Summer is here!

The summer holidays are a perfect chance to make the most of your time off school. Whilst you should make sure you relax after your exams and take a nice long family holiday, don’t forget to keep on top of your fundraising!

The expedition season is upon us, and for those of you travelling this year we wish you all the best on your expedition. For those of you travelling in 2013 and 2014, the summer holidays provide a fantastic opportunity for you to organise a variety of fundraising events. 

Despite the unpredictable weather during the British summer, challengers take full advantage of organising outdoor events and activities to raise money. These events range from car boot sales to car washes. Another popular choice is to provide services in the local area such as babysitting, window cleaning, dog walking and lawn mowing. The possibilities are endless, and challengers often think up many weird and wonderful money making ideas!

Whatever you do, make sure you keep us informed and send us in your photos! We love hearing what you are all up to, and sharing your ideas on facebook/twitter will help inspire other challengers

There is a large ideas bank and ‘how to guide’ under the Fundraising section of your My World Challenge. Make use of these resources and don’t hesitate to get in contact with us if you are struggling.

Have a great summer everyone!

Newport Challenger Abseil raises over £6K!

On Sunday 27th May 2012, 25 challengers took part in the second Newport Challenger abseil of the year. The weather conditions were perfect, and all challengers successfully abseiled down the 62 metre high transporter bridge! Challenger raised over £6,000 towards their expeditions which is an outstanding effort! We look forward to coming back next year. A big thank you to everyone that took part!

 

 

Middlesbrough Abseil raises £11.5K!

Sunday, 22nd April saw the second date for the popular Middlesbrough abseil at the Transporter Bridge. Weather conditions were perfect for the event which saw 51 Challengers take part and raise a total of £11,500. Congratulations to all who took part. Check out some of the photos below!

 

 

South Challenger Run Raises £77K!

On Sunday, 29^th April 2012, despite some fairly miserable weather conditions, 500 challengers took part in the South Challenger Run at Wellington Country Park in Berkshire.

 

The wind and rain did not deter challengers, many of whom turned up in fancy dress to complete a lap of the 5k circuit. Challengers returned wet, and muddy, but with high spirits!

 

It was great to see a large number of friends and family taking part on the day. It just goes to show the tremendous support Challengers have, which no doubt helps motivate them throughout their fundraising.

 

Challengers raised a grand total of £77,000 towards their expedition. This is a tremendous result, and demonstrates how much these events can help push challengers towards their end target.

 

A big thank you goes out to all of those involved, and a big congratulations to all of you that took part! 

Check out some of the photos below!

 

 

Challenger Raises £2500 for Bristol Abseil

Katherine Limbrick from Ribston Hall High School raised a fantastic £2500 for her abseil at the Bristol Sea Walls Avon Gorge on the 31st March. Katherine made a video documentary of her experience - check out the link below!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNbgNesjEQU

 

 

Bristol and Newport Challenger Abseils, over £20,000 raised!

On Saturday the 31st of March, over 70 Challengers took part in the Bristol Abseil, at the Bristol Sea Walls Avon Gorge. Despite the clouds looming in the distance we managed to avoid the rain, and everyone completed a successful abseil.

Katherine Limbrick (below) of Ribston Hall High School raised a magnificent £2500 towards her abseil! A fantastic example of how Challenger Events are helping challengers reach their fundraising goals. Katherine's family are also helping her make a video documentary of her abseil experience. We can't wait to see the footage!

On Sunday the 1st of April, the events team travelled a few miles north to Newport in Wales, where over 30 challengers successfully abseiled the Newport Transporter Bridge! The sun was shining which meant for some great abseiling conditions, and some fantastic views from the top!

A big congratulations to everyone that took part this weekend! And a big thank you to all the parents for their support and encouragement on the day! 

Don't forget to check out all the photos on our facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/worldchallenge

North Challenger Run, Sunday, 11th March - £37,000

On Sunday, 11^th March, 215 Challengers, friends and family took part in the North Challenger Run at Rosliston Forestry Centre, Derbyshire. Once again the weather was on our side with unseasonable warm conditions and clear blue skies.

The unlikely fitness duo of Atlas the Aped Crusader and World Challenge staff member Kirti Swift got the crowd warmed up ready for the 5km course ahead. Once completed, tired and muddy challengers received a goody bag for their efforts and headed home for a well deserved rest. 

