On 26th June 2023, my Community Interest Company, VieNess Discover You Love You CIC, turns 4.
I’m very proud! It feels like a big achievement to reach my 4th birthday. And I would love to celebrate many more.
But, it’s a struggle. Money is tight for many people so donating regularly can feel like a big ask; and the amount that’s necessary to charge for tickets for fundraising events can seem a lot. I understand that; I know I have had to cut back on many things. And it can also feel like the little bit we can afford won’t make a difference, so why bother?
As a small not for profit organisation, I can assure you that every penny really does matter. If everyone that followed my business pages on social media donated just £1 a month, that would be over £1000 a month! But, sadly, most people think, “Oh, someone else will do that, so I won’t bother.” Please do bother! It really means so much.
If you’re a follower of my work, I’m hoping you’re here because you want my CIC to succeed; that you want me to reach as many people as possible with my self-esteem and confidence lessons. But, like you, I cannot live on well wishes alone; I cannot reach the children, young people, and women I work with without you. YOU matter.
But you can make a BIG difference for very little money.
A couple of days ago, I put a comment in our wonderful little CIC group, which consists of my two volunteer non-executive directors and my part time Access to Work PA, about the CIC’s 4th birthday approaching and one of them suggested asking all of the supporters to donate £4. Great idea! And, never being one to shy away from a challenge, I decided to add to it. With the amount of great supporters across my social media, if everyone donated £4, we would easily hit £4,444, so that’s the target; 4 fours, to keep with the 4th birthday theme.
Thankfully, many of us won’t miss £4, but not everyone will donate; they’ll possibly mean to but something will happen to distract them, or they will add it to their already long to-do list and forget. And some will not be able to afford £4 (please do NOT give the CIC your last £4! Or even your last £44!)
But £4 is enough for me to reach one child in a school, a young person in a youth group, or a woman in a refuge. Imagine how many I could reach with £4,444! If you could, wouldn’t you want to be part of that?
So, I decided to come up with 44 ways that people could fundraise money for VieNessCIC, for those of you that would like to donate more than £4. As you would hopefully expect from me, some of the ideas are around kindness and compassion, and some are just silly. Lots of them could be done with children, or are more suited for children, and some are just for adults.
Here we go…
4444 minutes is just over 74 hours. What could you give up for 74 hours and donate what you have saved to VieNessCIC? Posh coffees? Wine? Cigarettes? Chocolate? Takeaways?
Create 44 pieces of art and sell them to friends and family.
Write 44 poems and sell them.
Do a sponsored spelling bee. Learn 44 words and how to spell them.
Walk for 4 miles. Or 4,444 steps. Or 44 miles! Anymore is ridiculous 🤣. Get sponsored per mile. Or for every time you say “Why did I agree to do this?!” 🤣
Dance for 44 minutes or to 44 songs and get sponsored for each one. Or 444 minutes, which is 7 hours! Don’t forget to hydrate! 🥵
Make and sell 44 cakes or biscuits. Delicious 😋.
Or, if cooking isn't one of your talents, people can donate to stop you cooking 😂.
Write a story or poem with only 44 words in and get sponsored per word. Or sell copies.
Sing 44 songs and get sponsored for each song.
Write a cookery book with 44 recipes in and sell it to friends and family.
Do 44 acts of random kindness. Get sponsored per act.
Donate 44% of your pocket money, or your hourly wage, or from sales in a workshop or class.
Have a sponsored 4 hours board game marathon.
Do a quiz, online or in person, with 44 questions, and charge an entry fee.
Tell 44 jokes. Get sponsored per laugh.
Sell 44 things at a car boot sale or online and donate the profits.
Do a 44% raffle! People pay £1 per entry then, at the end, donate 44% to VieNessCIC and the winner gets 66%!
Have a family and friends sports day. Four teams of four and four fun races. You could have an obstacle race, a relay race of passing a ball between the knees, an egg and spoon race, and a tug of war. Or a three legged race! People can pay to take part.
Four minutes of exercise for 44 days! Or 44 minutes of exercise for 4 days. Get sponsored to do it.
Have a virtual disco and charge an entry fee.
Do a sponsored litter pick. Pick up 44 items (or more!) and get sponsored per item.
In your next 44 emails, put the VieNess CIC Ko-Fi link and say why you are supporting the CIC for their 4th birthday and ask them to donate £4. Here’s the link: https://ko-fi.com/vienesscic
Write 44 notes of kindness and give them to friends, relatives, and strangers. Get sponsored for each note.
