Fundraising for Oundle Mencap
Want to fundraise but stuck for ideas? Browse our fundraising A-Z for inspiration:
 A – auctions. Run your own at a family get-together or piggyback on a local gathering whose
organisers are happy to see money going to a good cause. The best prizes tend to be experiences
that money can’t buy. They don’t have to be fabulously expensive or glamorous, just unusual. Use
your contacts to get them!
 B – birthday presents. If you think you already have everything you need, why not ask for donations
to Oundle Mencap instead?
 C – car boot sale. A tried and tested favourite. Bag up your unwanted items, look in
the local paper for forthcoming sales and drive on down to sell your wares!
Raise money for a good cause and de-clutter your home at the same time –
bingo.
 D – dancing. Perhaps Scottish or of the barn variety. A great way to get people together for an
evening’s entertainment, while at the same time raising lots of money through entrance fees,
donations to cover food and drink and various donation tins left lying casually about.
 E – eBay. Choose your nicest, most sell-able unwanted items and display them online with attractive
descriptions. Reap the rewards and donate the proceeds to Oundle Mencap.
 F – fetes. Village fetes are always fun and great for fundraising. Sell raffle tickets and/or homemade
lemonade, offer dog walking in return for donations, bring on potted plants and sell them for a
higher price, offer scones and clotted cream in return for a minimum donation…
 G – gig. Got musical friends? Ask if you can piggyback on their next performance and
charge everyone £5 at the door. You could offer to spread the word far and wide, giving the
group great publicity at the same time. Or you could get a particularly funny
acquaintance to do a stand-up routine in your local pub.
 H – hair. In the broadest sense. Why not grow it long / cut it off / cultivate it into interesting shapes
in aid of Oundle Mencap? Then organise a fabulous finale as you shave it off / perm it / wax it, with
people putting more cash into a pint glass the weirder you start to look…
 I – instrument. If you play one, use it! Stage a concert (with other musical friends?) and ask
everyone coming to make a donation to Oundle Mencap. You could serve refreshments afterwards
in return for a small donation. Or maybe offer music lessons locally with a minimum ‘suggested
donation’ instead of a fee?
 J – jam. Who knew it was so easy to make? Chop up some fruit, add sugar and boil it for a couple of
hours, then stick on a homemade label and sell it (though maybe glance at a recipe first!). The more
interesting the flavour the better.
 K – Kilimanjaro. Or any other test of endurance. There are hundreds of challenge events out there
that people will be impressed to sponsor you for. Take a look at the Three Peaks Challenge, climbing
the Scottish Monros or walking along Hadrian’s Wall. Why don’t you create your own Land’s End to
John O’Groats challenge, or a London-Paris cycle ride? Or you could always actually climb Mt
Kilimanjaro!
 L – laps or lengths. How many could you do on a running track or in a swimming
pool in one hour? Could you and friends hold a 24-hour run/swim for charity? See
if your local gym could host it free of charge – and make a donation too, of course.
 M – Marathon. Why not challenge yourself by running one for Oundle Mencap? You
don’t have to do the full 26 miles for it to be impressive – a 5k, 10k or half marathon are other
options!
 N – Nutella. See how much you can eat in one minute. Hold a competition with others and put bets
on who will win / lose. Or do it with crackers, Jaffa cakes, pints of milk…
 O – office. Find out if your work offers a matching scheme for employees who
fundraise; lots of them do. And even if they don’t, convince them to make a
donation to Oundle Mencap anyway! A chance to make double the difference.
Offices are also great places for sweepstakes.
 P – parents. Just ask and see what happens! Same with aunts, uncles, grandparents and
godparents. It usually helps if you’re a dutiful son/daughter/niece/nephew/godchild etc in the first
place.
 Q – [pub] quiz. Lots of pubs make a donation to charity from their quiz entrance fees each week.
See if you can get Oundle Mencap to be the charity of the week / month at your local watering hole.
