The best fundraisers we have had were a birthday, a school sports day, and one person who walked the length of a restored stretch and asked people to sponsor the kilometres.
Things that have worked
Birthdays and occasions
Ask for donations instead of presents. Consistently the highest-converting fundraiser there is, because the people giving already know you.
Sponsored anything
Walks, runs, silences, beard removals. The activity matters less than the story you tell about why.
School events
A sports day or open day with a collection. Works particularly well at our partner schools where pupils can explain the cause themselves.
Workplace collections
Especially where your employer will match the total. Ask — many will and few advertise it.
What we will give you
- A short written brief with accurate figures, so you are not guessing at what things cost.
- Photographs you are licensed to use, with the credit line already written.
- A named contact who will answer within a working day.
- A note afterwards saying specifically what the total funded, not a generic thank-you.
Please do not overstate what a gift buys
If a fundraising page says a thousand shillings plants a tree, and the true cost including monitoring is three thousand, the donor eventually finds out. Use our figures. They are less impressive and they hold up.
How to run one that works
- 1
Tell us before you start
Not for permission. So we can send you accurate figures and photographs you are actually licensed to use, and so nobody is caught out by a claim that does not hold.
- 2
Pick one concrete thing
A stretch, a nursery cycle, a school's first year. Fundraising for restoration in general raises less than fundraising for six hundred metres of bank at Rwentondo, because the second one is a thing a person can picture.
- 3
Say what it costs, honestly
Including the monitoring. A page that says a thousand shillings plants a tree will raise more this week and cost you credibility the moment somebody checks.
- 4
Ask people you actually know first
Every fundraiser we have seen follows the same shape: the first third comes from people close to the organiser, and the rest follows because that third made it look worth joining.
- 5
Send the money and tell us the story
We will write back with what the total funded, by site, rather than a form letter. Pass that on to the people who gave.
Figures you can use
| What it pays for | Roughly covers |
|---|---|
| A nursery cycle for one community group | Seed, polythene and the group's costs for one raising cycle |
| A stretch of bank, survey to twelve-month count | Baseline survey, household negotiation, planting, and both return visits |
| One school's first year | Teacher training, materials, nursery setup and one field visit |
| A quarter of monitoring at one point | Field time, travel and the water analysis for one reading |
Ask us for the current numbers before you publish any
The rows above are deliberately described rather than priced, because a shilling figure printed on a page goes out of date quietly and then gets quoted for years. Write to us and we will send you what a thing costs today, along with the date that figure was calculated.
Tell us what you are planning
Even if it is small. We would rather help early than find out afterwards.