Every time you say something unkind to yourself, put £1 in a jar for 44 days and donate it to VieNessCIC.
You could also do it the other way! For every positive thing you say to yourself, or someone else says something lovely, for 44 days, put £1 in a jar, then donate it to VieNessCIC. Perhaps, by practising saying kind things, it will become more of a habit for you 🥰. This one could be a challenge but think of how many people you could help with what you raise.
Swear jar. £1 in a jar for every time you swear for 44 days.
For the reluctant readers, read 44 pages in a book. Or read up to chapter 44 in a book. And get sponsored per page or chapter.
June 4th is Hug Your Cat Day. Draw pictures of 44 cats, Write a story that has 44 cats in or that is 44 pages long. Stroke a cat 44 times over the course of the day (maybe go to a cat cafe to do this). Get sponsored per picture or stroke, and sell your story to people. 😻
June 4th is also Butterfly Education and Awareness Day. Find out 44 facts about butterflies then host a talk on them, charging people entry.
June 8th is National Best Friends Day. Have a virtual meet up with your friends and donate what you would have spent on dinner and drinks to VieNessCIC. Challenge the group to come up with 44 wonderful things about each of you.
June 13th is Sewing Machine Day. Make 44 items - pouches, bookmarks, hearts - and sell them.
June 18th to 26th is Picnic Week. Get together with some friends; bring food to share; and everyone donate £4 to VieNessCIC. Maybe do it on four days with different people!
June 24th is Bring Your Dog to Work Day. Set up a temporary business with your dog and provide tasks for people that they can pay you for. Do they need letters posting? You and your dog could take them. Do they need company? You and your dog could visit them. Does their garden need digging? You and your dog could get it started. 🐶
Adopt a Jelly Baby. Write birth certificates with the Jelly Baby's name on and charge adoption fees for each one. Or Adopt a Pet Rock. Gather some up; you could even paint faces on them.
Sponsored silence. 44 minutes or 4 hours and 44 minutes. 4,444 minutes is too much to ask 😂.
Do a raffle at your place of work or with your family.
Do your own Bob A Job day or week. Do tasks around the home and get paid for them.
Do a Scavenger Hunt. Hide 44 items and give clues for each one. Charge people to play.
Put on a play or concert for friends and family. Don't have enough people for every character? Make sock puppets or use teddies and dolls. Charge for seats.
Have an Awards Ceremony for the people in your life. You could have “Kindest Act”, or “Best Joke Teller”, “Best Cake Maker”, “Best Hugger”; anything really. People can pay to enter, or pay to nominate, or pay to go to the awards. You can make certificates for the finalists and winners, or make awards out of bits in your recycling bin.
Host an afternoon tea and have people pay for what they order.
Have a Eurovision sweepstake; don't let people choose their country; wait until you have all of the entrants then pick their country for the event randomly. There will be 26 acts. Charge £4 to enter; donate half of the money to VieNessCIC and the winner gets the other half.
Have a beauty salon and have customers pay for treatments. You could do hand or foot rubs, manicures, and shoulder rubs.
And, because I always over deliver, here’s a few more 🥰.
There’s a fabulous inclusive festival that is happening in Windsor Great Park on Sunday 2nd July. It’s a wonderful celebration of people with disabilities, and, as a business owner with disabilities, I am very excited to be part of it. Have a look at this utterly joyful video on their website: https://www.parallellifestyle.com/
I will have a stand there, and I will be reading my children’s books, so it would be great for you to come and say hello, but, there’s something else. They also have a challenge event for all ages, abilities, and health conditions, and I would love for you to join me in doing a sponsored conga line over 1km! I can’t afford to pay for you to join me, but you could use your sponsor money to pay for entry (you’ll get a medal!) and donate the rest to VieNessCIC. You can find out more here: https://www.racespace.com/gb/parallel-lifestyle/parallel-windsor
(Entries close at 00.59 on Saturday 24th June 2023)
46. On the 4th of the month, you could donate £4 for four hours; or 4% of what you earn that day.
47. Tell 4 people about the great work that VieNessCIC does and why it’s important, and ask each of them to tell 4 more people about the 4th birthday challenge.
Or, idea number 48, you could just have a tombola 😉.
Please do let me know what you decide to do. And let me know if you have any more fundraising ideas that aren’t too complicated or expensive to do; maybe next year, I can add it to a list of 55 events for the 5th birthday 😉.
And, in the meantime, if you could spare £4, please donate here:
Thank you!
Oh! If you have find this blog through keywords, and you're looking for fundraising ideas, please do donate £4 too. Thank you.
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