Our Miles for Mango Virtual Challenge, starting in April, aims to raise £30,000 in 3 months, while challenge participants strive to collectively travel 30,000 km. Any funds raised will go towards education fees for disadvantaged children in Kenya as part of our Learning and Skills for Life programme.
Challenge participants are not obliged to fundraise for the event, we are grateful for the mileage you track towards our target distance. But if you would like to use your activity to also help fundraise, then then blog is for you!
Tell people
The most obvious action is to let people in your community, workplace, family and friendship circles (or anywhere else) know that you’re taking part in the challenge and share your Enthuse profile. Make sure you let them know:
- What: A virtual challenge to collectively travel 30,000km and raise £30,000 in 3 months
- When: 1st April – 30th June 2024
- Where: Anywhere you can be active
- How: Cycle, run, walk, swim, skip, hop… anything that covers distance
- Why: To raise funds towards education fees for disadvantaged children in Kenya
(see this Miles for Mango blog)
Your Enthuse profile URL is probably (but not definitely, so please check) https://themangotree.enthuse.com/pf/firstname–surname
On your Enthuse profile, supporters can donate to your activity directly. Alternatively, supporters can donate to the whole challenge (rather than a specific person) on the Miles for Mango event page and clicking on “Donate” in the about section.
At the bottom of this blog, there is also a link to some resources, including a couple of posters that you can print at home / work / school (please ask permission if you need to).
Updating your profile
While we have provided text to auto-fill your Enthuse profile, you can edit this to make it more personal and share your own motivation for taking part (see our Taking part in Miles for Mango blog). Also, through the link below, we have also provided some photos that you can use for your profile, if you don’t have something of your own that you wish to use.
Posting to your Enthuse profile is a great way to update your supporters about your activity and engage them in your efforts. If you link to Strava, your account will automatically post activity information and map during April.
You’ll also be able to manually personalise these with pictures you’ve taken and some comments. If you are adding activity manually, you can also add pictures and comments, but you won’t have a map (unless you’re adding it as a picture, e.g., a screenshot after using a different app).
Check out our previous blog on “How to add your activity to Miles for Mango” which includes information on writing updates about your activities.
Get social
If you use any social media platforms, then you can share your Enthuse profile with your friends and network, by sharing your Enthuse profile URL (which is probably https://themangotree.enthuse.com/pf/firstname–surname, but please check this).
Also, any updates and activity posts you make in Enthuse can be shared to Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), or via URL (which can be used for LinkedIn, Mastodon, BlueSky, Instagram, WhatsApp, or any other platform).
Of course there are plenty of other ways to get social, without social media. A URL to your Enthuse profile can be sent in an email to those you feel comfortable contacting in that way.
Beyond the digital world, often one of the best ways to encourage support or recruit more participants is through word of mouth and creating the opportunity to talk about the activity. You can create a talking point by printing and putting up a poster or two at work, school, or in your community hall.
Get sponsorship
A great way to boost fundraising is to get sponsorship per unit of distance. To do this, you’ll have to let people know roughly what distance you hope to cover in 30 days, or let people cap the maximum of their sponsorship.
For example, if I walk 10km a day and ask for £1 per km, this would total £300 a month, if I make my target every day. If I ask 20p per km, that would total £60 a month. Or £5 per day that you run more than 15km. You and your sponsors can choose the parameters for sponsorship.
Does your place of work have a match funding scheme? If not, perhaps they still might match fund your sponsorships (maybe with a cap if you have lots of support). Or would they match fund a team effort if you can recruit some more participants? Alternatively, would a different local business (that you don’t work for) make a donation in exchange for wearing a branded t-shirt, a bike accessory, or a mention on social media?
Add some competition
Nothing motivates like a touch of healthy competition! It brings excitement, fun, engagement, community, and a chance to get creative with add a touch of rivalry.
If you’re able to recruit friends or colleagues to join in the challenge, you can have a running buddy to help you get out in the mornings, cycle race each other on a Sunday afternoon or egg each other on! Perhaps the winner gets lunch bought for them, or their photo in the local/school magazine! Or even better, an extra donation from the boss!
Fun with milestones
Whatever you do though, it’s important to enjoy it. To add a splash of fun, you can create milestones for yourself and your supporters. Consider setting some progress targets, either for fundraising or distance. You could reward sponsors who make the largest donation (in total or by a certain date), or who make the final donation to a target (e.g., if your goal is £100 and you’ve currently raised £80, give a reward to whoever donates the final £20). Perhaps the reward could be choosing what colour you dye your hair/beard, or the colour of leopard print cycle shorts you’ll wear for the following week.
That’s not to say you can’t wear leopard print cycle shorts anyway, though, if that’s how you get attention for your fundraising efforts.
Wish you all the best of luck and a lot of fun.