Justgiving's blog

Well I Nevis

Grant Logan has just got back from a training weekend in Loch Lomond, in preparation for a pretty massive challenge. On 31st May, he’s going to climb Ben Nevis in his wheelchair, along with a team, to raise money for Scope and Capability Scotland. Phew.

We were bowled over by the sound of this hugely ambitious and slightly scary task, so we asked Grant to tell us more...

What made your mind up to do the challenge?
I’ve always been a very active person, and since my road accident 5 years ago I still try to keep pushing myself with challenges. I recently went skiing in Colorado and have been sailing and kayaking in the Lake District.

How’s your training going?
Training is difficult as it’s all upper body, but I go out pushing myself on long runs up and down my local hills.

How do you actually climb a mountain with a wheelchair?
The short answer is with a lot of help from my team! I have ropes attached to the chair that my team will help pull as and when required. There are also gates and walls that my team will have to lift me over so it’s very much a team effort in getting us to the top.

We’re rooting for you! £10,000 is a huge fundraising target – what’s your strategy?
So far the money raised has been through friends, family and work colleagues, but we are also holding a fundraising dinner and charity auction to find the additional funds we are after.

How have you found using Justgiving?
Justgiving is an amazing site and really takes the stress out of fundraising.  It makes collecting the money simple and straightforward and I would also say that we are able to raise more money by getting the message out to a much wider audience.

Have you got a Justgiving widget/badge on your blog yet?
No I haven’t, what is that?
Aha! Well our widget is like a mini version of your fundraising page and a badge works like a button – both link to your fundraising page and you can get them here.

So what are you looking forward to/dreading most about the climb?
I am looking forward to reaching the summit with the combined effort of my team - sitting on top of that mountain will feel like a real achievement for all of us - but I am dreading bad weather as that will be the major factor in if we make it to the summit or not.

Can you tell us a bit more about the work that Scope and Capability Scotland do?
Scope is a national disability organisation which focuses on people with cerebral palsy, a physical condition that affects movement. Scope’s mission is to drive the change to make our society the first where disabled people achieve equality. Our ‘Time to Get Equal’ campaign aims to build a mass movement of one million people to help achieve this. To find out more visit www.scope.org.uk

Capability Scotland is one of the leading Scottish disability organisations and has nearly 60 years' experience of providing services to disabled people of all ages in Scotland. Capability will be a major ally in supporting disabled people to achieve full equality, and to have choice and control of their lives, by 2020. Capability's mission is to transform people's expectations of what is possible and to ensure that disabled people achieve equality.

Good luck with the climb! We’re looking forward to hearing how it goes…

You can find out more about the challenge on Grant’s blog and help him and The Wheel Life team reach their target by donating through their Justgiving page.

And the winner is...

*drumroll*

Gwan Yip! And his amazing man vs. bus training challenge:

We like it because it’s original, impressive, funny, well-shot and very Londony.

Congratulations Gwan – you win a £500 donation to your page from us. It won’t quite smash your target, but it’ll come pretty close!

Well done to ALL our video competition entries. Our runners up include Harriet’s jelly baby video, for inventiveness, and Neil Dulake's post-marathon soundbite, for sheer elation :)

Of all the Rocky montages we’ve seen (and we’ve seen a lot) a special mention has to go to Jon Eckersley for his particularly entertaining version.

So that’s all for now, but make sure you watch out for more competitions on the JG blog in the not too distant future…

£500 donation up for grabs!

Marathon fundraisers listen up. We’re having a competition to find the best YouTube video on a fundraising page, and we’re giving away a £500 donation to the winner!

Up for it?

1)       Put an outstanding YouTube video on your fundraising page (instructions here)

2)       Email your fundraising page URL to youtube@justgiving.com

3)       Check this blog on 28^th April, to see the winning entry...

We’re very excited to see what you come up with. So excited, in fact, that we made our own video.

Remember, the judge’s decision is final – so no squabbling :)

Smokin’ shoes

That’s what Jules on our helpdesk said when he saw this fundraising page.

Not only does it have a clever photo, it’s also got a pretty amusing personal message :) Just goes to show what a difference adding your own message can make to your page. We put a default message on all of our fundraising pages so there’ll always be a message for donors to see, but we really hope that you’ll make your page your own by customising it – a personalised message works much better for attracting donations.

