Red Cross Blogs

Little steps make a big fundraising difference

By Alix Miller
May 6, 2010 at 10:58 am

Yesterday, my colleague Mark and I took a break from our workstations to climb up the Eiffel Tower…twice – and then halfway up again for good measure. Not literally you understand. No, over a long lunch we climbed the equivalent of the famous landmark by completing our Big Red Climb, to raise money for Red Cross Appeal Week.

It involved hiking up the six flights of stairs here at our London office…again and again… 34 times (and getting the lift down each time). It wasn’t the most thrilling walk I’ve ever done. Instead of mountain vistas and the clanging of cowbells, we had only the sight of grey office blocks and the gentle thud of the loo doors opening and shutting on each floor as we climbed the building.

However, it was certainly one of the most rewarding; after just a few days fundraising we had raised more than £800 (£300 more than our original target) mainly through our Justgiving page (there’s still time to donate) after emailing friends and appealing on Facebook.

We began our challenge at 2.14pm and by 3.03pm had climbed up 100 floors – our target. The problem was we weren’t really tired. Seeing as we had smashed our fundraising target by quite some way,  we thought it wouldn’t really be fair to stop when we were hardly breaking a sweat. Where’s the challenge in that?  So, on we climbed.

At one point as we were getting into the lift, Nick Young, our chief executive walked by: “Are you the two nuts doing the climbing challenge,” he asked, before pressing a crisp £10 note into my hand for our efforts.

As word got round about what we were doing, other colleagues popped out onto the stairwell to offer support. By 3.54pm we had completed 200 floors and made it back to our desks just in time to spot a colleague wheeling by a trolley of homemade cakes on sale for Red Cross Appeal Week.

So you see, fundraising is easier than you think. All it took to bring in our £800 was a simple idea (thanks Mark), a Justgiving page, a few emails and messages to friends and contacts through Facebook and other social networks …oh and a very long, slightly sweaty lunchhour.

Feeling inspired? Why not get involved and come up with your own mini challenge or event for Red Cross Appeal Week? All it takes is a few small steps.

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Tags: fundraising, fundraising events, Red Cross Appeal Week, Volunteering

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