It feels great to help a good cause. You know what we mean – that buzz you get from knowing that just by doing something differently, organising an event or challenging yourself, you can make a real difference for the better.

It feels good, because it does good. So here’s your chance to up that feel-good factor, do your bit and help the RSPB to save nature.

Fundraise for nature

As a charity, we can’t do any of our work to help birds and other wildlife, or protect the places they need to survive, without amazing people like you. People who give up their time to fundraise in aid of the RSPB are true wildlife heroes.

The following pages should give you plenty of inspiration so you can jump into action, raising money to help give nature a home. All the ideas can be done as a team with friends and colleagues, at work or in your own time. And all can be a lot of fun.

What are you waiting for?

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“There was everything from hedgehog to owl cakes. I can’t believe we raised over £200 in one morning!”Kate Smith, Cambridgeshire

Big Nature Bake Off Challenge your work colleagues to don their aprons and get baking wildlife-themed cakes. From 3D creations like butterfly cakes, to iced gingerbread owls, fox-faced flapjacks or decorating with sugar flowers, the sky’s the limit!

Sell the cakes to hungry colleagues. Encourage everyone to take part by offering a prize for the star baker.

Create your own exhibition for all those aspiring photographers. Ask colleagues to take a selfie in the great outdoors or their favourite green space and donate to enter. Award a prize for the best.

Why not share the selfies on our Facebook page: facebook.com/RSPBLoveNature

Nature selfie showdown

Hold a dress up or dress down day. Pick a day and invite everyone at work to make a minimum donation to take part.

You could suggest a wildlife theme, or something completely different: James Bond, cartoon characters, classy black tie... Or something seasonal like Christmas jumpers, Halloween costumes or Easter bonnets.

Glad rags

Easy workplace fundraisersHere are just a few easy-to-organise, fun ways to raise money at work.Just put the word out by e-mail or with posters (there are templates you can use at the end of this guide), ask for donations to take part (or opt out!) and invite your colleagues to join in and be part of the fun-draising.

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How well do you know your work mates? This is the classic (but still brilliant) guess the photo competition.

Ask your colleagues to bring in a photo of themselves as a baby. Or a photo of their pet, or their first car...

Invite everyone to make a minimum donation and guess who pairs up with what. The person with the most right by the end of the day wins a prize.

Who’s who?

We all get well-meant but unwanted Christmas or birthday presents. So reuse, recycle and hold a bring and buy sale at work. You could even nominate a budding auctioneer for some of the more valuable items, to get some healthy bidding competition going and raise even more money.

Bring and buy

Office sweepstakes are easy to set up and good fun. First pick an event that you want to run it for – it could be a sports competition like Wimbledon or the Ashes, or something with a nature theme like our annual Big Garden Birdwatch – which bird will be the most spotted this year?

Participants make a donation to pick a name out of the hat, wait for the event to unfold and see if they picked the winner!

Keep your eyes on the prize

Who doesn’t love a pub quiz?

Arrange a quick-fire quiz one lunchtime, or go the whole hog and plan a quiz evening after work in aid of the RSPB.

Agree a donation per team, allocate a quiz master and let the fun commence. You could pick a theme or opt for general knowledge and include a round dedicated to nature and wildlife (your RSPB fundraising contact can help you with that!). Fingers on the buzzers...

Test the little grey cells

The swear jar. We all have bad days at work, but if you’re vocal about it and let a curse escape, you’ll need to cough up an agreed amount.

If you can’t say anything nice

Get creative and crafty and set up some stalls at lunchtime to sell donated produce, such as homemade jam, chutney and crafts, and home grown fruit and veg.

Homemade fair

“Bring and buy sales are so simple to do. Our team alone raised £100.” Anita Warren, Macclesfield

“Getting colleagues together for the quiz was great fun, and we raised lots for nature.” Paul Harris, Chichester

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“It was funny seeing the weird and wonderful lunches my team came up with. A great excuse for Maltesers on a Monday too!”Claire Robbins, Sheffield

“I can’t believe a big jar of sweets can be responsible for raising over £500 to help save nature! We all wanted to be the one who guessed it right.”Dave Matthews, Cardiff

Take up a foodie challenge.

