Sponsorship: Using JustGiving.com

I found training to run the marathons for The Rainforest Foundation okay, but I didn't enjoy raising the sponsorship so much. I was surprised how many people went out of their way to be helpful and supportive but I just don't like asking people for money. However, there are ways to make it easier.

One great online facility is JustGiving. You sign up online, create a page (very easy) and send people the link. They then make donations securely via the site, the Rainforest Foundation get the money (plus the tax automatically) and you don't have to go around collecting the cash after the event.

The only problem I found is that fewer people respond to an email than to a face-to-face request for sponsorship. What worked for me was to get people I could meet to sign-up on the spot on the paper sponsor form then using email for those people who were further away.

When someone sponsored me via JustGiving, I took them off the email list and resent it every couple of weeks with news of my progress on training and sponsorship.

Then when the event was over I contacted the people on the paper list and suggested they pay up via JustGiving and if they did, I made a note on the paper form.

This way, I maximised the number of people who sponsored me but kept the hassle to a minimum.