One last thing to note about this page – it’s got some impressive early donations. We always suggest that you email your page to close family and friends first, to get some generous donations early on, which should encourage other people to be generous too!

For more of our fundraising hints and tips, look no further.    

Huge Donations for a Tiny Person

Here’s a fantastic example of a fundraising page in memory of a very loved daughter.

The Rowlands family has managed to raise over £5,000 – an amazing five times their target - for RMHC, by asking their family and friends to make donations through their Justgiving page, instead of sending flowers to the funeral. They’ve explained on their page how much RMHC did for them and it’s really moving to read their story. Above all, it’s pretty inspirational to read how glad they are to be helping the cause which had helped them so much.

Have a look for yourself…

When fundraising push comes to Shrove

Eggs, flour and milk.

Some might say it's a simple recipe for pancakes (well, it is, I suppose) but it's also an excuse to raise funds online.

Don't follow?

Let me take you to Jane's page:
www.justgiving.com/janespancakerace

You see, Jane is raising money for Advantage Africa by taking place in the famous Olney Pancake Race. In her own words on the page:

I shall be donning a pinny and scarf, tossing my pancake and running as fast as I can (i.e. not very) from the marketplace to the church without dropping it.

To illustrate the tough nature of her challenge, she's added some photos from the charity's flickr stream to her fundraising page, showing off the pretty little village and the crèpe course:

Incidentally, your humble blogger can vouch for the excitement of said race, having been taken there many a time when just a wee boy by my mum (aaah).

But Jane's not the only person doing one of these flipping events for charities. Oh no! Have a look at Anne-Marie and Ally's fundraising pages. Here's hoping they too manage to batter their targets.

Who says people don't give a toss about charities anymore...?

Top Ten FLM Fundraising Tips - Video Style

Top 10 London Marathon Fundraising Tips from Simon Doggett on Vimeo. Yay.

Be a gooner. Be a giver

Unlike football, fundraising is not a game of two halves. Similar to football, though, it's your supporters who really count. And one club and its supporters have been in the news a lot recently (for good reasons!).

Step forward and take a bow, Arsenal FC.

Yes, boring, boring Arsenal are working with Autism charity Treehouse to help raise £250,000 to build the sports facilities in their new National Centre for Autism Education in North London.

Arsenal's players and directors have already donated a day's wages to the cause (which must be A LOT!) and they've also created a "Be a gooner. Be a giver" fundraising page to collect donations online from gooners* all over the world:

Over £10,000 has been donated in just under two weeks, a result even better than yesterday's win over Chelski (boo, hiss).

So there you have it, not only are Wenger's men a class act on the field, they're classy off it too. Good on ya gooners!

Read more on the Treehouse site...

*fyi a "gooner" is an Arsenal fan - from the Norf Lahndan way of pronouncing their nickname, the "Gunners" (and don't laugh, not everyone at JG Towers actually knew that)

Cycling to Lapland

Best. Fundraising. Thing. Ever.

Send the Glue London team live messages while they cycle the distance to Lapland for the Salvation Army.

letsgotolapland.com

YouTube Fundraising

Moneysavers: online communities can do amazing things

Quite a few of us at JG Towers get Martin Lewis' emails from the Money Saving Expert website.

We're amazed at how the whole community has rallied around Claire Farley's birthday fundraising page in aid of the Meningitis Research Foundation. Thanks to Ian, their fundraising manager, for calling us first thing this morning.

To read the whole story check out this post in the MSE forums, and once you've done that, donate to Claire's page here. She's truly smashed her initial target, so let's see how high it can go.

Well done guys and Happy Birthday Claire!

More stars

I am happy to report that after my last shout out we've got two more homepage stars. Man, these guys are TOUGH.

First off is the amazing team of personal trainers Dan and Rob, who are planning the ultramarathon to end all ultramarathons - and it finishes at the Rugby World Cup. They're taking on....let's see....a cross channel swim, a 1120 mile cycle ride and to top it all off, a 262 mile run. Gosh I am exhausted just writing this out.

Our second new star this week is Chris Moon MBE. Chris is a double amputee who has completed the gruelling Marathon De Sables in the past. And now he's off on his cycle to Cambodia on another challenge.

Best of luck to all these guys.

