Fundraisingat Work

Rare Diseases Europe

“Inspired by a commitment to the communities we serve, our Genzyme employees

and their families volunteer their time with patient organisations around the world,”

said Annamarie Dillon, Director Patient Advocacy EMEA at Genzyme, “not only

does each event foster employee engagement and support the important work of these

organisations, volunteering together with our community partners also helps to advance

our collective mission to improve the lives of people living with a rare disease.”

EURORDIS

Since 1997, EURORDIS, the European Organisation for Rare Diseases has been

the voice of an estimated 30 million people living with a rare disease throughout

Europe. By fundraising for EURORDIS, you ensure that your funds go towards

helping as many rare disease patients as possible.

Your money helps us in our daily work: representing people living with a rare

disease at the EU level; raising awareness of rare diseases around the world;

creating online patient communities that reduce the isolation often experienced

by rare disease patients; and fighting for access to treatment and care for every

single person living with a rare disease in Europe.

Thank you for your support.

Organising a fundraising event in the workplace reinforces working

relationships, common goals and shared pride among colleagues.

This pack contains many ideas for how you and your team

can fundraise for EURORDIS.

What’s inside this pack?

• Fundraising ideas

- At the office

- Active Events

- Give it up for rare diseases

- A unique ‘rare disease’ event

• Matched Giving and Top Up Schemes

Please email to donate@eurordis.org with any questions

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Fundraising eventsat the office

Here are some quick & easy ways to fundraise, even during office hours. Set a fundraising goal and use the following activities to reach it!

Quick and easy waysto fundraise

- Bake a difference – hold a cake sale

- Match the baby photo to the staff member – make a donation

to take a guess

- Guess how many sweets in the jar – make a donation to take part

- Book sale – ask your team to bring in their unwanted books to sell

- A day for change – ask everyone to make a donation for a ‘dress down’

or ‘fancy dress’ day

- Ban the buzzwords – stop using work-related jargon for a day or week

and fine anyone who slips up

- A close shave – set a fundraising target; if your team raises enough

money, one of your colleagues will get their head shaved/get

something waxed!

- Run a sweepstake for a big sporting event and donate the takings.

Find out more about keeping your fundraising event legal.

See page 16 of the Fundraising Toolkit for more information.

- Let it grow – sponsor male colleagues to grow their facial hair.

Let it grow until your fundraising target has been reached

- Jumble sale – ask colleagues to bring in items to sell!

- Go green, pink or blue – get sponsored to dye your hair one or lots of colours

- Auction of promises – who will bid the highest to have the boss make tea

for them all day?

- Inter-departmental ‘Come Dine With Me’ – each team makes

and hosts a lunch in the canteen; everyone makes a donation to eat

See our Fundraising toolkit for tips on organising your events

and how to send us the funds you raise.

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Active events

Enter a sporting event with your colleagues to challenge yourselves,

get fit and have fun, all while raising money for EURORDIS!

Here are just a few types of events you could consider participating in:

- Sponsored run

- Sponsored walk or hike

- Sponsored cycle

- Sponsored triathlon

- Sponsored swimathon

- Sponsored ball games like netball, basketball, football

or rugby - excellent for team building

- Summer sports like tennis, cricket, or golf

- Something silly like an office obstacle course

Give it up for rare diseasesGive up a bad habit and raise money while doing it!

See how much money you can raise from the start to the

end of the month by getting sponsored to give something up.

Choose something that you will find difficult to give up

so that people want to sponsor you!

Try giving up one of the following:

- Chocolate

- Smoking

- Alcohol

- Social media

- Caffeine

- Fizzy drinks

- Unhealthy snacks

- Take-away food

- An addictive hobby (e.g. video games)

Keep sporting events fun by gathering

lots of people to cheer you on!

You could even include fancy dress

and props.

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Top tips

• Be as enthusiastic as possible and remember to have fun!

The more fun the event is, the more people will want to

get involved now and in the future

• Spread the word about your event in advance to a variety

of people to increase sponsorship. You could even inspire

others to hold their own event

• Think about all the different ways you can spread the word:

word of mouth, social media, personalised emails, your

company’s intranet, etc.

• Set a suggested donation for people taking part;

but remind all potential sponsors that every little helps

A unique ‘rare disease’ event

Once you are familiar with fundraising, why not aim even higher?

Together with your colleagues, brainstorm a rare-disease-related fundraising event.

Working together creatively is great for teambuilding and coming up with your

own unique event will give your team an even greater sense of accomplishment.

From cooking classes that respect the dietary restrictions of a rare disease,

to walking journeys that take less than 15 minutes that you usually drive,

to going to work by bike/ on foot and donating your train fare, there are a range

of ideas you can come up with to make your event unique or ‘rare.’

Please tell us about your successes so that we can share ideas with others!

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Matched Giving and Top Up Schemes

Many companies have Matched Giving or Top Up schemes

which can double or even triple charitable contributions made

by their employees.

Matched Giving is a system where your employer will match

a sponsorship total or money raised at a fundraising event

organised by employees.

There are many different schemes which apply to event

sponsorship, fundraising or payroll giving. Ask your manager

or HR department about schemes within your organisation

or company. Even if there is not a recognised scheme, your

employer may be willing to support you to raise more money

for EURORDIS.

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Rare Diseases Europe