Challengers raised an impressive £37,000 towards their expedition. 

The Events team would like to thank all the Challengers who made the journey from near and far as well as the World Challenge staff and marshals who helped out on the day to make the event a huge success.

Remember to check out our Facebook page for more photos http://www.facebook.com/worldchallenge

Poole and Ireland Challenger Abseil, Sunday, 4th March - £27,500 raised!!

On Sunday, 4^th March 60 Challengers braved the rain to take part in the Challenger Abseil at the Water Tower in Mannings Heath.  This abseil is an impressive 100ft high and their first challenge is climbing up the many stairs to the top! Check out some photos from the day and a big congratulations to the Challengers who raised over £14,000 toward their expeditions. 

….Mean while, on the same day across the Irish Sea, 67 Challengers from both the Republic and Northern Ireland took part in the Challenger Abseil at the Dromore viaduct County Down. Although bitterly cold, with the sun shining and clear blue skies, Challengers couldn't have asked for better conditions to abseil down the 74ft disused railway line.

The viaduct certainly looks impressive yet daunting as it appeared in the distance when walking through the park to reach the site. There seemed to be a running theme of nervousness with every Challenger who registered, however it seems that this was later replaced by adrenaline once each Challenger landed back safely to earth. Some Challengers even commented on how they wanted to do it again!

The events team were rather impressed with the amount of support each Challenger had brought with them on the day, parents, siblings, aunts & uncles and grandparents all cheered every Challenger as they made their way down creating a great atmosphere of support.

At the end of the day Challengers managed to raise an impressive £13,500 towards their expeditions. 

                          

             

The Christmas period is a great time for fundraising!

We have been chatting to you over the last few weeks about fundraising ideas for Christmas and you have been sending in some great ideas. For those of you that need some last minute ideas for the festive period, you have come to the right place!

Here are a few festive ideas which don't need much preparation.

• Carol singing- Get your World Challenge t-shirts on, Christmas hats and buckets........ and a singing voice!
• Christmas cake decorating competition- Get some posters outm charge £5 to enter and aplit the profit with the winner.
• Sell Christmas cards at school- Get crafty this weekend! go and buy some card making materials and create some lovely homemade cards to sell. You could even charge to deliver them to your friends classmates at School.
• Christmas odd-job service- Christmas party baby-sitting service, wrappnig presents, and (if there is snow) cleariong paths, are all small jobs which you could complere in return for a donation.

Many of you have told us that you have organsed some bag packing at your local supermarkets. We've included our top tips for bag packing below:

A Challenger's Christmas fete last year

• Make sure you let people know what you are raising money for, they may be more likely to donate.
• Do some research on your destination, including what you will be doing in-country and take it with you.
• Remember to have fun and smile,everyone loves a friendly bag packer!

Christmas prize draw

Please remember to bring your account up to date by the 16th December 2011 to be entered in our Christmas prize draw and be in for a chance to wion £500 off your final balance! check out the next blog to see details of this years winners.

We'd love to hear what you will be doing for your Christmas fundraising so email us at the usual address: fundraisingsupport@world-challenge.co.uk. We love to hear your stories!

Hosting a music gig

As we get into the long and cold winter nights, we understand that fundraising can become more of a challenge. It needn’t be though; we hear so many great fundraising ideas we thought we would share with you all a series of fundraising case studies. I’m sure they will inspire you as much as they did us!

 Have you ever thought about hosting a music gig to raise funds for your expedition? We spoke to Jordan, who organised an amazing gig night and raised £600 towards his expedition in the process.

What made you choose a music gig?

It was mostly due to personal preference, I have been to a lot of music gigs in the past and I wanted to have a go at doing one myself and raising lots of money in the process!

What steps did you have to take to achieve it?

I was lucky enough to be friends with a talented performer in school who had a lot of contacts, so it was fairly easy to get people to play along, they also were very happy with doing it for free. 

I then got in contact with a few local venues and asked them how much they would charge for hire, I was lucky enough to find one who was happy to let me hire it for free.

After I had a line-up of acts and a venue I had to publicise the event. Facebook was key in advertising and we also printed flyers that we distributed in town and schools that not only advertised the event but directed them to the Facebook page. I think using Facebook was a good idea because it relates to the target audience of the gig  :)    Also handing out flyers and most of all pestering as many people as you can to come along and spread the word!

Did anyone help out and if so what roles did they have?

