How to setup a Bmycharity fundraising page . . .

Help for Heroes now offers commission free fundraising online. We are delighted to announce that Bmycharity has joined our team and we very much hope that you will use our new service to raise money to help our heroes.

Want to join us in raising money to provide direct, practical support to the wounded? Now you can set up a sponsorship site online for free! Our new commission free donations site means you can set up a fund raising page, go off and do your bit to raise money and all of it, plus Gift Aid, will go to H4H. There's no commission lost, no administrative costs to come out of your donations, just a great deal of money to the blokes and that is what it is all about. Read more about H4H's acquisition of Bmycharity here.

How to Create A H4H Fundraising Page

1. Go to the website www.bmycharity.com/helpforheroes and click on the "start fundraising" button.

2. Fill in the form to set up your fundraising account.

3. Select your challenge from the drop-down list (or choose "fundraising" if none apply) and click "create page".

4. Then choose a website address for your page, and personalise your message and photo.

5. Then click on the "save page" button and you are ready to fundraise!

Photo or image
Make this personal, use a photo of yourself, avoid using the stock image if you can. Photos of your training, preparations or even a group photo of your fundraising team are all great for adding a personal touch for your sponsors.

Target
Be ambitious but not too ambitious. The important thing is to fill it in so your donors see how their contribution is helping you achieve your target.

Your message
This is really important, so try to avoid using the default message that is supplied. Be creative and be personal. Explain your motivation in your own way, why are you doing this?

For example, ‘my brother/ son/ mother is in the army and I feel that they are risking their lives on our behalf and I want to help,... I read about this in the paper and it really touched me... so I decided to get off my sofa and do something really practical to support what he/she/they are doing. This will be an enormous personal challenge for me but I am prepared to do this to show that I support them.’

Make it interesting and personal and stress the challenge, sense of urgency and real need to support our Servicemen and women, especially the wounded. Have a look at our website and feel free to cut and paste phrases that strike a chord with you.

Donations
Try and find a rich friend to be the first donor. If the first donor bungs you £50, it sets a standard, if they give you £5 then others will follow.

Communicate
Once you have built your site, don’t just sit there and expect people to find it; they will not. You need to draw people to your page. Email everyone you know and say what you are doing; even better if you can write an handwritten letter. Use your contacts, your business and even social networking sites like Facebook to spread the word... think viral!

Follow up
Once you have your site don’t relax. Send out a monthly newsletter telling people how you are doing. Use your site to update with your progress and thoughts. People have been known to donate more than once, for example, ‘Preparations are now well underway and with only a month to go the excitement is building! We have received such great support from everyone and would like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has helped so far. Keep checking this page for more updates , we hope to see as many of you as possible on the day!'

Email signature
Put a simple message and link on every email you send out, saying what you are doing and ask people to sponsor you each time.

Make it personal
This is you and this is your site so make it personal and have fun. By fundraising for Help for Heroes, you are supporting members of the Armed Forces who have been wounded in the service of their country. By “doing your bit”, you can show these extraordinary young men and women that they are cared for. They want to get better, you want to help them get better and we want everyone to know that, so make it passionate and creative, fun and appealing.

Over to you and good luck!