The Foundling Hospital appeal, 1728-1745

by Tobin Aldrich

Another opportunity to be inspired by fundraisers of the past. Raffles, art gallery events and benefit concerts are common ways to raise money today. But when Thomas Coram was fundraising for the Foundling Hospital in Georgian London he employed all these methods. In fact, some might say he invented them…

‘Nazis against Nazis’ - not your average walkathon

by Jan Uekermann

The tiny German town of Wunsiedel has for decades seen crowds of neo-Nazis pass through its streets in annual demonstrations, but this time something was different. The town tricked neo-Nazis into raising thousands of euros for an anti-extremist charity in ‘Germany’s most involuntary charity walk’

Minus18: Same Sex Gender Diverse Formal is accidentally crowdfunded by an anti-gay group

by SOFII

An attempt by an anti-gay group in Australia to ruin an LGBT youth dance by buying all the tickets and preventing youngsters from attending, backfired when they ended up funding the whole event!

Tough Mudder

by Michelle Chambers

A success story from non-professional fundraisers, this time two young men.

Tough Mudder is a challenge that includes fire, ice and electric shock obstacles and is more about camaraderie and team spirit than being the best. So far it has raised £5 million across the globe.

StreetDoctors: helping victims of crime

by SOFII

When two young medical students were talking to a group of 11 to 16 year olds they were shocked to learn that either the youngsters, or someone they knew, had been shot or stabbed. That shock led to Streetdoctors, a charity that has fundraising embedded across the entire organisation.

Cleveland Hearing and Speech Clinic: revitalising declining revenue raised through special events

by SOFII

The once successful special gala dinner of the Cleveland Deaf and Speech Clinic was in decline. But their adventurous fundraisers didn’t ditch it. Instead they introduced three, soon to be four, new events. They call it ‘demographic’ fundraising and you will learn all about it here.

The UNICEF partnership with the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games

by Joe Jenkins

UNICEF's partnership with the Glasgow Commonwealth Games was the first time the opening ceremony of a global major sporting event was used by a charity to raise money: £3.7 million during that evening alone, much of it by texts from people in the audience.

Cancer Research UK’s ‘no-make-up selfie’ campaign

by SOFII

An 18 year old from Stoke in the UK is credited with dreaming up the no-make-up selfie craze that raised an amazing £1 million in the first 24 hours, mainly through text messages and social media. The craze went on to raise £8 million in a week. Cancer Research UK can now report back to their hundreds of thousands of new donors that 10 clinical trials are now in place that otherwise wouldn't exist.

DEBRA’s epidermolysis bullosa (EB) Ireland awareness day 2014

by Craig Linton

Click here to see how DEBRA Ireland made their logo work hard for them. By telling a powerful story as well and investing a small budget they raised a lot of money, gained new supporters and raised awareness of their cause.

The ALS (USA) ‘ice bucket’ challenge

by SOFII

You may be sick of hearing about the ice bucket challenge. You may even think it has no relevance to your own organisation. But find out the special characteristics that made it the biggest fundraising idea of 2014.

Cancer Research UK’s Dryathlon

by SOFII

If you think that the cause should never take second place in an appeal, click here to see how Cancer Research UK’s Dryathlon did exactly that. And raised £4.5 million.

F*CK CANCER: raising money for cancer research

by SOFII

‘Fundraisers – your job isn’t to keep complaints down, it’s to connect with people who do care in the strongest possible way.’ So says Rob Woods in this powerful case study from this year’s IWITOT.