There was one friend in particular that helped me out a lot by keeping in contact with the acts, advertising heavily and doing as much as she can really. There was also about 10 friends spread around the area at different schools and with different friendship groups selling tickets, this was a good idea because it brought a big mixture of people along!

Did you provide refreshments or any other ways to aid with the fundraising?

No we didn't. The venue had a bar which they kept all the profits from but that would be to compensate for the free venue hire, in the future I may look at paying for the venue for a cut of the refreshments too.

What feedback did you receive?

Very positive feedback; everybody had an amazing time and a lot of people were encouraging me to do it again.. I definitely will be!

What would be your top tip for organising a music gig?

Biggest tip would be to always have a backup plan! Always have reserves in place for your acts because our biggest problem was that two of the five acts dropped out, one of which was the morning of the gig! But we were lucky to be able to find replacements last minute.

Also don't be afraid to annoy people with advertising! It really pays off and get as many people to help out from different places, it’s much easier to make people pay attention to it if it’s coming from a number of people and not just yourself.


Would you do it again?

I would definitely do it again! Not only did I raise lots of money I had a really good night out! :)

Did you have fun?

Yessss! It was very stressful and busy to begin with but was definitely worth while!

Well there you have it!, well done Jordan! :D

Have you got a fundraising success story you’d like to share? We’d love to hear from you and feature you in our next case study. Please send details of your fundraising idea/event along with photos to our email address:

 fundraisingsupoprt@world-challenge.co.uk

Halloween in the office!

On Thursday 27th October 2011 the World Challenge office got spooky for charity! Many of the team dressed up for a £1, brought in cakes and treats to sell and took part in the Halloween quiz.

Have a look at some photos of what we got up to in the office.





The Canteen was dressed up for the occasion and was the haunting location for our Halloween quiz.

We even had a pumpkin carving competition, although we discovered we were not very good at this!

All in all we had a fantastic day and managed to raise £135.00 for our charities.

In the coming weeks we will be posting up your fundraising events and activities as case studies to help inspire other Challengers with your great ideas. Please drop us an email with details of your fundraising event or idea, along with photographs, to fundraisingsupport@world-challenge.co.uk and we might feature your idea in our next post!

Halloween

Halloween is a perfect excuse to have a party and why not try and fundraise while having a good time!

Many Challengers have been telling us this month they will be holding Halloween parties but how can they make more money than the ticket price.

Here are a few tips to gain extra funds during your party:

1. Your ticket price needs to include something- make sure all your Halloween games are free.
2. Earn extra funds by charging for refreshments e.g. toffee apples.
3. Put on a raffle and sell the tickets- get prizes from local businesses, you can find letters for these on the My World Challenge Website.

At School or at a local youth club you could charge people to enter a pumpkin carving competition. You could even collect the spare pumpkin and make pumpkin pie or soup to sell at the event!

Here in the office the charity committee has bee planning a Halloween day at work; everyone who wants to dress up for the day will pay a £1. All monies raised will go to the Thomas Ball Children’s Cancer fund and save the children.

                                                     Set sail with World Challenge

We have just announced the launch of our 25^th anniversary expedition, World Challenge are looking for two teams of students and teachers to join us on the voyage of a lifetime, sailing the T.S. Pelican, between Weymouth and Morocco. You can find out more information here!

Also don't for get about our....

Challenger events- you can find out more information on the My World Challenge website, make sure you sign up, abseil places are filling fast!

Set sail with World Challenge in 2012

We’re looking for two teams of students and teachers to join us on the voyage of a lifetime, sailing a historic tall ship, the T.S. Pelican, between Weymouth and Morocco.

To add to the adventure, the teams will also complete a rewarding project in the beautiful Rif Mountains in Morocco. This one of a kind expedition will be complemented by our World Challenge ethos as you overcome all the usual expedition obstacles, but on the open seas


The details...
We’re looking for 48 students and 4 teachers to create our two teams.

The expedition is three weeks long with one team setting sail from Weymouth to Morocco and flying home three weeks later and the second team flying out to Morocco then sailing back to Weymouth in time for the opening ceremony of the Olympics!


Find out more here www.world-challenge.co.uk/pages/25-years.asp

Sponsorship and Hooty Owls!

Well it has been a very busy month for the Fundraising Support Team and all the Challengers out there! 