BTW if you are reading this there is a chance that YOU TOO could be like Chris, Rob and Dan and appear on the Justgiving.com homepage. No ultratriathlon or cycle ride required though - we are looking for good pics of ordinary people doing some extrordinary fundraising. We've got tons of sporty people up on the homepage - I need some non-sporty people too! So if you're shaving your head, bellydancing, sitting in a bath of baked beans, clowning, busking or whatever send me a snap. Find out how here.   

Super homepage starriness

Hello!

Thought it was time to check in and tell you about a few more of our fab homepage stars. In the 'traditional fundraising' ring there's Rob, who, according to my calculations, should be somewhere in Wisconsin as I write, as part of his cross-country USA cycle ride. 4200 miles for Cancer Research UK -  now that's what I call using your summer break!

Moving on, we've got two new groups of stars who have found some more unusual ways to raise lots of dosh for good causes.

First up is four lads from Deepcut barracks, who are planning to climb to the height of Mt. Everest's base camp (that's higher than most mountains in the world ever) on their step machines at the gym to raise money for Hope for Children. The challenge is over 24 hours, which means each fella's got 12 hours on the steppers. Wow. Good luck to them.

And finally, there's the Urban Ironing Collective, who will come and iron anyplace in London for you for a donation of £15 to Cancer Research UK. So far they've ironed outside Buckingham Palace, on the central reservation in Oxford Circus, down Horseguards Parade, In St. James Park, outside the Ritz, and pretty much everywhere else in London. You can see all in their Flickr group here. I never thought I'd say this but yay ironing!

Anyways, if you too want to join these fabulous stars on our homepage here's how...

New stars!

Hello!

Just wanted to introduce you to our new fundraising stars on the Justgiving homepage - fabulous Alla, who is trying to become the first Russian woman to swim the English Channel solo (you go girl!) and the dynamic duo of Siân and Sarah who plan to cycle from London to Paris on a tandem next month.

Best of luck to them all....!!!

Panic!

Argh, it's the marathon this weekend!

If you're still a way away from hitting that elusive target then now is definitely time to check out our fundraising Clinic, as well as our Official London Marathon Fundraising Tips.

Marathon Stories #3

WellChild are this year's official charity for the Flora London Marathon. They're not taking it lightly either, and have their very own shiny microsite just for their supporters.

They've also got some pretty inspirational runners. Peter is running since his son James was born prematurely at 31 weeks and was rushed into intensive care where he stayed for 8 weeks. James spent the first six months of his life linked up to an oxygen machine at home.

Chloe is supporting WellChild's research into her daughter Lucy's rare chromosome disorder in the hope that other families will get the answers doctors haven't yet been able to give her.

Christine and David are running because their daugter Hannah overcame a potentially fatal illness that was luckily diagnosed early enough.

There are many other amazing WellChild supporters running this year so have a look at the Team WellChild blog to learn more. Good luck next weekend guys.

Marathon Stories #2

FARM-Africa have got their biggest ever London Marathon team this year. They're all brilliant in their own way but there's one who's extra special: Jo Swainson.

She just finished the Marathon des Sables the other week (150+ miles across the Sahara desert carrying all your own supplies) and is now gearing up for the London Marathon, all at the tender age of 23!

Check out her site and fundraising page, she's well on her way to raising £10,000 for FARM-Africa.

In other news we just got our lovely shirts for the Marathon Expo in a few weeks. Not that we're excited or anything.

Marathon Stories #1

Less than three weeks to go folks, so it's time to feature some of the 13,000+ London Marathon runners raising funds through Justgiving.

First up is Peter Ketley, who is raising money for the Red Cross. Peter is a Falklands veteran and was helped by the charity along with his comrades 25 years ago.

He's currently top fundraiser for the British Red Cross Marathon team with nearly £7000 in the bank. Impressive work sir.

Justgiving in Korea

My parents have been on holiday the past few weeks, having just arrived in South Korea from Japan, they found something which they wanted to share with us all. 

During this time, I’ve convinced them to use Flickr.com and upload things from their travels. They’re not too keen on some people they’ve never met seeing some of the pictures with themselves on, so they’ve been very clever and made them private. It’s something that lots of us are concerned with when we’re on the net… but thanks to the privacy settings on all these online sites you really can be as anonymous as you like. Like a ninja. On the other side they have some fantastic things they have to share… like awesome food and beautiful landscapes from Kyoto to Seoul.