 R – raffle. Simple, yet effective. Get together a decent selection of prizes and charge £1/£2
/£5 per ticket. Again, make prizes quirky / interesting for a high turnout. Hold it on a single
day at work or school, or spread it out over a week with a couple of prizes being won every
day.
 S – snowball lunch. You host 10 friends for lunch and they each make a £10 donation to
Oundle Mencap. They each host 9 friends for lunch donating £10 each, and they in turn host 8
friends for lunch, etc etc… there’s your snowball effect! And it raises a huge amount. Mums often
like doing this one.
 T – themed event. Hold a murder mystery party at home where friends pay £20 to take part in an
evening of thespian conspiracy. Or encourage everyone to turn up in a toga, with prizes for the best
(and worst? dressed). And there’s always a good old P party, if you can’t think of anything else.
 U – Underwear. Buy cheap pants and boxers from Primark and customise them before selling them
at twice or three times the price. Or do it with t-shirts, tea towels or caps. Don’t forget to use
waterproof paints/ink!
 V – Vicar. Ask your local vicar if s/he will make Oundle Mencap the church’s charity for
the week or month. Offer to give a talk during the Sunday service to explain what it’s
all about and encourage people to give generously in the collection.
 W – word of mouth. Spread the news of Oundle Mencap as far as you can and see
what happens. Let friends know you’re fundraising and ask for suggestions! Is one of
them undertaking a challenge and looking for a cause to support through sponsorship?
Does a family friend have a personal charitable trust that we could apply to?
 X – hmm. If you can think of any X-themed fundraising (er..?) to suggest here, email us and you may
win a prize.
 Y – young people. Are you connected to a school that would fundraise to support
other children and young adults? Could you offer to give a talk in assembly about
Oundle Mencap and what it does, and inspire a school or class to make us their
chosen charity?
 Z – zucchini. Grow and sell fresh vegetables – carrots, tomatoes and lettuces are
surprisingly cheap and easy to grow and you can mark up the price significantly by
selling for a good cause! Do this all summer and you’ll soon have a lovely pool of cash. You can also
eat the weird-shaped ones yourself – they still count as one of your five a day…
See the next pages for fundraising tips and promotional blurb on Oundle Mencap.
Successful fundraising: some dos and don’ts
Do ask your most generous donors to give first on your fundraising page; this will look good on your
webpage and will motivate others to give at a higher level.
Don’t be shy about asking for money – be confident in the amazing cause that you’re championing and you
will have no problems at all.
Do remind people once or twice about what you’re doing; people often need a reminder to make that
donation they had intended to do the first time you asked.
Don’t let people get embarrassed about giving smaller sums – the more people giving the better, and the
more Oundle Mencap can accomplish as a result! Donations at every level are hugely welcome.
Do get creative about it – people are far more likely to respond enthusiastically to something quirky than a
more run-of-the-mill fundraising appeal.
Don’t let your creativity stop – inspire others around you to do the same and who knows where it could take
you!
Do make your fundraising as personal as possible – send personal sponsorship requests if you can, and
definitely write to thank each person individually when they give.
Useful blurb about Oundle Mencap
Please feel free to use this on any webpages / leaflets / emails where you need some text on what we do:
Oundle School Mencap Holidays (OSMH) is a volunteer-run charity that has provided an action-packed
summer residential holiday for 40 children with learning disabilities for over 30 years. They entertain and
stimulate the children in their care, they give parents and guardians a week’s break from caring, and they
challenge preconceptions about disability. In 2012 OSMH piloted OSMH Outdoors, a camping holiday for
young adults with learning disabilities, which now runs annually. The Holidays take place in and around the
town of Oundle every summer.
Finally, please email oundlemencapholidays@gmail.com to let us know your plans, to ask for tips or
to just have a chat about fundraising.
THANK YOU for what you are doing for Oundle Mencap!