How to help fundraising friends

We’ve all been asked to support friends, family or coworkers who are raising money for a cause. Sometimes that means buying chocolate almonds or coupon books, but more often than not it means making a financial donation to a charity.

When you respond, are you giving more to support the person who’s asking or more to support the charity and their work? Depending on your answer, there are different ways to give through Chimp.

Supporting your friend
When your friend is riding to conquer cancer, do you know the charity that will receive the money? (In BC, it’s the BC Cancer Foundation; in Quebec, it’s the Jewish General Hospital.) Does it even matter? It might not if the primary reason for giving is to support your friend; helping fight cancer is the bonus.

If this is the case, the best way to support them is by sending money to them from your Chimp Fund. All you need is their email address, and then they can give it away as they choose. Your friend can give it directly to the BC Cancer Foundation, or any number of charities that deal with cancer – from research institutes to support groups.

Supporting the charity
Now say a colleague is running for the cure and collecting donations at work. You admire what she’s doing, but are even more passionate about fighting breast cancer because your aunt is a survivor. You have a couple different choices through Chimp.

1. You send money directly from your fund to the organizing charity, the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, and include a note that has your colleague’s name and race specifics and tell them she inspired this gift.
2. There are loads of cancer-related charities, so you can look for one that might strike more of a chord with you personally – like a charity that supports family members or helps survivors. When you pick one to give to, again, just include a note that says that your colleague who’s doing the Run for the Cure inspired the gift … as did your cancer-surviving aunt.

While these ideas give you the steps to support your fundraising friends, we’ve found something else entirely makes a huge difference when people ask: It’s having money already in your fund ready to give.

When friends ask for donations, it might not be the best time to turn over $50 (or whatever amount). It makes the process just a little bit painful. But a LOT of Chimpers who have money sitting in their funds have said they feel no pain when the ask happens – the money’s there and they’re happy and ready to give. (A recurring donation to your fund makes this scenario easy to attain.)

So next time someone asks you to support them in an event-based fundraiser, how will you do it?