I need an opinion on this fundraising idea

[fruitstick]

I run a small charity.

We have been donated some hand knitted toys.

We could sell them but I wanted to do something a little more original.

I want to come up with some kind of challenge. Ideally for primary or secondary aged school children.

My idea is

• people buy one of the toys, maybe for a tenner.
• they tag the character on Instagram/TikTok in interesting or faraway places.

-somehow win a prize

But i can quite work out what they would win a prize for (or what the prize would be).

Sort of like knitted character on Harry Hill.

Is this a good idea? Should I just sell them? All comments welcome.

I think it's a brilliant idea and the prize could be for the most interesting place, not necessarily the most faraway, because not everyone can afford long haul travel. The prize needn't be anything hugely expensive, a £10 gift voucher perhaps?

I could maybe get a local business to donate a voucher.

How about the most places they can get a photo of the toy in, in a set time frame? Maybe some smaller prizes for furthest, funniest etc?

@inappropriateraspberry that's a great idea!

What is your aim? Brand awareness?

Primary aged children shouldn’t really be on social media. Instagram and TikTok both don’t allow under 13s. You won’t be able to promote any content from accounts that are registered to teens; and really, they should be so locked down that you won’t see their posts. You also wouldn’t be able to share them. It’s very unlikely you’d get any meaningful reach.

Parents could share on their accounts instead, but they might not want to; it’s probably going to depend what type of toy/prize/parent.

This is excellent yes.

Primary aged would be their parents SM.

Teenagers can tag in stories if they like and the charity is already friends on Instagram with a lot of those who I think would take part. So it would be greater awareness in their circles, not national iyswim. But it's a very good point I need to give more thought to.

I would see it as a family thing, so parents would share pics. Or they could just email them all to you?

Ok idea, but interesting or faraway places is really just excluding poorer people. Sorry for the downer. What about something to do with what the charity is about?

I don't think it's a great idea, sorry. Especially as you're not even clear what the prize would be for! Plus making them pay for the toy in order to do this, it'd be like the most expensive and annoying raffle ever.

Could it be they have to get specific themed pictures or certain items in the photo as well? Make a really really long list and the winner is who gets the most.

Hiya! I have worked in fundraising as a creative for nearly nine years.

As you are a small charity, this is a really cute idea for low scale brand awareness - but maybe it would be good to keep it local instead, to engage the local community?

Just a couple of other ideas - what about creating a treasure hunt for the small toys? Leaving them in places families might find them, with a story you've made up on a tag about the cuddly, and a link to donate to your cause if they'd like?

Or the same set up as your idea, but keeping it local, with a theme that is relevant to your cause? So perhaps if it's a hospice, showing your toy in bandages etc - you get the idea. Just be wary of user generated content - people are busy!

Hope that helps xx

Thank you. Yes, the idea would be to keep it local and I like the idea of challenges.

I did think of a treasure hunt idea but then worry people would just take them and not donate - or they'd get ruined in the weather etc.

I don't think I would buy one personally, it's a bit like paying to get the extra week of the class teddy, which we are well and truly over.

However I have paid for a trail where you go round spotting the teddies hidden in people's front windows, climbing up their walls, hiding in flowerpots etc. Knitted toys are surprisingly weather resistant. It was a rollicking success, they made loads from it, but it was in lockdown when there was a bit of a captive audience.

Or get people to mock up famous painting of their choice with the toy in it and then whoever gets the most likes wins a prize. Like this.

I think you are expecting a lot from people! How about you do the social media bit, photographing the characters in diff places locally, with a little bit of blurb about the place (if it’s a local business tag them in your reveal and they might share on their feed too) and get your followers to guess where they are. Then after a few weeks, you can raffle them off.

I think getting people to pay to enter a competition (by buying the toy) is going to be the problem. It's a lot of up front investment.

These are amazing 🤩

This is also a good thought. I have lots of local business contacts who might help.

Keep control over the images. They send them to you in whatever format is good and your charity publishes them on your social media/local newsletter/paper etc.
Saves you dealing with any inappropriate images all over the internet that the teens might come up with.

This is also an excellent point.

Maybe ask other local businesses to have the teddies in their windows, so safe from weather and theft , each teddy holding a specific item relevant to that business ( a teaspoon for a cafe, a comb for a hairdresser, a tomato for a green grocer) so the idea is to find each teddy and write down what each is holding . Charge £1.00 for the sheet to write down the items, then completed sheets put into a draw for a small prize. Ask participating shops to also contribute a £5 for the publicity?

Maybe take pictures of the toys at local landmarks people who tag, share the charities post with a guess get put into a raffle to win it. Alongside that make the others available to buy. Bit of free publicity for the charity and interaction with followers plus making money from the toys. That way no one is financially excluded from possibly winning something and those that like them enough to buy one can.