Having spoken to me during this week via MSN very early or late at night, I told them about how I’d been working on a website for the Chelsea pensioners, their site has been starting up a “Buy a Brick campaign”. They then uploaded something I think is a wonderfully similar campaign from just outside of Busan, a city in Korea. The Beomeosa temple which needed help to be restored to its former glory, has tiles which people could leave their personal message on a fter giving their contribution.

   

My parents paid 10,000 won (the equivalent of £5.00) and signed the tile as you can see in the picture.  It just goes to show, that whilst we see all these things going on around us in our own lives… there are other things out there in the world with causes just as similar to our own.    

The Guinness Pint Training

Ever wondered what a pint of Guinness looks like in training?

Wonder no longer:

Thanks to Antonio for sending this in!

You what? Youtube!

Today we bring you a double bonus post in the form of a video blog for you to indulge yourselves with. It features our very own Foluke running in the Cancer Research UK race for life.. which we thought we'd put up here on the blog from our shiny new Youtube site! 

For those of you who don't know about Youtube, its a tube for all of you!  And If that didn't quite clear the whole thing up, then take a little gander at what the nice people at BBC wrote about it all.  The article features a chap called Peter aka Geriatric1927 to his friends on Youtube. If you didn't guess from his name, he is 79 years old and video blogging about his life to the world and making friends from this kind of medium.  Clever stuff huh!   

So why have we been going on about animated gifs and now Youtube videos?  Well quite simply because we really believe this is the future for getting accross your message wherever you are in the world.  A great example of a Youtube video spreading a good message can be seen in the Sarah McLachlan song below.  A great song and an even more important twist in it all, that really puts things in perspective.

So that's it, you heard it first here on the blog about how we've now launched our very own youtube page which we hope to customise and play with over the next few weeks... so why not subscribe to us to keep up to date with our video antics and even put up your own videos using great free software such as videomach and if you do... please tell us about them! Until the next update have a great weekend. 

Sir Ranulph

'ten four!'

Sir Ranulph Fiennes is about to embark on his latest mission: scaling the North Face of the Eiger and raising £1.5m for Marie Curie Cancer Care while he's at it.

There's lots of coverage in the papers about it today, I know this because I read about it over various shoulders on the bus this morning.

On his page, Sir Ranulph states "Climbing the Eiger will be truly challenging, but with every step that our three-man team takes,  I’ll know that our efforts will be making a real and tangible difference to the lives of terminally ill people and their families and carers across the UK."

Best of luck to him, find out more on his MySpace blog.

The Official London Marathon Top Ten Fundraising Tips

We've been involved with the London Marathon for over half a decade now. During that period of time we've collated loads of feedback from runners who've told us what's really helped their fundraising. Since we're all round good eggs, we don't do anything silly like try and charge people money for our knowledge. So as a special pre-Valentine's treat here is our definitive FLM guide: if you're running in April then this will help.

Just a bit of perspective, last year over £12.5m came through our site for the Marathon and over 10,000 runners had pages. So enough numbers, on to the top ten:

1. Get Personal

Start with your close friends and family. They're your core group of supporters after all so it's important to communicate why you're taking part in the marathon. Maybe it's something you've always wanted to do, or you're particularly passionate about the charity you're running for. Whatever your reason it has to be crystal clear and communicated without hesitation. If people can get behind your reasons too then it's going to be easier to hit that target.

Hopefully this group will also be some of the most generous sponsors you'll have. With our fundraising pages it's always intimidating to see zero donations, so make sure that before you cast the net out a little wider, your close friends and family have made some good donations to your page. It helps if they're not too small, since your sponsors will tend to match the average donation on your page. If the first five people all donate a tenner, then it's going to be hard to push that average donation higher. To give you all an idea, last year's average single donation per page for the marathon was just over £40.

Make sure that you're really proud of your fundraising page. Make it pretty. Get some decent photos on there and make your personal message really really good. And once it's done don't forget that you can update it whenever you fancy. Check out Lucy and Katy's great example.

2. Tell the World!

Tell everybody! Be utterly shameless. It's a big target you've all got so make sure everyone who knows you even remotely knows that in April you're running the London Marathon, and which charity you're running it for.

So keep on at your work colleagues, post flyers through your neighbours door, get on friendsreunited and nab the email addresses of all your old schoolmates. get in touch and don't be afraid to make the ask. Same goes for old uni mates and ex-colleagues.

