Little charity: big gains

I'm so excited to be running for East London Community Foundation this year. It appeals to the social entrepreneur in me to give to a grant giving organisation that supports grassroots activities. It's also an absolute joy and challenge to work with a charity that doesn't have a special marathon fundraising team or infact any special fundraising team and get made to feel like they really value what I am doing.

Currently, the director, who probably has very important things to do, is still making sure the charity gets on an online giving website for me. I knew some of these online giving sites took a lot of fees and upfront payments from charities but I was shocked to learn quite how much. So ELCF are making sure they get the best long term deal for the charity, which is a nice reinforcement that they don't throw away a penny.

I was very disappointed with some of the big charities who didn't reply to my requests for information over the last six months. I think ELCF could make a few bob training some of those charities about how to make a supporter feel valued! But seriously, if I ever felt like the pressure was on, it's now, fundraising for a target of £1500 for a foundation I really believe in and that I think is very important for the future. No one has asked me to do it and no one has set the limit. But I figure if I can run 26.2 miles and I'm not a runner, surely I can get £1500 out of people who might not normally give to this charity...