organising a sponsored walk All you need to know to organise a sponsored walk in aid of Dogs for Good 1
Contents Thank you for considering organising a sponsored walk for Dogs for Good. The key to a successful event is in the planning. This guide is full of ideas to help you plan, promote and hold your walk to raise much needed funds and awareness for Dogs for Good. Contents Page Where, When and What 3 Planning ideas 4 Raising funds and awareness 5 Assessing the risks 6-7 Registration form 8 Final planning ideas 9 After the walk 10 Not forgetting... 11 We hope that you will find this information useful and please feel free to get in touch with your office contact if you have any questions at all. Your office contact Name.. Working hours... Contact number. Email.... 2
Where, When and What Choose your venue: Check that your chosen venue allows dogs on site and is a good place to meet with both parking and toilet facilities. Refreshment facilities are an added bonus! Is there access to water for the dogs and a place to dispose of litter and dog waste? If not you will have to advise your walkers to bring along water and to take waste home with them. Choose your date: Plan the walk on a date that doesn t coincide with lots of other events in the local area and allow yourself plenty of time to promote and organise everything. Plan for the weather, if your chosen route gets muddy let people know they need to bring their wellies. Plan your route: Find a great route of between 2 3 miles that avoids roads. A circular route is the easiest to plan with the same start and finish points. Consider if the route is wheelchair and push chair friendly; if so let people know. If you re planning to walk on private land, seek permission from the land owner and provide them with a date and approximate number of walkers. Test your route and check walking times for various points, watch out for hazards and areas where directional signs might be needed. Check for any potential risks and use the form on page 6 to create a risk assessment. If you are organising a large public walk you should inform the local authorities and police so contact your local council office who should be able to help you. Good tip! Wondering where to walk? Why not visit www.plotaroute.com or try www.walkswithwheelchairs.com for recommended wheelchair-friendly routes Good tip! If you decide on a date that is seasonal you may want to think about having a theme! 3
Planning Ideas Registering walkers It s important to get people to pre-register so you can plan for the number of walkers and send them their sponsorship forms. On page 8 you ll find a registration form which can be filled in by walkers. It also includes some key terms and conditions, as well as space for walkers to keep details of the day. Use the registration forms to print a list of expected walkers and check them off as they arrive. It may also be a good idea to have some blank forms for people to complete on the day. What to send your walkers As people register, make sure they all have a sponsor form and full details about the walk (including your contact details on the day). We d recommend that you send them info about the venue (access, facilities, etc.). Nearer to the walk date (maybe a week before) you may wish to email them to remind them about the walk and send any last minute details. Your Walk Team So you ve identified your route, checked access, and have a date in mind so what next? Do you have a team of helpers? Even small events take planning and organising so it s worth recruiting a few volunteers. Ideally you should have at least 4 volunteers on the day to do the following: 1. Walk leader to escort the walkers at the front 2. Tailgater walking with the last walker to make sure no one is left behind 3. A person to take registrations, checking walkers in and out 4. A volunteer for the halfway checkpoint Good tip! We will try to provide branded t-shirts for each key walk volunteer so please ask. 4
Raising Funds and Awareness Maximising donations The aim of the walk is to raise much needed funds for Dogs for Good. Sponsorship is the easiest way of raising money for the charity and as an incentive you can always offer a prize for the most sponsorship collected. Local businesses are often happy to donate a prize. To maximise your fundraising you could provide refreshments on the day with a cake and tea sale, you could hold a dog quiz for children or even have a few dog related activities on the day. Remember to check with your local authority to see if you need a licence for any of these activities at your chosen venue. You may also want to suggest that walkers use online giving pages, such as JustGiving or Virgin Money, to raise sponsorship. These can be easily promoted via email or social media. Getting the word out Now that you ve planned your event it s time to get the word out to the local community. We have poster and invite templates that you are welcome to add your details to. (Please don t create your own poster as it s always best that you use our branded materials.) Here are some ideas for poster placement: Dog groomers, vets, dog agility and flyball groups Local shops, businesses, clubs, schools, leisure and community centres Workplace Local event listing websites and social media Good tip! We can provide you with a press release template that you can send to your local newspapers. 5