Also if you're a member of a club: it could be your local gym, golf club, cycling club, running club, poker club, anything. Make sure they know and make sure they don't forget!

And whenever you're down the pub, make sure everyone knows there too.

3. Get in Print

If you have a page on our site, you can access a sample press release by logging in to your account. Customise it a bit, call up all your local papers and send it over. But don't stop there, local journalists are pretty busy people, so phone them a week later to check if they received it and whether it's going to print.

Crucially, make certain they're going to print the address of your fundraising page, or if not at least something which will allow readers to get in touch with you. If your story is good enough it's really easy to get an article in there.

But just because the local gazette has got your story, don't expect thousands to start rolling in from complete strangers, just wallow in the publicity for a while and perhaps it will raise a few extra quid.

4. Get online

We do kinda have to say this one. Have a look at your page, and underneath your total there's an RSS button. Like this chap:

Give it a click. Basically, RSS feeds give you an up-to-date total right on your desktop or on a Google homepage every time you open your browser. If you want to find out more and how they work then click the more about RSS link and you'll be sorted. There's a very concise write-up on the BBC website

On to blogs. You can do these on realbuzz.com if you want an official marathon one, or any of the big blog sites will do it too, such as blogger, myspace and typepad. If you update your blog regularly with your training news and keep communicating why you're running the marathon, it will help your sponsors to keep up with what's going on, and it could be the tipping point for someone to make a donation.

Next up is our widget. We just released this, and what it allows you to do is put a mini version of your fundraising page on your blog or on any website you might be involved with. It's more compelling than just posting links everywhere and you can ask your friends to host your widget for you too. And they look nice. Check out the Innocent Drinks blog for a great example.

We've also just released a new email tool, which can import your contacts from all your email addresses. Maybe it's Outlook at work, Hotmail at home. It works with them all and saves lots of copying and pasting.

5. Talk to each other

You've all got similar targets and you've all got different ideas on how you're going to get there. If you've come up with a great initiative then tell everyone, and also if something hasn't quite gone according to plan then tell everyone too.

It's easiest to do this online, we've got our lovely forum which is also linked from our homepage and the realbuzz forums are great for this too, not just for figuring out which types of Lucozade are isotonic or not.

6. Make some Printables

Get creative and make some posters with your page address on it. You can make some business card sized versions too to hand out to people you meet when you're out and about.

Also you might have some contacts in your mobile that you don't have an email address for, so send them a text message with your page address so that they can find out more. They might sponsor you.

There are loads of places you can get t-shirts printed too so get your web address put on your training gear so that everyone down the gym knows.

7. Communicate the Cause

It sounds really obvious but so many people forget to do it. Get the facts from your charity and find out exactly what a donation can pay for.

When you've got halfway to your target, update your blog and email your supporters, tell them what that money has achieved and what a difference the full amount will make. It is already in a charity bank account after all.

Your friends are donating to you and not necessarily the charity in alot of cases, but they're probably going to give more if their donation makes a tangible difference. Check out Nick's fantastic bulletpoints as an example.

8. Talk to your charity

Pick up the phone and keep in touch with your events team. They do get a bit nervous if runners disappear off the radar, and they've got tons of ideas and resources that can help you. They are, after all, the professionals at this stuff.

Also, make sure you know what the whole marathon team is up to and share your training and fundraising tips. Maybe some of them are local and you could train together. Like this lot are doing.

9. Talk to us!

We are totally dependent on your feedback. It shapes everything for the future, so if you're happy with your page please tell us! Similarly if it's not working for you or there's a feature that you'd like to see then let us know.

We update this blog nearly every day so keep an eye on it, it's linked from every page on our site. We're going to be featuring runners from now until April so if you think your story is a good one then drop me a line and say so.

Also we've got a little stand at the FLM Expo in Docklands, where you all get registered for the big day. do come and say hello and give us some feedback. We will have sweets.

And if you fancy a chat then call Mike on the helpdesk, here's the number: 0845 021 2110

Mike does love a good chat.

10. Keep Fundraising

Don't stop when you've finished the race and don't stop if you've hit your target. There's always more money out there if you keep looking and if you've finished the marathon then people don't have an excuse not to sponsor you anymore. It can make a huge difference for your charity.

