So far, we’ve covered events that you can organise to raise cash for your gap year – but what if you’ve not got enough spare time or are a bit nervous about taking on something so ambitious? If that’s the case, you might want to think about doing something interesting/challenging/funny or just plain mad to do for sponsorship. Come up with the wackiest idea you can and you’ll find lots of people willing to support you – Don’t forget your official i-to-i sponsorship form for people to fill in with their donations (http://www.i-to-i.com/docs/official-i-to-i-volunteer-sponsorship-form.pdf). Here are just a few ideas in case you’re short of inspiration:

• Sponsored runs/walks
This works especially well if you’re not at all sporty, as it’ll prove how dedicated to volunteering abroad you really are! There are plenty of 10k runs dotted all over the country that you can take part in. Make sure you increase your exposure by writing a blog about how your training’s going. Alternatively, organise a hike, like walking a certain distance in a certain time, or walking a particularly long way: for example across the Pennines from Leeds to Manchester or doing a large section of the South West Coast Path. It’s worth getting people to sponsor you per mile – walk 100 miles and 20p per mile from a few people starts to add up!

• Sponsored eyebrow shave/hair dye/chest wax
The whole idea behind these is to get people to sponsor you to look stupid. Silly? You’d be amazed how many of your mates will dig deep into their pockets to see a good friend look like a berk. The key is to do the deed in a very public place (for example, your work canteen during lunch or your student union) and to have lots of buckets for passing collections while it’s going on. Make sure someone takes lots of photos that you can send to your sponsors as proof and even send to your local paper!

• Sponsored silence
If you’re the kind of person whose mouth is constantly on ‘broadcast’ you might want to consider a sponsored silence – you may find your work mates and friends are more than happy to shell out to get you to sit quietly for a day!

• Sponsored sit in….
This is really simple. Get a paddling pool or old bath. Now fill it with whatever unpleasantness you can think of: baked beans, custard, ice, jelly… As with the sponsored eyebrow shave/hair dye/chest wax, make sure you do it somewhere very public where passers by can chuck change into a bucket.

• Sponsored sky dives/bungee jumps
If you’re a brave sort, a sky dive or bungee jump can be a great way to compel people to put their hands in their pockets to donate. A word of warning though: these can be quite expensive to do, so make sure you’re confident that you’ll get plenty of sponsorship before taking the plunge.

• Sponsored hair cut
Do you cherish, love and adore your hair? Probably not – but I expect you’re quite fond of it! How about chopping it all off? Pretty hairy huh! It’s also something you’ll get quite a bit of sponsorship for (unless you were bald in the first place), and you’ll have a low maintenance haircut for when you’re off on your travels. Winner!

• Sponsored eating challenges
There are as many ideas in this one as there are kinds of foods. How about eating as many Malteasers or M&Ms as you can in a minute, with chopsticks? How many dry Weetabix can you scoff in five minutes? How many grapes can you fit in your mouth at once? How many donuts can you eat without licking your lips? Get creative and try to minimise waste as much as possible and you’ll soon find sponsorship flooding in!

So you’ve got an idea of something to do for sponsorship. Here are just a few hints to make sure that getting the cash out of people goes smoothly!

• Make sure you’ve got your official i-to-i sponsorship form (and a pen) on you at all times. You never know who you might meet who’ll be willing to give you some cash.
• Start your sponsorship efforts early – if you leave it all until the last minute you’ll find it more difficult to raise your target amount.
• Look into matched giving. A lot of companies run schemes where they’ll match any donations raised – ask your boss for details.
• Get your local paper onside Write a press release about what you’re planning to do and send it to your local paper – if they run a story you’ll find it easy to get more sponsorship flooding in.
• Write to local businesses. Companies are often willing to sponsor people if you wear their logo or mention them on your blog. There’s never any harm in asking as long as you’re polite, so give it a go.
• Give sponsorship forms to friends and family. You’ll only have so many people in your circle of friends, but if you spread that a bit wider and include friends of friends you’ll really boost the number of possible sponsors.
• Keep track of donations – the hardest bit of any sponsored event is not getting people to pledge money, but getting them to hand it over afterwards! Make it easy for people by setting up a PayPal account to make it simple for people to give money online.

Check out the rest of our fundraising series here: http://www.i-to-i.com/campfire/travel-guides/categories/22-Fundraising-Money

Have you done anything for sponsorship? Tell us all about it!

• gap year
• fundraising
• volunteer abroad
• career break
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