Most Challengers are now back at School and College and are getting back into their fundraising. We have spoken to lots of Challengers who have already held meetings and are halfway through planning there first round of events.

We heard that four crafty Year 8 girls from South Hampstead High School ran their second successful Hooty Owl cushion stall today. Alice, Molly, Riya and Alex - all of whom are going to Romania in 2012, sold Hooty Owls, Hooty Owl bags, baby Hooty Owls cushions and cats to an enthusiastic audience of mothers and children alike.

The girls have now sewn over 100 Hooty Owl Cushions and these, in addition to knitted teddy bears and massive cup cakes have assisted their fundraising efforts. They are running several more stalls before Christmas, and even have to take orders from customers as their stock runs out!

They all managed to earn £210 each from this event, well done!

Fundraising in the office is at a high, Will Green from the Customer Support Team completed his cycle from Lands End to John O’Groats in only 8 days, and he expected it would take the trio 10 days, what a result! They have raised £18,500 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. Well done Will!

Ishia from the Business Support Team has just completed her very first Marathon this month raising money for the South Bucks hospice.

It was a particularly tough marathon with mixed terrain and very steep hills. She was also required to navigate her way round, which she found extremely difficult but in the end Ishia managed to raise over £300!

Last year over £270,000 was raised by Challengers completing Challenger events!

The dates for the Challenger events were released last week. This is a great opportunity for you all to raise money, get fit and meet other Challengers.

 

What’s on offer?

You can either sign up to the Challenger abseils and/or the Challenger runs. This year we have tried to add a few more venues to get you involved and raising money.

You can find out how you can sign up, where the venues are and when they are to take place on the My World Challenge website https://expedition.world-challenge.co.uk/login.asp.

Fundraising ideas for October

It’s obvious isn’t it… Halloween! Its great excuse to have a party but also to raise some money! Hold a Halloween party and charge entry, or charge to take part in apple bobbing or pin the head on the zombie.

Harvest festival

This time of year local towns and villages may be holding small events where there will be stalls available, how about baking bread and selling it on a stall or selling crafts.

It is good to get the majority of your fundraising completed in the next few months before all of your exams start, it’ll save you stress and you will have less to worry about.

If you need any more ideas or hints and tips please feel free to call the Fundraising Support Team on 01494 427 601 or email us at fundraisingsupport@world-challenge.co.uk.

Summer ideas and back to school

As we write this blog, most of our teams have returned expedition and from looking at our Facebook page we can see they have had a great time! Take a look for yourself and see that the fundraising is worth the effort!

The Fundraising Support Team have been contacting our 2012 teams to see how they have been getting on with their fundraising. We have seen that over the summer fundraising has slowed down because Challengers are away from school and find it hard to keep in touch with the rest of their team. One team had a great idea to create a Facebook page to keep in touch. They posted their fundraising ideas and plans so everyone could get involved.

Many Challengers have been making the most of the weather we have been having this summer by getting out there and taking part in car boot sales and car washing. We have also heard that a couple of Challengers have cycled from John ‘O’ Groats to Lands end!

Another popular choice this summer for fundraising was to provide services in the local area e.g. babysitting and lawn mowing. Below is a copy of an odd job leaflet, use it to help you write your own.

This is a great way to show you are raising money for a fantastic opportunity to go and experience a new culture, learn new skills and give to another community. 

Most Challengers will be heading back to school in the next couple of weeks, so this is a perfect time to hold a meeting and catch up. Have a look on the My World Challenge website there are loads of ideas and action plans that you could take to your first meeting.

One of our many 2012 Challengers, Alisha, that have already raised their funds has kindly answered a few of our questions.

1. How did you raise your funds?

I raised the money by:
    1. sponsored event - swimming 5k
    2. Big quiz night with side events going on like selling cards, raffle and heads & tails
    3. Selling cards
    4. Babysitting - first I dropped around flyers to advertise myself and got the clients from there
    5. Paper round.

2. How long did it take you?

It took me from November to the end of June

3.What fundraiser brought in the best money?

 The funder-raiser was the quiz night because I had so many teams coming and everyone there was really nice and took part in the games, raffle and brought cards. But the sponsored event wasn’t far behind the main thing that helped me, which was just asking people to give £5 and it all added up.

4. What advice would you give to Challenger fundraising at the moment?

 Look at events that target different areas of people e.g. school, family, friends, neighbours etc. So your not asking for money from the same people each time. Try and just do one big event with everything packed in.

