I spent lockdown huddled away in a bedroom/office talking into a screen – but then didn’t we all!

Although I help scores of charities as a freelancer, I also work part-time for the wonderful Swim England – and spent many a Thursday night offering tutorials to swim clubs. Many were particularly keen to hear tips on crowdfunding as Sport England had, through Crowdfunder, offered to match funds raised by clubs through the platform. At every webinar, I handed the floor to a club that had succeeded with a Crowdfunder campaign. I was also joined by a member of the Crowdfunding team who was incredibly helpful.

Little did I realise that I would end up putting the lessons learnt into practice over Christmas whilst others ate their sprouts and pulled their crackers. 

When my twin 10 year-olds found out their beloved Coventry United Ladies Football Club were facing voluntary liquidation, they cajoled me into setting up a Crowdfunder on Christmas Eve. Within 10 days, Hattie and Alice had raised £15,000 from 300 donations even though we failed to follow all the instructions: We did not have time to build a team nor gather rewards or plan key moments on the timeline.

BUT, we would not have raised the monies without the lessons around story-telling, building social media traction and creating a community committed to making a difference.

So time to pause and to thank the brilliant team at Crowdfunder for educating me – and to acknowledge the wonderful Swim England club’s community. So many of our clubs stepped up to tell their Crowdfunder stories and even managed to teach this long-in-the-tooth fundraiser something new! 

Do PM me to discuss the campaign – or if there’s interest I will run another webinar.

For interest, a couple of the videos from the campaign (Sky News and BBC coverage) can be found here.