dead squirrel clog roof gutters which leads to expensive leaks and/or water infiltration, and people are prepared to pay someone to clean them. As in the previous idea, health and safety rules should be followed when working on roofs or ladders, but this fundraising idea could easily enable you to raise your target, and even turn into a full or part-time job after the Ben Nevis Challenge.
23. Wearing the shirt of a football team you hate: If you have a reputation for being a supporter of a certain football team you could challenge your coworkers, friends and family to pay you to wear the shirt of a team you hate. Many people would pay to see a Liverpool supporter wear a Chelsea shirt for a week, or vice-versa, because they know how painful it would be.
24. Face Painting: If you can find a place to do it, children love to have their faces painted and parents will gladly pay to have it done. If you're artistic and creative it shouldn't be hard.
25. Halloween Door Knocking: First of all, the UCKG does not encourage the celebration of Halloween or of your children eating sweets from a pagan festival like this. Yet if you want, you could dress up your children (good costumes... no witches, ghosts, etc.) and go knocking on neighbour's doors asking for coins to fill up their Ben Nevis tins on Halloween. You could explain to house owners that your child has chosen to forgo sweets to help the Peckham HelpCentre. Many parents will be touched by that and help.
26. Marbles in a jar: Place a large jar on your desk at work and place a sign on it offering a prize of £10 (or a restaurant voucher) to the person that guesses how many marbles are inside (or gets closest to the correct number without going over). If the jar is big and colourful it will attract people. You could charge £1 or 50p per guess. You should keep track of the guesses in a book and ensure that no two people choose the same number. Then give the prize on a certain day.
27. Record your child: One member of Finsbury Park has recorded her son reading a children's book and will be giving the CD of this recording away to friends and family for a donation towards Ben Nevis. Alternately you could have them sing songs if they have good voices. This could prove interesting because friends, family and coworkers might really enjoy the CD, and it gets your children involved in saving Peckham.
28. My contact list: This is the first step to effective fundraising. If you haven’t done this yet you need to do it today. Go through the numbers in your mobile phone, your email address book and any other place that might have lists of relatives, friends, neighbours, friends from school, business contacts, dentists, doctors, etc. Organise your list according to the type of contact (family, friend, co-worker) and according to how likely they are to help (most likely, likely, least likely). Then start calling those who would be most interested first, and do it with zeal.
29. Match funding: This is another very good idea. Many companies offer match funding, this is when a company matches the amount that you are raising so that your grand total is doubled! Find out how long this takes for your company, when they will need to know your grand total and what they need from you in terms of verifying the amount you’ve raised.
30. Adopt a climber: Climbers are having a lot of success with their fund raising since people are more prone to help if you are the one climbing. But you can take advantage of this by choosing one of the climbers and telling people that your friend so-and-so is climbing and needs their support. You should take a picture of yourself standing next to him/her to show to people.
31. A dozen chocolate chip cookies: To encourage people to give, you could promise a dozen homemade chocolate chip cookies to everyone that donates a certain amount towards your target (£25, £50 or more).
32. Be my highest sponsor: As you speak to people, tell them what your highest donation is so far and ask them to beat it. Many people have a competitive spirit and this is likely to awaken it.
33. Balloon 2: Buy a book on making balloon animals and figures (dinosaur, motorcycle, dog, rabbit, guitar, hat) and then get permission to make them for children for a donation in a park on Saturday, in a family restaurant at night, at a shopping mall or at a friend’s party.
34. Barbecue: Invite friends, family, work colleagues and neighbours to a barbecue and charge them a set fee (£30, £50). Be sure that your guests know that the money will go to the Peckham UCKG and charge extra because you’ll have to pay for the food plus make a substantial amount towards your target.
