The Balloon Race

Case Study

St Nicholas Church

St Nicholas Church run a balloon race every year and use the card payment option within admin. ORGANISATION: St Nicholas Church and Berden Parochial Church Council (PCC)

CAUSE:

Raising funds for Churches in Berden, Manuden, Clavering, Langley, Arkesden, Wicken Bonhunt which form the clavering Benefice in Uttlesford, Essex

COSTS:

AMOUNTS RAISED:

FEEDBACK:

“The lockdowns during COVID really hit churches hard as we were unable to hold services which were the main way in which we raise the funds required to keep our church well maintained and open. We desperately needed to raise funds and we heard about the Virtual Balloon Race concept. We looked into it and thought it looked great. It was affordable, easy to manage and something fun and a bit different that hadn’t been done before.

St Nicholas Church, Berden is one of 6 Churches in the Clavering Benefice – a rural community based in Uttlesford on the West Essex Border with Hertfordshire. We suggested the Virtual balloon race to all the churches within the benefice and we launched our first virtual Balloon race over Easter in 2021. We sold Balloons at £5 per balloon and offered a first prize of £100 and it was a great success raising over £2000! People told us they really liked the concept and were pleased that it didn’t have a negative impact on the environment. Following on from the success of our first event we have run virtual Balloon Races at Easter every year since 2021. They continue to be a great way of engaging with our local communities and raising funds for our parish churches. We now offer a first prize of £100, a second prize of £50 and a third prize of £25. I would highly recommend people to run a virtual balloon race as a fundraiser. Its very affordable, easy to manage, profitable, it doesn’t cause environmental damage and its lots of FUN!”

Mark Trapmore – Churchwarden St Nicholas’ Church Berden and chair of Berden PCC

Case Study 2

Worcester & District Macmillan Cancer Support

Worcester & District Macmillan Cancer Support Fundraising Committee use the virtual balloon & duck race twice each year and take funds via enthuse.com and upload balloons & ducks with a CSV. A google form is used to collect the buyers balloon details.

ORGANISATION:

Worcester & District Macmillan Cancer Support Fundraising Committee - Fundraising

CAUSE:

Macmillan Cancer

COSTS:

AMOUNTS RAISED:

£300 - £400 Each race

FEEDBACK:

“For the last 4/5 years we have hosted online events such as a Christmas Balloon race and an Easter Duck race. (See link to our Enthuse page below). On average we tend to raise between £300 - £400 per race. This is a link to our Enthuse Donation page which the national Macmillan team prefers us to use. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page you will see links to our current duck race and last December’s balloon race. Sadly the links to other online events we have hosted have been removed. (Enthuse Page Link) The costs incurred whilst undertaking our fundraising activities are minimal because they are hosted and conducted on the whole by our committee members and family & friends. Our costs for the two online events are approx. £60 per event. (Balloon Race: £35 and Amazon Voucher £25) which makes the events very profitable.” Steve Booth