There’s unlikely to be a fundraiser in the land who hasn’t heard of Stephen Sutton, the 19-year-old who, following a terminal bowel cancer diagnosis, raised millions for the Teenage Cancer Trust. More than £5m has been pledged in total for the teenager who, sadly, died two years ago.
Real stories of young people are keying in to the hearts of peers and supporters, often around the world. Because of the audience that can be reached nowadays, six-figure sums seem increasingly possible.
In May, through Justgiving, young journalist John Underwood achieved £100,000 for the charity Anthony Nolan as part of his own ongoing mission to recover from a rare late-stage lymphoma.
Meanwhile, 15-year-old Harry Gardner is at the start of a fundraising journey for Alzheimer’s Research UK, after being touched by his grandmother’s dementia diagnosis. “After I went to see my nan and she didn’t recognise me, it really affected me. I went home and just got all my feelings out into song lyrics,” he says. He uploaded a video to YouTube and released the song on iTunes in March and has about 200,000 views and 2,000 downloads so far. Combining that money with donations on his Virgin Money page gives a total of more than £5,000. “Donations have come from around the world. I don’t have a target. I just hope the money will help find a cure for Alzheimer’s. The charity has been really supportive and grateful and the whole experience is helping our family come to terms with this more.”
Tim Pare, director of First Give, which works with schools to encourage youth volunteering, believes fundraising works better when young people know more about the charities they are fundraising for. “Previously, they’d just put on a red nose and not really know why they were doing it,” he says.
While fundraising is not an essential part of the First Give initiative, there’s an increasing demand for the programme to include fundraising, Pare says. “Young people do really well with fundraising when they feel connected to a cause. One young girl raised more than £6,000 for a Bexley mental health charity over a summer holiday and got her dad’s workplace to match employee donations. It works best when charities engage with young people, not just their teachers, and respect their potential.”
