A Guide to Fundraising for Oxfam Ireland

From bake sales and ‘zumba-thons’ to 50km hikes, people all over Ireland – north and south - generously give their time and talent to fundraise for Oxfam Ireland.

Why not join them? Here’s our guide to fundraising to help you get started.

1. Why take part in a fundraising event?

Oxfam is a global movement of people who won’t live with the injustice of poverty. We believe it’s possible to live together in a fairer world. One in which everyone has enough food to eat, easy access to clean water and can provide for their families. One in which people are safer and better able to recover from crises and disasters and can influence the decisions that affect their lives, exercising their rights as full citizens of the world.

By fundraising for Oxfam Ireland, you are joining that movement, becoming the local link in a global network of people building a brighter future now. Your vital support will save lives in emergencies, help people build better lives through our long-term development projects and transform communities through our campaigns for lasting change.

Taking part in a sponsored challenge or organising your own fundraising event is easy and anything goes – walk, run, cycle, hike, climb, make music, make cakes or make coffee – just enjoy getting together!

2. Choosing an event

From sponsored coffee mornings to a fundraising music gig, there are lots of fundraising ideas to choose from. To give you some inspiration, here's our A to Z of fantastic fundraising ideas if you’d like to organise your own event. If you would prefer to take part in an already organised event and would like to raise funds for Oxfam via sponsorship, check out our full list of organised upcoming events.

Remember to choose something you’ll enjoy, and that will be popular with others! It is also worth bearing in mind that simple raffles at one-off events usually don’t require a licence, however, if you are selling tickets in advance of the event you may need one so it’s best to check at your local Garda or police station.

If you've any questions or need any support in your efforts, please get in touch here.

3. Organising or registering for the event

If organising your own event make sure you allow enough time to prepare before setting the date. Making a checklist of everything you need to pull off the event, including people to help, is a good way of ensuring you don’t miss anything and that everything gets done!

If taking part in an established event, such as the One World Run in Belfast, the Dublin Marathon or the VHI Ladies Mini Marathon, make sure to register for the event in advance, you will find links to do so on our upcoming events page.

Once you have organised or registered for your event, the next step is to create an online fundraising page so people can donate easily online. Your page can be personalised so you can tell people exactly what you are doing and why! Friends and family can easily share the page to their social media networks and by email to help you raise awareness of your event. We can also send you sponsorship forms if you would like to raise funds offline as well.

4. Promoting your event and raising awareness

Add a title, image, fundraising goal and description to your online fundraising page.

Get sharing! Ask friends, family, colleagues and even acquaintances to pass on news about your fundraising and share your online fundraising page - word of mouth is a powerful tool (especially with the help of online social networks such as Facebook and Twitter!).

Get in touch – let us know what your fundraising plans are and we’ll help you in whatever way we can with additional fundraising resources! We can provide you with a complete fundraising pack that includes posters, t-shirt(s) and other materials to help you build awareness for your event.

Take lots of pictures or ask your family or friends to take photos of you. If you send them to us we may be able to help you promote the event.

Just before the event, why not send a quick reminder text that may help raise last minute funds!

5. Have fun!

Whatever you decide to do to raise vital funds for us, we hope you have lots of fun!

6. Lodging your money

If you have decided to fundraise offline as well as online, there are several ways you can lodge the funds. You can lodge the funds raised to your bank account and then make a transaction:

Online - add donations to your online fundraising page so as offline funds are included in your total and count towards your goal or you can simply make a single donation on our website.

By phone - Call +353 (0) 1 672 7662 to get through to our Dublin office or you can call +44 (0) 28 9023 0220 to get through to our Belfast office.

By post – send a cheque to our Dublin office:

Oxfam Ireland, 2nd Floor, Portview House, Thorncastle Street, Ringsend, Dublin 4

Or to our Belfast office: Oxfam Ireland, 115 North Street, Belfast BT1 1ND, Northern Ireland.

7. Say thank you

Afterwards, thank everyone who helped with you fundraise and those that donated.

We wish you the every success with your fundraising activities – and remember, we’ll help you every step of the way!