For a full week, you can only eat food that begins with the same letter as the day of the week it is (please make sure the food is ethically and sustainably sourced too).

Collect sponsorship for the challenge and indulge in mackerel on Monday and toasted teacakes on Thursday, but prepare to be fined if you just can’t resist a tomato on a Friday!

Get your whole team involved for moral support and perhaps award a prize for the most elaborate (or weirdest) food combination. Wensleydale and, erm, w-radish wrap on Wednesday, anyone?

Eat the week

Bird Bingo, Snakes and Ladders, Hungry Hippos or Mousetrap – can you think of more?

All you need to do is get colleagues to donate to play, and see who is the champion.

Nature board games

A challenge not for the faint-hearted!

Give your Sales or Advertising team a financial target they need to raise in a time limit. Then, with only phones to help them, their challenge is to raise that amount through calling their contacts, introducing them to us as a charity, telling them about our work for nature, and ultimately securing donations for the RSPB.

Beat the clock

How about the classic game of guess the number of sweets in a jar, or guess the name of the teddy? Ask for a donation to take part then award the sweets or the teddy to the person who has guessed correctly.

Check out rspb.org.uk/shop to find some cute cuddly toys or sustainable treats for your competition.

Guessing games

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Treasure huntWrite some clues, hide a prize and then drum up business. Invite your work colleagues to form small teams and ask for an entrance fee for the chance to solve the clues, follow the trail and find the treasure hidden in your office, building or grounds.

This office has talentYou see them every day at the coffee machine. You share a lift to work, but did you know that Sue in Accounts does a mean impression of Shirley Bassey? Or that John in Sales knows all the moves to the Time Warp?

Organise a workplace talent show and ask your talented colleagues to make a donation for the pleasure of showing off, or make a night of it and sell tickets in aid of the RSPB.

Nature paperclip challengeAsk your colleagues to form small teams and issue each with a paperclip.

Their challenge is to trade their paperclip in for an item with more value. Over an agreed time frame, each team has to keep trading up and see how far they can get.

Hold a sweepstake based on which team will be most successful and end up with the most valuable item. And hold an auction (in the workplace or on Ebay) to sell off the valuable items.

Out and about

‘Tis the season

If you fancy a challenge that gets you away from the workplace and can help with your team building days too, then give these a try.

Christmas, Diwali, Halloween, Chinese New Year – annual festivals, celebrations and changing seasons are great for bringing colleagues together to have fun for a good cause.Events like Easter egg hunts, apple bobbing, pumpkin carving competitions, summer picnics and BBQs, carol singing or sponsored Santa runs always draw a crowd. R

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Have a hibernightA perfect one for winter! As the nights draw in, make like some of the wildlife outside, get cosy and hibernate (if only for an evening).

Cancel your night out and arrange a fantastic night in with friends, colleagues and/or family instead. You could have a food theme for the evening, and introduce some silly games to keep everyone entertained.

Donate the money you would have spent on your night out to the RSPB, and you could even raise more funds through quizzes, games and a bring and buy sale during your Hibernight.

Embrace the challengeSet yourself a target, start training and head for victory on a sponsored walk, swim, dance-athon, Zumba challenge, fun run – or even a marathon (for the serious contenders among you!).

There are so many ways you can get out there and active, on your own or as part of a team, and if you do your challenge in aid of the RSPB you’ll help raise vital funds for our work to give nature a home.

Talk to your Charity Champion to find out about any RSPB places available in big sports events, or set up a JustGiving page and pick your own events. On your marks, get set, go!

Time to be sociable

Everyone together can make a difference

If you work in a sociable kind of place, your colleagues might want to keep fundraising outside the workplace too. Here are a few ideas for ways you can support us with your friends and family, or on a work social night out.

“When the opportunity came up to run in the Cheltenham half marathon, I knew I wanted to do it in aid of the RSPB. “Weird Fish had been working in partnership with the RSPB for a year, so I knew about the great work they do. My colleague Stuart jumped at the chance to get involved too. We both really enjoyed getting fit, challenging ourselves and raising money for a good cause all at the same time.”

