Rachel’s targeted approach to fundraising!

Hi I’m Rachel, I’m a mum of two living in Northamptonshire, England. I’ve been running for 7 years now and absolutely love the feeling of getting out of my head and moving.

After applying for the London Marathon for the past three years and being unsuccessful, I thought what better reason to do it to raise money for a great charity – VICTA. I chose this charity because a family friend has run for VICTA in the marathon for many previous years and he told me how great they were.

Can you tell us more about your fundraising for VICTA?

The thought of hitting the £2,250 target was quite daunting at first, however I found it easier by breaking it down into monthly targets, this made it feel more achievable by hitting smaller targets each month.

At the beginning, I reached out to all my family and friends for inspiration and ideas on how to fundraise. They were happy to be involved, and their ideas ranged from offering to run a raffle – having a donation pot for collections in their salon – to selling 3D-printed fidget toys.

One of the most successful fundraising ideas that I did was buying some “Guess the Name” scratch cards. I was able to take one to my work, my husband’s work and I gave two to my mother-in-law. They all generated £50 per scratch card. (Half is given to the winner and half to VICTA @ £2 a go).

What surprised you?

It was surprising to see so many unexpected people donating to me to run for this charity – and it was from those that I least expected it from. The biggest surprise came in January, when my brother-in-law ran a mufti day at his work generating nearly £200 in donations!

Would you recommend it to others?

For those that may be struggling to hit their target, I would recommend taking your left-over target and break it down into smaller monthly/weekly targets. Get on Amazon order some “Guess the Name” scratch cards. Try to use different workplaces – ask your loved ones if they can help. Make a poster with your QR code and put the logos from all your family and friends places of work on it.