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Fundraising

WAMCARE is excited to announce two new fundraising campaigns set to launch in the ver near future. The first is our bracelet campaign - WAMCARE ME/CFS awareness bracelets have been hand-made and will sell for a donation of $5. Check back soon to find out how to purchase! Information about the bracelets will also appear in our next newsletter!

Our second fundraising campaign includes an Ebay Auction of Signed Celebrity Memorabilia! Click here to see what has been donated by some well-known celebrities to help our efforts to promote ME/CFS awareness and research. These and more items will be auctioned off, with all of the proceeds going to WAMCARE, in the coming months!

Hold A WAMCARE Fundraiser!

Did you know you can hold your own fundraiser for ME/CFS Awareness and Research, sponsored by WAMCARE? Email us fundraising@wamcare.org and we will send you a sponsorship application, to be followed by our sponsorship package, which  forms and posters for you to promote your event.

Charity events are popular and fun ways for lots of people to help make a difference. WAMCARE will sponser events that are environmentally responsible. Events that include balloons (which can be swallowed by marine animals such as turtles causing them to suffocate or starve to death) or other dangerous items will not be endorsed. Please remember to make your event as green and environmentally friendly as possible.

If you have any great fundraising ideas then contact us and let us know!

Ideas for fundraising events:

• Sponsored events – probably the most obvious and well known choice and easy to organise. People are more likely to sponsor you give up something which you really enjoy for example chocolate, or to do something you really hate doing for example chores, or spending a few hours in a bath soaked in baked beans. However another idea would be to ask for people to sponsor you to do something which will raise awareness about ME/CFS and what living with it is like. Maybe you would be able to spend some time in a wheelchair like many with ME/CFS or give up your favourite activities, or like the most severe people with ME/CFS you could give up your voice and hold a sponsored silence. You could even be sponsored to plant trees or pick litter or similar action to help save the environment.
• Charity auction/auction of promises – these are often very popular events and can work on a large or small scale depending on what you choose. People donate for free items which can be bid on in an auction or alternatively people can auction a talent. For example if you are a really talented musician then you could offer free music lessons, if you are a dentist you could offer a free check-up and if you are a gardener you could offer to do somebody’s garden for a while. People also have the opportunity to auction themselves off as slaves for a day and have to perform any task which their master (the winning bidder) asks of them.
• Speed dating evening – these events are good fun and very popular! You find a place to host the event and charge all entries a set fee for the evening and often for some food and drinks put on by the hosts. You need to try and get equal amount of men and women who are allowed 3-5 minutes with each date and are then made to rotate to the next one. All dates are then given a sheet at the end to rate their best dates. Any compatible matches (where both male and female parties rate each other highly) are announced and are left to let cupid take over! Costs of food and drinks can be taken out of the profits if necessary.
• Talent Show – ask people to perform a talent of theirs on stage for a few minutes each and charge people entry to watch the show. These type of events work well in communities like schools and universities. Talents could be singing, dancing, playing a musical instrument, gymnastics, stand up comedy, a short theatrical piece, spinning poi, juggling or carrying out a variety of circus tricks.
• Bake sale – These are hugely popular in schools and colleges but may work in the workplace too! They are simple really, ask people to bake as much or as little as they like and donate it to the stall. Then items are sold for an appropriate fee. If persons not able to bake wanted to buy and donate confectionary items then that would be acceptable. Popular items depend on the market, children very often like chocolate items, and adults may prefer options such as a fruit cake or a Victoria Sponge. One of the most surprisingly popular items I saw sell at my school was digestive biscuits decorated in icing which reaped a huge profit and sold out very quickly! Popular alternatives include a pancake sale where pancakes are made and choices of fillings are added, an ice cream sale or a chocolate fountain, where buyers pay for a choice of items which they dip in the chocolate.
• Barbeque – get permission to set up a barbeque at an outdoor event. Items to be sold could include burgers, hot dogs, veggie burgers, bacon sandwiches etc... You could alternatively sell other cooked items such as fajitas, samosas, pasties, paninis, corn on the cob etc...
• Bring and buy sale/jumble sale/garage sale – this event is very simple, persons are asked to donate their junk which they do not want anymore and volunteers sell it off at a small price. What is one persons junk may be another’s lucky find!
• Quiz Evening/Pub Quiz/Charades/board games – hugely popular with the competitive sort. Questions could cover a range of topics or be set to a particular theme. You could even hold one in the office in the lunch hour! Fun quizzes could include matching a pet to its owner, or matching a person to their baby photos! Alternatives could include charades or team board games such as articulate or Pictionary.
• Expert guest speaker – arrange for a guest speaker to come and demonstrate to a group of keen people about a popular topic for example wine making, cooking or dancing! You simply charge the guests entry and take any necessary expenses out of the profits.
• Wine/cocktail/cheese evening – provide a selection of expertly prepared selections of drinks/food or a combination and charge quests entry and also sell them any products they wish to buy at the end of the free tasting session.
• Charity meal – find a restaurant who will give a deal for a number of guests for charity and then charge each guest for their meal, making a profit. Pay the restaurant for their services and give the profits to WAMCARE.
• Fancy dress evening – obtain a venue and entertainment at discount prices for charity if you can and then host a fancy dress evening with a theme. These are especially popular with university students. Charge guests for their entry and after paying necessary expenses give the profits to WAMCARE. Popular events include – a masque ball, a bin bag ball (where you make your costumes from bin bags,) casino night, James Bond, Star Wars, an era such as seventies or eighties, tarts/prostitutes/pimps/vicars, Hawaiian/beach theme and may more...  You can award prizes for the best dressed.
• Dinner dance/banquet/ball - You could hold a black tie (formal) banquet/ball. Arrange a venue, organised entertainment and food, charge people a little extra per ticket and give the remainder to WAMCARE. You can also hold a raffle or auction on the night.
• Murder Mystery Evening – Murder mystery box sets can be obtained and are great fun, and involve dressing up acting in character and solving the murder. Simply charge for participation!
• Karaoke Night – find a space which you can rent quite cheaply and the karaoke equipment. Then charge people per person to sing. You could also incorporate fancy dress!
• Sweepstake – organise a sweepstake on anything people might like to bet on. Charge for entry, give the winner a cut of the money and give the rest to WAMCARE!
• Sale/raffle– is there anything you can make or buy that you could sell for WAMCARE? Could you make hand knitted items, paint pictures, craft cards, make scrapbooks, photo frames, anything which you can sell and donate the profits to us! Second hand books are usually a good sell!
• Raffle – gather items donated for sale, do check to see if local companies are willing to donate old stock or similar. Sell tickets for a set fee and then draw the winning tickets until all the prizes are gone.
• Sports match – organise a fun match, charge for entry, give the winning team or player a prize and you are sorted. Think, cricket, pool, snooker, rounders, darts, baseball, races such as egg and spoon, three –legged, sack etc..., Frisbee – anything!
• Own Clothes Day –  persuade your school or place of work to let people wear their own clothes for a day for a small price.
• Treasure Hunt – Very popular with both children and adults! Hide treasure items and clues in specific places and then give a new clue for the treasure hunter to find the next clue/prize. Popular around Easter when they usually involve chocolate eggs!
• Competition – can be a competition of any kind, charge for entry and give the winner a prize.
• Collection – can be held outside of a supermarket, in the town centre or other places where many people are located. Make sure you obtain permission from your local authority before doing this.
• Companies matching donations – some companies will match the fundraising efforts of their staff members - find out if your company is willing to do this.

Volunteer For Wamcare!

Want to join the WAMCARE Team and make a difference?
Check out our volunteer pages, or email: volunteer@wamcare.org