Next week Customer Service Advisor, Will Green, will be leaving for his cycle for charity, in our next blog we will let you know how he got on!

Well, it’s been a very busy few weeks for us in the Fundraising Support Team. We have been through some changes and now have a full team, which includes K’an, Charlea, Emma and Todd.

Emma and Todd have been settling in the last few weeks and are enjoying their new roles.

Challenger Run

Emma and Todd attended the last of the challenger runs on Sunday 8^th May. The weather was great and it was good to catch up with challengers and hear about their fundraising successes!

There was a competition for the best fancy dress and the fruit won! Also we had Atlas running around encouraging Challengers and joining in on their warm up! It was a fab day and we also had great weather.

Summer is a great time to get some big fundraising ideas in. Try a Battle of the bands night in a local hall or a mass BBQ. Set up stalls like refreshments or face painting, it’s always a success at a summer fête. Remember we are here throughout the summer to help you with your fundraising, to give you ideas and resources, so drop us an email or give us a call.

Fundraising in the World Challenge office:  It is not just you guys who are fundraising! We have been fundraising here at the World Challenge Head office and Will Green in our Customer Support Team is fundraising for the Motor Neurone Disease Association, and this is what he has to say:

“Around 6 months ago one of my best friends Uncles who he is very close to was diagnosed with Motor Neurone disease and told that he would have less than 2 years to live. My friend whose uncle has the disease another friend and I decided we should do something to raise money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association and also as nice gesture for Rory’s Uncle. We came up with the idea of cycling from John O’Groats to Lands End. Its around 850 miles from the northern most point of mainland Britain to the Southern most point and the three of us hope to cover the distance in 10 days, which means cycling between 80-90 miles per day. It is supposedly a very spectacular but gruelling route as we will go through areas such as the highlands of Scotland and the peak district to name a few. None of us have really done any cycling before so it’s going to be a massive Challenge and a race to get fit with the event taking place from the 7^th to the 17^th of September.”      

We wish Will all the best with his training and in completing the ride; we will keep everyone updated on the blog.

Thomas Ball Foundation- Midnight walk. Charlea, Emma, Bex and Laura from World Challenge completed a 6 mile midnight walk to raise funds for The Thomas Ball Children’s Cancer Fund along with a couple of cake sales they managed to raise over £300!

Fundraising Ideas- Please don’t forget to log in to your “My World Challenge” website and check out the fundraising sections, as there are loads of tips and ideas to help you fundraise over the summer. Also don’t forget to add us on Facebook and Twitter.

Also this month we have been contacting challengers to find out how they fundraised their expedition fee and below are a few of their top tips!

1. Plan first, think of the best options, try your best to achieve goals and put in as much effort as possible and when the event is complete think how to improve it and start another one.

2. Start early so you don't panic at the last minute.

3. The main thing to do is just find events where you can sell something or do something to get money that is the main thing. Look for opportunities where you can get money

4. Do events that you will enjoy.

5. A casual or part-time job is a great way to get the ball moving.

6. Just keep remembering how good your expedition will be because that keeps you going!

7. Hold weekly meetings about the events you want to put on.

8. Start as soon as possible.

9. Teaming up with someone is good as you can share ideas and get money easily

10. Believe that you can do it. People will say that your not trying hard enough, ignore them and do your best. It is not as bad as it sounds, and fundraising is quite fun.

Hope these tips help, remember these challengers have successfully fundraised and have been on expedition. It is possible!

2011 Challenger events take the fundraising total to over £1million!

Since 2008 nearly 6000 Challengers have taking part in Challenger events raising a combined total from sponsorship of £1,219,250. The average amount raised by a Challenger is over £200!

Our Challenger events have gone from strength to strength since they began and are a great way for Challengers to fundraise without the added stress of having to organise the event. All they need to worry about is sorting transport to and from the event and we plan the rest! In 2011 we made the Challenger events bigger and better than ever before.  Our Fundraising Support team were also giving out handy tips and advice on fundraising towards your expedition.

For the first time we organised a Scottish Challenger Run in addition to our North and South Challenger Run and Challengers raised a combined total of £143,000 at these three events.  Please see some of the photos from the events below.  If you would like to see more please follow World Challenge on Facebook.


The Events team are currently planning the 2012 Challenger events calendar so if you have any suggestions for a venue please contact challengerevents@world-challenge.co.uk