I receive a lot of emails from people looking to use their chosen expedition, ultramarathon, or LeJog to generate funds for charity. I thought I’md write down the essence of what I usually tell them.

Fundraising is a challenge. And Fundraising Challenges should be challenging: if they were easy people would not be inspired to give money to your cause. Try to remember these two things if you are getting disillusioned with the amount you have raised so far or when the pain is really setting in on Mile 20 of the marathon or Day 20 of the epic cycle ride. None of it is easy, but that is part of the enormous personal satisfaction to be gained by undertaking a challenge for charity.

I am no expert at raising large amounts of money through JustGiving. I’mll leave that accolade to my hero, 8 year-old Charlie Simpson who rode as many laps of his local park as he could to fundraise for victims of the Haiti earthquake and raised over £200000!

However, a few fairly simple tips can make a really big difference to the total you can raise for your charity on your JustGiving page. Here’s what JustGiving recommend:

1. Personalise your message

The best fundraising pages tell a really good story. Let people know why you’re going to the trouble of raising money, and they’re much more likely to take the time to donate. Explain why your charity deserves support and what their donations will buy, eg £10 will buy a school desk or £20 will help restore someone’s sight.

2. Add photos and video

Personal photos make your page much more engaging. Even better — add your own YouTube video. It gives you lots of scope to be funny, imaginative and compelling and gives your supporters a good reason to send your page on to their friends.

3. Tell everyone about your page

• Before you email your entire address book, ask your closest friends and family to donate first. An empty page can be a bit intimidating, so having a couple of donations on the page should encourage other sponsors. People tend to match the amounts already listed on the page, so if they’re generous ones, all the better!
• Email your other contacts in groups — colleagues, running club, friends overseas, etc – personalising your message each time. Include our helpdesk email address (help@justgiving.com), so anyone who has difficulty donating can contact us directly.
• Use your own email system to set up groups, send emails to large numbers of people and keep your communications personal. Potential supporters are more likely to open an email that comes from you than an email address they don’t recognise.

4. Publicise your page

Print some Moo cards with your page URL on the back and give them out to everyone you meet! You can also share your page on Facebook with our Facebook app, and on your blogs and websites with our widget or badges. Ask your company if they’ll link to your page from their website or intranet. Put up posters in your gym, college, church or school too.

5. Put a link in your email signature

Add your page’s web address, or one of our ‘sponsor me’ badges, to your email signature. That way, every email you send raises awareness of your fundraising and attracts more donations.

6. Keep your page up to date

Post regular updates on your progress and upload new photos. It gives people a reason to come back to your page and encourages them to donate again or to send your page on to their friends.

7. Send a follow-up email

Be persistent. It takes more than one round of emails to reach your target. You know what it’s like – people mean to donate, but sometimes they don’t quite get round to it on the first request. Remember to thank the people who’ve already supported you, and to ask them to send your page to their contacts.

8. Personalise your thank-you

You can edit the thank-you email that we automatically send to people who donate by logging in to your account and going to ‘Edit your thank-you message’. Make sure you encourage people to send your page on to friends who might be interested in sponsoring you.

9. Contact your local media

A few lines in the local paper or an appeal on your local radio station can really help. By going straight to your JustGiving page, readers and listeners can sponsor you really easily. We’ve got a sample press release here for you to customise.

10. Keep fundraising after your event

Around 20% of donations through JustGiving come in after people finish their event. So keep fundraising once you’ve crossed the finish line – it’s a good chance to email an update and a final appeal!

Also, here are some hints to harness the massive potential of Facebook, Twitter and so on.

Next I want to offer a few tips for actually accomplishing the challenge itself. As a full time adventurer tasks like setting daunting goals and persevering to the end make up my “job”. Here are a few suggestions.

• Think Big. If you think you might be able to run a half-marathon, sign up for a full marathon. You are capable of far more than you might realize. And you will raise a lot more money for charity if you do an event that people realize is a big challenge for you. If you stay in your comfort zone the whole project will be easier, but far less rewarding for both you and the charity you have chosen.
• Begin. Once you’ve had your crazy idea, the hardest but most important thing is to act on it. Tell all your friends you are going to do it. Then you have to do it! Sign up for the race, get your JustGiving page up and running. (I would urge caution though in immediately emailing everyone you have ever met to ask for money. Make sure your JustGiving page looks good, that it has all the important information (and no un-important waffle), and that you are genuinely committed to taking on this challenge. You only get one real chance to get people excited about your plan.
• Take tiny steps. When you head out the front door for your first ever training run don’t think about having to run 26 miles. Just think about today’s one-mile baby run. Get through that and then think about tomorrow’s one-and-a-bit mile run. Worry only about the next tiny step on your journey, not at the enormity of the eventual challenge.
• Do not consider failing. If you have no way out but to succeed at your challenge (let’s say it’s a marathon as we are entering London Marathon season) then you will begin to convince yourself that you simply have to step out the door into the pouring rain to get those training miles done. If you run 5 miles in the rain before work you may hate it, but you will feel proud after you’ve done it. A much better feeling than the niggling disappointment of believing your own excuses and not doing the miles.
• When you are down think back to why you came up with this idea. What inspired you to begin? And think forward to how good you will feel if you persevere to the end. It’s cheesy but it’s true: pain, tiredness, and a cold rainy run are all temporary; pride at finishing against the odds is forever.
• When I’mm really struggling on my expeditions or races I imagine the road is lined with all my friends and family. They are all cheering for me. Would you give up if all your friends and family and those from the charity you were supporting were lining the road? Of course you wouldn’t. So keep running! I find that if I do this process alphabetically: think of everyone I know whose name begins with A, then B, and so on, then it happily eats up a mile or two of your marathon misery!
• At the end it’s time to be very un-British and do a bit of boasting. Tell the world what you have done. Write a funny, passionate account of the race, add a few photos, and chase everyone you’ve ever met to stump up some more money. The more money you can raise for your charity, the more those morning rainy runs and the blisters will feel worthwhile.
• Good luck!

Do you agree with my suggestions? What else would you add to the list? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section below.