'Wacky' fundraising activities rise by more than 200 per cent, says Virgin Money Giving

24 Apr 2015 News

Fundraisers are going further than ever before to encourage sponsors to part with cash, according to research from Virgin Money Giving.

A Virgin Money Giving fundraiser

Fundraisers are going further than ever before to encourage sponsors to part with cash, according to research from Virgin Money Giving.

Over a four-year period the number of "one-of-a-kind" fundraising events has increased by 200 per cent. 

Last year the fundraising organisation found that 19 per cent more pages were set up which couldn’t be categorised into standard fundraising brackets like “organised event” or “special occasion”.

The top three most popular fundraising activities last year were skydiving, shaving heads and fire walking.

Bottom of the “unusual fundraising ideas” league table was a baked beans bath (taken by two fundraisers) and a one-off cat “cuddle-athon”.

Three times as many fundraisers chose to skydive than give up alcohol and women were seven times more likely to shave their heads than men - although 78 per cent of waxing challenges were undertaken by men.

Dressing up was a popular way to fundraise but more than a quarter of those chose to "undress" - from cycling in a mankini to a mass skinny-dip in the North Sea.

'Wacky' fundraising techniques were particularly popular with people aged between 50-54, with a 20 per cent rise in numbers last year, according to Virgin Money Giving.

Jo Barnett, executive director of Virgin Money Giving said: “We are so privileged in our job to see, the brilliant ideas and super human efforts that people make to raise money. Going above and beyond to raise funds for causes close to our hearts is something we cannot encourage enough here at Virgin Money Giving; as we’ve seen over the last year, it really is a case of ‘the more, the merrier’.”

Virgin Money Giving is a not-for-profit online fundraising website run by Virgin Money and is the official fundraising partner of the Virgin Money London Marathon.

The fundraising platform is free for individual fundraisers and charges a flat registration fee of £100 plus VAT for charities and a 2 per cent fee on all donations before gift aid.