We are so pleased that you have chosen to fundraise for CAfS, Cumbria Action for Sustainability. Thank you.

Our mission is to promote and facilitate low carbon living and its benefits – inspiring and supporting individuals, communities, and organisations across Cumbria and beyond to decarbonise their lives and businesses by 2037 or sooner.

Together we can bring about a more sustainable way of life in Cumbria.

We’ve developed this printable guide to help give you lots of ideas and tips to kickstart your fundraising. Every pound you, your friends, colleagues, and family members raise will make a huge difference.

Thank you again and good luck! We would love to know what you are up to so please get in touch with your fundraising ideas and let us know how we can help by emailing us  [email protected]

How will your money make a difference?

We receive very little core funding and your donation will help us grow and develop. It really makes a huge difference.

Some fundraising ideas

  • Afternoon tea
  • Fancy dress party
  • Bike ride
  • 80s disco

  • Curry night

  • Sustainable fashion show
  • Music festival
  • Car boot sale
  • Raffle
  • Competitions
  • Clothes swap
  • Abseil
  • Karaoke night
  • Quiz at your local or online
  • Garden party
  • Sponsored walk
  • Village brunch
  • Team challenges
  • Dress down day
  • Bag packing
  • Valentine’s disco
  • Plant sale
  • Facebook birthday fundraiser

Getting organised

Once you have some ideas, get others on board to help you plan.

Please note that there are regulations around certain types of fundraising including money collections and raffles. If you are organising a public event then you will need to make sure Health & Safety is covered and that you have insurance and any licenses in place. The government has guidance on organising voluntary events.

Collecting donations

Don’t be worried about asking for donations. Once you tell people why you are raising money then you may be surprised at how supportive and generous they can be.

You can collect money and pay it in to our bank account, or you can ask people to donate directly to us through our website.

The Fundraising Regulator has guidance on collections and raffles.

You can download and use this QR code to take people straight to our donation pages.

Getting sponsorship

Sponsorship is a great way to get others involved in what you are doing. You can do this online or offline, or both. Just make sure you shout about what you are doing and why. Sharing the reasons why you are raising funds for us can really encourage people to get behind you.

Don’t forget to encourage sponsors to Gift Aid their donation. If they are a UK taxpayer we can claim an extra 25p for every £1 donated. 

Online

This is a simple way of asking people to sponsor you. Within just a few minutes you can create personal online pages and share them with all your friends, family and colleagues.

  • Facebook – If you have a Facebook account you can set up an online fundraiser linked to our charity and funds will reach us through Facebook. See Facebook’s Help Centre for step-by-step instructions
  • JustGiving – You can fundraise as an individual or as a team on JustGiving. Just select us as your charity and start setting up your page.
  • General donations – You can ask people to donate directly to us through our website: www.cafs.org.uk/get-involved/donate

Offline

If you have friends and family who aren’t online, or paper just suits you better then please use our paper sponsorship form. Please send donations in with a copy of this form. Cheques should be made payable to Cumbria Action for Sustainability. You can bank cash donations yourself and send in a personal cheque or pay directly to our bank account.

Spreading the word

Shouting about your fantastic fundraising activity will help you raise those funds, and help raise awareness of local climate action.

Local media – Letting your local paper and radio know about your fundraising and why you are doing it is a great way to get your event noticed and raise extra funds. Write a press release to send to them. Let them know about your target, what you are doing, why you feel motivated to fundraise and send them some fun pictures.

Social media – Gain support (and donations) by sharing photographs, videos and posts capturing your journey and why you are supporting our work. Post regularly and link to your sponsorship pages to remind everyone and help boost your fundraising. Tagging other people (including CAfS) helps to widen the message. Use the hashtag #TeamCAfS, and tag us on Facebook  or Twitter. 

The CAfS Logo – You can use the CAfS ‘In aid of’ logo below to tell your supporters you are raising money for us. You are welcome to use it on your fundraising materials. Please note this is the only version of our logo fundraisers are permitted to use. Also check out the guidance about using this logo.

Sending in your donations

The hard work is over. Well done! We hope you enjoyed your fundraising. Please pay any money that you have raised for us within six weeks of your fundraising activity, or let us know if this isn’t possible.

You can pay in your donations through one of these methods…

By cheque

Send cheques – made payable to to Cumbria Action for Sustainability – to our office:

Cumbria Action for Sustainability
Eden Rural Foyer,
Old London Road,
Penrith,
Cumbria
CA11 8ET

Online

Pay directly into our bank:

Unity Trust
Sort code: 60-83-01
Account: 20349107

Please use your name as a reference and email [email protected] to let us know.