Aashni's Top Tips for Fundraising

As a Student Group, you can fundraise for charitable causes and you can also fundraising for yourselves. Student Groups are part of the Students' Union and are therefore classed as a charity.

As someone who has been there, tried, failed, learnt and found some small wins- here are some of my tip tips on how you can raise funds for your society or for charity.

 Fundraising can be hard, but no one said it can’t be fun. So,

1. Remember to make it fun. For yourselves as organisers and also those that it will involve. Play to the strengths of every committee member when you assign roles

2. We have all binge watched a rom com at some point on Netflix. The one thing that I got from these movies was the good old, tried and tested- sale.

Whether it is a bake sale, plant sale, vintage sale - everyone loves a good sale and it is a great, easy way to gather some funds (just be cautious that this may require some initial investment though).

3. Another great way to raise funds is to seek for external funding. Being a university student, and society is an underrated power asset. Lots of business love working with the university societies. Reach out to them. You will be surprised at how a simple email can go a long way (I won’t bore you with how to prep for a conversation, researching the right external sponsor etcetera)

4. One of my favourite ways, and going back to playing on your teams’ strengths, is things like collaborating, co creating and putting on events. So, whether it is a charity night out, run or a 24-hour dance-a-thon, it works as a great way to raise funds

5. Finally, there are small pots of finance that are available to you from the DSU. Reach out to your assigned co-ordinator in the opportunities team, read your emails, go back to the training and have a look on the website. The application process is simple and it can go a long way to help make the financial burden a little less on your society

And if all else fails, come have a chat with me, and we can try find a fun, easy way to get you and your student group to raise its target amount.

Wishing you all enough funds to support your students’ groups and causes in the best way possible,

Cheering you always,

Aashni Sawjani

Your Student Opportunities and Engagement Executive Officer