Challenge Events
Fundraising targets
Section titled “Fundraising targets”Ideally, fundraising targets should not be less than four times the cost of the place to Whisper.
Unlike a lot of other charities, Whisper doesn’t normally charge a “registration fee” to deter non-serious applicants. This does mean that we have to be extra-vigilant for applicants who seem to have dropped out, you might find as many as half are in this category. For events organised by London Marathon Events Ltd we should set a deadline of say a week for registration with the event organisers, once the registration process has opened. Sometimes it’s possible to build up a waiting list of applicants who will take the place of people who drop out. We also need to set an intermediate fundraising goal that at least covers the cost of the place, with a deadline that’s far enough away from the event to allow the person to be replaced; not everybody who takes a charity place can be trusted, unfortunately.
Events we’ve done
Section titled “Events we’ve done”Whisper had a team of 37 runners in the 2015 Royal Parks Half Marathon. Marketing these places was not easy; in the end we roughly broke even.
Whisper had a place in the 2016, 2019, 2021 and 2022 London Marathons. These are profitable and worthwhile.
Whisper had places in Swim Serpentine in 2023 and 2024.
The Uganda Marathon, held annually in Masaka, might be worth considering if they have places on their charity partner programme, which occasionally happens. They are run by a small UK charity, the Uganda Foundation. They require 10% of the money raised to be given to projects around Masaka, to the south west of Kampala.
Equipment and services
Section titled “Equipment and services”For Whisper running vests, see Whisper clothing.
Whisper has various pieces of equipment for stalls at events.
For medals etc, Trophies Plus Medals is cheap and fast. Whisper has its own medals for fundraising.
Urban can be useful for arranging sports massage after a sponsored event, or Daniel Assumadu physio.dan23@gmail.com (St Albans) is very good and can be approached directly for London events - he did a couple of sessions for us at Swim Serpentine.