Tell everyone how it went, put a photo of you crossing the finishing line on your page, update your blog, let everyone know the nasty recovery stories!

Right that's it. If you've got any tips to share then leave some comments or get on our forum! 

26.2 x 7 = Bernie

It's coming soon. And so are the crazies who aren't satisfied with running a 'normal' marathon.

Bernie is running SEVEN London Marathons this year. Read how.

Colour us impressed.

A little bike ride

That's right folks!  Even on a Saturday morning we're here to bring you some information about fundraisers, charities and how you can get more out of your fancy!  Ooo-er.    

As of this month Richard Millington will be cycling around Kenya to raise money for a computer lab for schools in the country with Computer Aid International on the Kenya Cycle Challenge.

He will be off on a good old fashioned Raleigh bike (not that I’ve enquired into which brand it is) around a 3rd world country which really makes my day feel great as we’re helping people achieve fantastic things and bring a real difference to lives around the world.   

Rich has been a good friend of mine for a few years now and I’ve had the pleasure working with him on various projects as a volunteer for the World Cyber Games qualifiers and various other little escapades.  He has also written for Edge, PC fomat, PC Gamer and a few other computer related magazines in his spare time whilst studying at university for a degree in event management. 

Like both you and me he is just a normal person, no special powers like everybody’s favourite neighbourhood Spiderman!  Good luck Rich from me and everyone at Justgiving!

Be the change you want to see in the world

With it being the start of my second week here at JG Towers, I thought a nice start to the week would be if I posted a bit of information about someone I know from my past who is doing something amazing.  On the 26^th of November 2006 a chap I knew from the little area of Lewisham in Kent was to put his life into two bags and then sell all the excess baggage so that he could to then go off as a volunteer for the VSO in Ghana and teach IT for what can be up to one year or more.

There he has now set up a course, teaching IT to kids and teachers to help improve their life and help take them forward to the future. Furthermore, he raised £500 for the VSO and even continues to take time out of his busy schedule to talk about all his experiences (the good and the bad) on a blog at www.lastchancetobe.com. The site is a great way for people who haven't the faintest clue or are in the early stages of an application to the VSO about what to expect of going out into the unknown! He has even been known to respond to questions and comments on his site and it has a fond legion of fans that regularly check to see of his exploits.

I knew Jon way back around seven years ago from playing computer games in small rooms with a stupid amount of other people and to hear now that he's making a difference in the world is amazing feat! Back in those days he nicknamed me Errol, for my similarity to the BBC award winning comedy 15 Storeys High and probably because he's Chinese too.

In one episodes Errol encounters an old man at the elevator who steps in some chewing gum, thinking of the advice give to him by his flatmate, he acts ignorant to the stranger because 'all neighbours are nutters' and to ignore them even if they're really friendly.

Pondering the silent treatment the little old man asks in a calm voice, "Are you racist?"

Prompting the naive Errol to hastily reply, "No, sorry! I was just being ignorant!"

Later on, Errol turns up with a bucket and a mop to clear up the sticky mess beside the elevator doors, which the old man had mentioned. His flatmate bewildered at his actions asked what on earth he was doing to hear back a quote from a movie the old man had shown him about Ghandi, "Be the change you want to see in the world." Later on the naive Asian ends up being told by a council caretaker that he has to drip syrup back to the spot he had washed else people would sue them for falling on the slippery surface.

So without babbling on too much more, I will leave you with the thought that no matter how small a change you make you can always make an impact! But please, no pots of honey or syrup.

Please head over now to Jonathan's site and if you can spare him any old computer parts, books or even some words of encouragement I know that he would appreciate it very much!

The Digg Effect

The wacky world of web 2.0 continues. Having recovered from yesterday's keynote I thought I'd update you all on a fundraising page that dates all the way back from 2003. That's aeons in internet time.

This very site, Global Rich List, ended up on digg at the end of last year. Being the massive Kevin Rose fan that I am, I thought this was awesome. It got thousands of diggs too (3476 at present), which is even more awesome, and was a frontpage item for a while. Fellow diggers will know how much of an achievement that really is, especially for a story that is about philanthropy and not Steve Jobs, scientologists or how much we all despise DRM.

Consequently there's been loads of donations in the last few months since the page resurfaced, many of them from overseas. Cool. Blogosphere works then.