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“I wanted to do something for nature, and by helping out a colleague at the same time it really felt like I was making a difference.”Jayne Richards, Edinburgh

Tap into those hidden talents and share them with your colleagues. Offer your Masterchef cooking skills, dog walking services, washing-up talents or ironing abilities to the highest bidder. Then get to work – while the auction proceeds help our work to save nature.

Auction of promises

Hire out your gardening or DIY services to colleagues to help them create a more wildlife-friendly garden.

You could dig a wildlife pond, build a nestbox, stack a woodpile or plant some nectar-rich, bee-friendly flowers – all for a price, of course. Visit rspb.org.uk/homes for more ideas of what you can do and how.

And the money you raise will help us give even more nature a home.

Nature garden makeover

Get colleagues or friends to form small teams and meet at an agreed place. Then challenge the teams to get as far away from the start point as possible, within a certain amount of time and without spending any money!

Donate to enter as a team, and hold a sweepstake on who will win.

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“I built a bug hotel for my boss and she donated £50 to the RSPB.”Ben Jones, Pontefract

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And there’s moreThere are other things you, your employer and colleagues can do to help the RSPB’s work to save nature:

Payroll givingYou can give tax exempt donations through your pay. Please ask your RSPB fundraising contact for more information about how to sign up.

DonateSupport us, one of our wildlife appeals, or an area of our conservation work with a one-off or regular donation. Please visit rspb.org.uk/donate

Join usBecome an RSPB member and join over a million others, all doing their bit to help save nature. We have great individual, child or family membership options. Please visit rspb.org.uk/joinandhelp

Giving nature a home If there’s some green space at work, or if you have a garden, window box or allotment at home, there’s plenty you can do to give nature a home. Feeding the birds, putting up a bat box, planting wildflowers, installing a hedgehog house... For all kinds of inspiration, please visit rspb.org.uk/homes

Greening the office From recycling office materials to switching off lights in empty rooms, all workplaces can do a lot, day-to-day, to help the environment. Find out what you can do at rspb.org.uk/greenoffice

Team challengesYou and your colleagues can get outdoors, doing conservation work on an RSPB reserve. Ideal for building a team as you help to save nature together.

Pin badge box Put one of our pin badge boxes in a communal area at work. For a minimum donation of £2, your colleagues and customers can walk away with one of our delightful badges. There are hundreds to collect! Please visit rspb.org.uk/pinbadgebox

Time to spare?We can’t do any of our work without our fantastic team of volunteers. Whether planting reedbeds, serving customers in our shops or filing paperwork, their help is invaluable. If you’d like to volunteer with us, please visit rspb.org.uk/joinandhelp

We’re here to helpIf you need some help or hints and tips about fundraising in aid of the RSPB, please get in touch with your RSPB fundraising contact who will be delighted to assist.

RSPB Corporate Partnerships team Tel: 01767 680551 E-mail: corporate.partnerships@rspb.org.uk

The RSPB is a registered charity in England and Wales 207076, in Scotland SC037654. 344 -1444-15-16

The money you raise for us is vital, but you, your colleagues and anyone else who gets involved with these fundraising ideas are even more important. We want you to be safe, happy and trouble-free while you’re fundraising. It is important that before embarking on any of these endeavours, you talk to your company about any health and safety advice or insurance you may need when running, or taking part in, any activities in aid of the RSPB. The RSPB has no liability and is not responsible for any elements of the fundraising activities organised and undertaken by staff at corporate organisations.

Please remember

...because together we can give nature a home.Blackbird by Fotolia, ladybird by iStock and hedgehog by Eric Isselée/Fotolia.

The RSPB is a registered charity in England and Wales 207076, in Scotland SC037654.344-1644-15-16

We’re fundraising for nature...

rspb.org.uk

...because together we can give nature a home.Blackbird by Fotolia, ladybird by iStock and hedgehog by Eric Isselée/Fotolia.

The RSPB is a registered charity in England and Wales 207076, in Scotland SC037654.344-1644-15-16

I’m fundraising for nature...

rspb.org.uk