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🎉 Your First Fundraising Event: How to Plan It · Free Lesson

Lesson 3: Promote Your Event — Get People to Come

An event with no audience raises no money. This lesson shows you how to promote your event effectively across multiple channels.

⏱ 10 minutes 📖 Reading + task 🎯 Lesson 3 of 6
Your progress
3 of 6
1 Pick Your Event 2 Plan It 3 Promote It 4 On the Day 5 After the Event 6 Your Plan 🏆
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Start promoting earlier than you think

Most people start promoting their event too late. By the time they start telling people, it is too close to the date for anyone to plan around it.

Start promoting three weeks before your event. This gives people time to put it in their diary, tell others, and actually show up.

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The rule of seven: Research suggests people need to hear about something seven times before they act on it. This means you need to promote your event multiple times across multiple channels — not just one post.
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Your promotion checklist

Use all of these channels to promote your event:

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Social media: Post about your event on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Post multiple times — announcement, reminder, day-before reminder, and day-of post.
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WhatsApp: Send personal messages to family and friends. A personal message is far more effective than a group message.
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School: Ask your form tutor or head of year if you can make an announcement in assembly or put up posters. Most schools are supportive of student fundraising.
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Posters: Put up posters in local shops, community centres, and sports clubs. Ask permission first.
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Local press: Contact your local newspaper or community Facebook group. 'Local teen fundraising for expedition' is exactly the kind of story they love.
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Creating your promotional materials

You need at least three pieces of promotional material:

1
A social media graphic: Created in Canva — include the event name, date, time, location, and what you are raising money for
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A poster: For physical locations — same information as the social media graphic but in A4 or A5 format
3
A personal message: For WhatsApp and email — a short, genuine message explaining what you are doing and asking people to come
✏️ Create your promotional materials
Create your social media graphic in Canva (use the 'event' or 'fundraising' template category). Write your WhatsApp message. Post your first social media announcement.
Your event is now being promoted. In Lesson 4, you will learn how to run your event smoothly on the day — and make the most of every opportunity to raise money.
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Lesson 3 of 6 Promote Your Event — Get People to Come