Assessing the Risks Date: Venue: Organiser: Description of the Walk: What could go wrong? What hazards have you seen on your walk? 6
What can you do to remove or reduce the risks? Form completed by: It s a good idea to contact your venue to see if there are other risks on the site that you may not be aware of. Please keep this form for your information and take it with you on the day of the walk. 7
Dogs for Good Sponsored Walk Registration Form Title: First Name: Surname: Address: Email address: Name of dog(s): Postcode: Other walkers in your group: (first and last names) Thank you for registering, we ll keep the information that you ve provided on our files and will contact you in relation to this event via email where possible. We d like to keep you up to date with how your support is changing lives, about our great work and other ways you can support us. Please indicate which of the following methods you d like us to use to do this: Email Post Telephone SMS Not at all I confirm I have read and kept a copy of the terms and conditions below ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Terms and Conditions Dogs that participate must be up to date with their vaccines and must not be in season No more than 2 dogs per handler All dogs are the responsibility of the handler on the day Dogs MUST be kept on a lead at all times The handler must bring a supply of poop bags and is responsible for cleaning up after their dog Please take all rubbish home with you or place in bins Please make sure you bring adequate water for yourself and your dog(s) You and your dog(s) must be physically fit and able to complete the walk Dogs for Good accept no liability for any injury you or your dog(s) may sustain or any lost property Under 16s must be accompanied by a responsible and registered adult walker Dogs for Good and/or volunteers may take photos of the walk for publicity purposes All sponsorship money raised should be sent to Dogs for Good no longer than one month after the walk date All money raised from the sponsored walk will be donated to Dogs for Good www.dogsforgood.org Registered charity: 1092960 Walk location: Date of walk: Lead organiser: Contact details: 8
Final Planning Ideas Week before Make sure the venue and everyone are still happy with the plans and there are no last minute changes. If you have a team, check they re still able to attend and are comfortable with their roles. Email all walkers you know are attending with a final reminder. If appropriate, contact the local media to remind them about the walk. Day before Check the weather forecast. If extreme weather conditions are predicted, decide whether the route and plans for the walk need changing accordingly. If you can place signage along the route, then it is best to do this the day before the walk. Ensure that all helpers have emergency contact details available. Check that you have all walk information printed: risk assessments, relevant permissions, event schedule, volunteer details, registered walkers list and check-in sheets. on the day Good tip! Is there a local celebrity you can ask to start the walk? Have a quick briefing session with helpers to run through timing, health and safety and last minute changes. Conduct a quick safety check of the event sites and if possible, the route itself. Ensure that the volunteers all have a list of important mobile telephone numbers, i.e. volunteer telephone numbers, landowners, local police station, etc. Take photos, and enjoy yourself! Ensure that the site is left as you found it: is all litter and dog waste clear? 9
After the Walk Thanking people Write/email to thank all helpers, suppliers and local businesses who have supported the event. Write/email to thank all walkers for taking part, and remind them about sponsorship. Invite their feedback, if they d like to leave any. We find that there are always things we can tweak in the future to improve any event. So it s always worth noting feedback. Paying donations in Some walkers may send their donations directly to Dogs for Good and we will let you know the total amounts. **Please ask them to mention your walk with their donation** However, if you collect money then there are various ways of getting it to the charity: Pay directly into any HSBC using our account details Send a cheque made payable to Dogs for Good Create a bank transfer or fill in an online donation form Bank account details: Bank: HSBC Account: Dogs for Good Account No: 11331558 Sort Code: 40-26-04 You re welcome to drop the money into one of our offices, just give us plenty of notice so we can make sure someone can greet you. Whichever way you chose to get the amazing donations to us please let us know so we can track it back to you and make sure you re thanked properly! 10
Not forgetting... Without your hard work and dedication, your walk simply wouldn t happen. So from all of us at Dogs for Good, we want to say... Thank you! Please don t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions, or need advice about any particular aspect of your walk. We will always help in any way that we can. Alix Lydia Ella Jane Lisa Tina 11 Steph