"I Didn't Think I Could Do It." Jess Raised £5,700 for Nepal.

When Jess came home from school and told her mum she'd signed up for a World Challenge expedition to Nepal, the excitement in the room lasted approximately four minutes. Then her mum asked how much it cost.

£5,700.

"I remember Mum going very quiet," Jess recalls. "And then she said, 'Right, well. You're raising that yourself.' I honestly thought she was joking."

She wasn't. And fourteen months later, Jess had raised every single penny — without a single large donation from a family member, without a GoFundMe that went viral, and without any single moment of magic. Just consistent effort, a good plan, and a willingness to try things that felt embarrassing at first.

This is her story.

The Starting Point: A Plan, Not a Panic

Jess's first instinct was to do what most teenagers do: set up a JustGiving page and share it on Instagram. She did that. It raised £180 in the first week, then went completely quiet.

"I realised pretty quickly that online donations weren't going to get me there," she says. "People feel good clicking donate once. They don't do it again. I needed things that would keep generating money over time."

That shift in thinking — from one-off donations to recurring income streams — was the single most important decision she made. She sat down with a spreadsheet and worked out that if she could generate £400 a month across multiple activities, she'd hit her target with two months to spare.

What She Did: The Full Breakdown

1. Easyfundraising — The Passive Income She Almost Ignored

Jess almost didn't bother with easyfundraising. "It sounded too good to be true — like, shops just give you money for shopping? I thought it was a scam." It isn't. Easyfundraising is a free platform that donates a small percentage of every online purchase to a cause of your choice, at no extra cost to the shopper.

Jess signed up and then — crucially — she didn't just add her own family. She sent a message to every adult she knew: grandparents, aunts and uncles, family friends, her parents' colleagues. She explained it clearly: "You don't spend any extra money. You just shop through this link instead of going directly to the website. That's it."

Over 14 months, with 23 supporters regularly shopping through her easyfundraising page, she raised £312 in passive income. She did nothing after the initial setup except send a reminder email every three months.

2. The Bake Sale Circuit

Jess ran bake sales — but not just one. She ran a circuit of them. She approached her school, her local church, a nearby sports club, and her mum's workplace. Each venue was a new audience who hadn't bought from her before. She ran a total of nine bake sales over the fourteen months, each generating between £80 and £240 depending on the venue and the time of year.

She also learned quickly that presentation matters enormously. "The first one, I just put things on a table. The second one, I made proper labels, used a nice tablecloth, and had a little sign with my photo and what I was raising for. The second one made three times as much."

3. Local Business Sponsorship

This was the activity Jess was most nervous about — and the one that paid off most dramatically. She wrote a sponsorship letter (using the template from the Ways2Raise Toolkit) and approached 22 local businesses. Eleven replied. Six agreed to sponsor her.

The sponsorship packages she offered ranged from £50 to £200, with each sponsor receiving a mention in her expedition blog, a thank-you post on social media, and a handwritten card on her return. The six sponsors together contributed £780 to her total.

"The letter was the hardest part," she admits. "But once I'd written one good one, I just personalised it for each business. The template made it so much easier to start."

4. A Sponsored Walk — Done Properly

Jess organised a sponsored walk, but she approached it differently to most. Rather than just asking people to sponsor her per mile, she turned it into a community event. She invited friends, family, and neighbours to join her on a 10-mile walk through a local country park. Participants each paid a £5 entry fee and were encouraged to get their own sponsors too.

Nineteen people joined. Between entry fees, Jess's own sponsorship, and a small raffle at the finish line, the event raised £640 in a single afternoon.

5. Car Boot Sales

Jess ran three car boot sales over the year, selling a combination of her own unwanted items and things donated by family and neighbours. She advertised for donations on her local Facebook community group and was overwhelmed by the response. "People love getting rid of stuff," she laughs. "I had a garage full of donations within a week."

The three car boot sales raised a combined £410.

6. The Grant — The One She Nearly Didn't Apply For

With three months to go, Jess was £820 short of her target. She was tired, and the idea of writing a grant application felt like too much effort. Her mum persuaded her to try the Grant Finder on her Ways2Raise Pro account.

She found two grants she was eligible for. She applied for both. She received one — from a local charitable trust that supports young people undertaking international expeditions. The award was £500.

"I nearly didn't apply," she says. "I thought I wouldn't get it. But the Grant Finder had all the information I needed, and the application only took me about two hours. That £500 was the easiest money I raised in the whole fourteen months."

The Full Breakdown

Activity	Amount Raised
Easyfundraising (passive income)	£312
Bake Sale Circuit (9 events)	£1,480
Local Business Sponsorship (6 sponsors)	£780
Community Sponsored Walk	£640
Car Boot Sales (3 events)	£410
Charitable Trust Grant	£500
JustGiving / Online Donations	£380
Odd Jobs & Babysitting	£720
Christmas Wrapping Service	£178
Other (raffles, collections, etc.)	£300
Total Raised	£5,700

What She Learned

Looking back, Jess identifies three things that made the biggest difference to her success.

Having a plan from the start. Breaking £5,700 into monthly targets made it feel manageable. When she hit her monthly target, she felt momentum. When she fell short, she knew exactly how much she needed to catch up.

Diversifying her income streams. No single activity raised more than £1,500. If she had relied on one or two methods, she would have fallen short. The breadth of her approach was what got her over the line.

Not giving up when things didn't work. Several of her ideas flopped. A quiz night she organised only raised £95 after costs. A sponsored silence at school raised £40. She didn't dwell on the failures — she moved on to the next idea.

Jess is now in her first year at university, studying International Development. She credits her fundraising experience with giving her the confidence to pitch ideas, approach strangers, and handle rejection — skills she uses every week.

Her advice to anyone starting out: "Don't wait until you feel ready. You'll never feel ready. Just start with one thing, and let the momentum build from there."