How to fundraise for a Marathon

We asked one of our London Marathon runners, Tasmia Baig, to share her top tips on how to fundraise for a challenge event – whether you’re keen to try a 10K or go for a full marathon, Save the Children will support you every step of the way, and the money you raise could help save children’s lives.

Why I signed up for the London Marathon?

Watching the London Marathon 2018… like most people I was in total awe of the runners and entered the ballot as I wanted a piece of that!! But I wanted to run for a reason bigger than myself, bigger than glory. I chose to run for Save the Children, inspired how they provide hope for brighter futures for children who need us the most.

As well as the running twice a week, weight lifting and yoga (as well as careful meal prep as a #veganrunner), I had another thing on my mind… the fundraising. To ask friends and family for almost £2,000 is a lot so I wanted to host an event so people got something in return.

I joined forces with 3 of my friends and hosted an unforgettable pub quiz! We raised just over £800 by selling tickets to enter the quiz and raffle tickets.

What are my top tips for fundraising for a marathon?

• Fundraise in a gang! It’s so much more fun to work together with friends to put on a great night as well as sharing the responsibilities of organising. Also by splitting up the ‘to-do’ list, you’re more likely to actually DO your to-do list, rather than sitting on a monster long to-do list that never gets anything crossed off.
• Most pubs already host pub quizzes so get in touch and see if you can do a Save the Children takeover, where the prize money goes to your fundraising total. You can get another prize for the winning team!
• Run a raffle at the same time. For securing raffle prizes, think local. So many local business (Gyms offering guest passes, cinemas giving tickets and snacks bundles, restaurants giving meal vouchers) want to support a charity! I recommend visiting in person and making the case to support.
• We sold tickets for £5 per person to enter the quiz, and there were 6 people in each team. We also sold a strip of raffle tickets for £5- most people opted for the £10 bundle!
• A music round and a 90’s round are always the most popular.
• Do the raffle whilst adding up the scores at the end of the quiz.

What do I need to run a pub quiz?

• A pub
• Friends: to help host
• Friends: to attend!
• Raffle ticket book: get this from the post office
• Posters: to advertise when and where the quiz is, how much it is to enter. Also advertise raffle prizes and that you are raising money to run for Save the Children. You could also say what £5 means to Save the Children (provides a school bag etc). Include your Just Giving page URL so people can donate online too if they do not have cash. You can use this poster as an attachment when sending out email invites to people.
• Decorations for the pub! Bunting, balloons, posters.
• Quiz questions! The internet has a lot of great examples of quizzes that you can curate/ tweak into your own quiz.
• Answer sheets. One sheet per round.
• A scoresheet for keeping scores of the different teams. I recommend teams swapping answer sheets every 2 rounds, marking and handing them into the chief scorer! Rather than trying to collect all the sheets at the end and summarise scores.
• A main prize for the winning team. Ask the pub who is hosting you to provide a bar tab/ bottle(s) of wine!

And those are my tips to fundraise for a marathon. Good Luck!

If you are feeling inspired by Tasmia’s experience why not get involved in one of our events yourself. Sign-up for a challenge event today.