Conclusion: Good ideas just keep on going and the boundaries of giving are truly being lifted.

Trekking to the South Pole

Today we're sending out a huge big round of applause to Hannah McKeand, who set a new record for a solo trek from the edge of Antartica to the South Pole. She did it in 39 days, 9 hours, and 33 minutes, which means she beat the previous record by nearly two days. Whoo-hoo! And all on a diet of fudge, chocolate, and Kendal mint cake.

Hannah's impressive trek is also a fundraiser for Breakthrough Breast Cancer in memory of her friend Jill Fraser.

You can sponsor Hannah here and find out more about her amazing achievement here. You go girl!

Lillie the red nosed reindeer

Michael and Lillie

As Santa's reindeers limber up for their annual round-the-world trip pulling a sleigh full of pressies, there's another little reindeer gearing up to spread some Christmas cheer.

Seven-year-old Lillie Brett is embarking on a two mile run next Saturday dressed as one of Santa's reindeer to raise funds for Martha Trust.

She was inspired to take up her fundraising challenge after meeting 21-year-old Michael at Mary House, a home for disabled people in East Sussex. Lillie is hoping to raise cash to help the home buy a new hydrotherapy pool.

"I really want to help people like Michael to have a better life," Lillie told Hastings Today. "It would be great if we can get enough money to build a special swimming pool, so that he can move about more and have some fun in the water."

You can sponsor Lillie here.

The Pledger

There are loads of things we all say we want to do whilst we're able - go travelling, jump out of an aeroplane, meet Paul Weller (just me then?) But how often do we get around to it?

Kickers have built a fun website that allows people to make a public pledge to carry out an ambition. Not only does the pledge go on the website, but for December only, the best pledges will be projected onto buildings in London and Manchester.

So how about making a pledge to do some good? If undertaking a fundraising drive, or doing some charity work is one of your goals, here's great way to force yourself into it.

You may even end up on the side of a building - then if you fail, everyone will know about it. Talk about being publically shamed.

So go on, check the site, make a pledge for charity, and build a fundraising page to start collecting donations. EASY.

Not Chuck Norris

We come across cracking fundraising pages all the time, but I must admit this one is right up there.

I.T nerd Chris (pictured) has set up a Justgiving fundraising page attempting to raise £5,000 for The Prostate Cancer Charity. His challenge - to grow a naughty muzzy and make himself look like everyone's favourite hardman Chuck Norris. He's even offering people the chance of winning a prize should they donate to his page, so go on, you know you want to.

Take a look at Chris' blog to see some superb photos of how he and other work colleagues are getting on growing dodgy facial hair and generally starting to look like criminals.

And whilst we're on topic, check out these facts about Chuck - worth a read. My personal favourite "Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits".

Best of luck Chris.

Yay Cassidy Lynn!

You might remember Cassidy-Lynn and her friends from the Justgiving homepage (they are still there- keep on refreshing the homepage till you see them!) - she's the one who creates Playful Pankcake cat toys and donates her profits to Kids for Kids.

Well, I was just taking a look at Cassidy's blog this morning and it seems like the Playful Pancakes are more popular than ever! In fact, here is a photo of Cassidy and friends selling them at her local craft fair.

You can buy a Playful Pancake here - or if you just want to support Cassidy's appeal without buying anything, you can always make a donation on her fundraising page.

Top Kat

At number three in our Movers and Shakers chart today is eight-year-old Katrina Doyle, who has dyed her hair bright pink to raise funds for CLIC Sargent.

Katrina was diagnosed with Leukaemia aged seven, and lost all her hair. She received care and support from CLIC Sargent and when her hair started growing back, she decided to raise funds by getting sponsored to go pink.

Kat's hair has been a big hit and she's smashed her original target of £200 to buy DVDs for children in hospital.

"Mega WOW...OMG OMG - we have raised a THOUSAND POUNDS! OMG," wrote Kat earlier in the week. And now...

"More double mega WOW's - we are at £1500!! That is so great. I hope now I can get to £2000 - that is 10 times what I thought I would get. Everyone is talking about my hair, which is great, as it gets money for Clic Sargent and that is really important for families like mine. And they are getting the money in time for Christmas too! I am exctatik."

We're exctatik too. Go girl!

Help your charity and get on TV!

"Million Pound Giveaway" is a new TV show on ITV where contestants pitch for a specific amount of money from a panel of 5 millionaires.

