Libby's fundraising story: Learning lessons from past successes

Throughout her journey, Libby has done several different things to raise money for her expedition. She took inspiration from her brother’s past fundraising event to find out what works and adapted it to fit with Covid-19 regulations. Read on to find out more…

Why I signed up…

I signed up to the Camps International expedition with my school as I want to help people whilst also learning new languages and learning about different cultures. I knew fundraising would be quite difficult, but I was looking forward to it and I was full of ideas.

My first idea was to create figures out of resin to sell

My Mum and I researched fundraising ideas and we came across resin moulding. We bought some resin and ice cube moulds with different characters in them and poured the resin with different beads and glitters. We left them in the sun to dry out, popped them out and either left them as they were, or hot glued magnets or badge-backs to them.

I created a Facebook and Instagram page to sell my resin figures, badges and magnets. I also made frames with resin figures in, bookmarks and jewellery. I’ve also done a few stalls, car boot sales and markets. It’s an ongoing business but so far I have made over £130.

Creating a sponsored t-shirt was a great earner

I also made a sponsored t-shirt. I emailed some of my favourite local businesses and asked if they would like to sponsor me for certain spots on a t-shirt.

I designed a t-shirt with different sized circles and squares and emailed it to as many businesses as I could and filled up the t-shirt on a first come, first served basis. I then contacted a local printing company and got two t-shirts printed up for £10 each! Altogether I made £120 from this.

My advice for anyone wanting to do this would be to email loads of businesses and try to focus on local ones. Not everyone will get back to you or buy a spot, so try to get a great reach.

My biggest event was inspired by my brother’s successful fundraising

A few years ago, my brother fundraised to go to America, and he held a dog show, which went really well. I wanted to do the same, but unfortunately, when Covid-19 came, I wasn’t able to hold a dog show at the park, so I made it virtual!

People emailed me pictures of their dogs and then payed me £2 per entry via PayPal. I got my t-shirt sponsors to vote on the dog pictures in each category (best boy, best girl, beautiful eyes, cutest puppy, golden oldie, most like owner, best rescue, and craziest pose.). When they had voted, I announced the winners in my Facebook page and sent rosettes to them.

From this fundraiser I made £191! You just have to be able to advertise people, to get your show out there, otherwise you won’t get enough entries, so ask friends, work colleagues, family and get them all to share it across social media.

I also took part in a sponsored read-a-thon

My most successful fundraiser has been a sponsored read-a-thon. I raised around £300 for reading seven books in seven days.

Throughout my fundraising I’ve been really surprised by how many people have supported me and bought my resin crafts. I’m really grateful for all of them.

Looking to the future…

I’ll hopefully be doing a sponsored walk sometime in the future. I would also like to do a Christmas fair and sell my crafts if Covid-19 restrictions allow.

We love hearing all about your fundraising! If you would like to share your story with us, please send it to submissions@campsinternational.co.uk and you could be featured on our next blog!