The show's format is similar to Dragons Den but rather than millionaires taking a stake in someone's company, they help contestants achieve an ambition, realize a dream or more importantly, help them support a worthwhile cause.

The production company behind the show are running auditions in London, Manchester, Brighton and Leeds across November.

So if you're interested in the opportunity to get on the telly and pitch for some money to support your charity or appeal click on the following link for application details: Download million_pound_giveaway.doc

Move quick though as auditions are imminent. Best of luck.

Don't get 'curried away' now

On the 28th of Dec 2006, Dave, Richard, Chris and Ben will aim to get from the Southern tip of India to Darjeeling in the "worst possible vehicle known to mankind" - their words, not mine.

The chosen method of transportation? A rickshaw. Courage beyond the call of duty? or a bunch of nutters up for a laugh? - you decide.

Either way the guys are hoping to raise £2,500 for MercyCorps which I think makes them a pretty decent bunch of chaps.

You can sponsor the guys via their fundraising page and keep up to date with how their getting on via their own website.

All the very best lads and enjoy the Bombay Sapphire.

Trafalgar Square to where?

It's a long walk home

Huge hurrahs, back slaps and much needed foot massages for intrepid walkers Paddy and Andy who have just completed an epic 5,000km crossing of Europe on foot.

Back in the mists of time (May, to be precise), Andy and Paddy strode out of Trafalgar Square with a spring in their steps and last week - after five months, nine countries, hundreds of blisters and even a broken shin bone - they trudged across the Bosphorous to triumphantly set sore feet on Asian soil.

In the process they have raised a magnificent £6k and counting for the British Red Cross through their Justgiving page. Congratulations lads!

Check out Paddy and Andy's fantastic blog for full details of their travails, and watch video footage of their final steps on You Tube here.

You need a shower mate!

Radox introduces new 'organic' range

Hot on the heels of our Top Ten weird and wacky fundraising challenges post comes a new contender.

Former Lord Mayor of Sheffield Phil Price shared a bath with 150,000 maggots last week to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support.

"I used to go fishing a lot so I'm quite used to handling maggots," said Phil before hopping in to a Victorian bath accompanied by 53 pints of squiggling, squirming fly larvae and sitting back for a three hour 'soak' outside Sheffield Town Hall wearing nothing but a pair of lycra shorts.

Not a challenge for the squeamish, but as Phil points out, "People who suffer from cancer go through a lot worse."

Visit Phil's page here.

From novice to marathon runner

This week Paula from Yorkshire Cancer Research contacted Justgiving to tell us about one of her supporters - Gary Verity, who is running the New York Marathon this weekend.

In January 2004, Gary's wife Helen was told she had 18 months to live. Helen had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called Myeloma, which unlike other forms of leukaemia has no cure yet identified.

Two and a half years on, we're pleased to hear that Helen is undergoing treatment enjoying spending time with Gary and their three and a half year old daughter Lily (pictured).

This Sunday (5th Nov) Gary will be running in the New York Marathon on behalf of Yorkshire Cancer Research. This is a huge challenge as Gary admits "running is not one of my hobbies!"

Gary has already surpassed his fundraising target of £100,000 via his Justgiving page.

This is a tremendous effort and a great story to boot. We'd like to wish Gary all the very best for the big day. If you would like to add to Gary's sponsorship total, you can sponsor him here.

Carnivorous comedy

Much chortling over bacon sarnies at JG Towers this morning on discovery of this new version of Bohemian Rhapsody.

Rob Danavel's friends thought they'd rework the Queen classic to celebrate Rob giving up meat for a month to raise funds for Macmillan.

Here's a taster:

Is this NO-vember?
Is this a fantasy?
Giving up meat pies
Waking up to reality
Put down your pint
Say no to that pie and you'll see
I'm just a pork boy, helping out charity
Because meats easy come, easy go
Grilled up high, fried down low
Anyway the meat comes, doesn't really matter to me

Mama, I've eaten lamb
Put it in between some bread
With some mint sauce or some red
Mama, I bought bacon
But now I've gone and thrown it all away
Mama stew-ew-ew
Didn't mean to eat that pie
If I've not eaten meat this time tomorrow
I'll carry on, carry on, as if I've never eaten batter.

Lamb-tastic! You can find the rest on Rob's blog.