Let the Games Begin - London 2012!

Image courtesy of London 2012

With the opening ceremony only hours away, the hype for the London 2012 Olympics Games has truly began! Here at Raise2Give we have been in awe of many of the planning aspects of the Olympic games and cannot wait till it all begins!

Volunteers 

One of the most impressive aspects of London 2012 is the pure scale of volunteers. Titled as 'Games Makers' nearly 70,000 people have given up their time to help make the games extra special. LOCOG recently reported that they received over 240,000 volunteer applications which is amongst the highest for any Olympic Games! 

Venue's

As with any charity event, the location is nearly as important as the event itself. We are not talking about hosting the olympics in our capital, but moreover the arena's and historical destinations used to host the individual sports. From beach volleyball at the Horse Guard's Parade to Archery at the famous Lord's Cricket Ground, going to the olympics will become not only a day of sport but the opportunity to see some of Great Britain's most popular venues.

Sport's

Whilst there has been lots of talk whether certain sports should or shouldn't be included in the olympic games, here at Raise2Give we believe that the 36 disciplines across the 26 sports, not only show the variety range and breathe of competition but also provide enough entertainment to truly inspire a generation.

Wherever you are in the world, we hope you enjoy the London 2012 Olympic Games as a time to spend with family and friends, learn a new sport or two and most importantly draw inspiration from the volunteers, athletes and spectators who promise to deliver two weeks of thrills, spills and no doubt a few tears. 

And of course don't forget the Paralympic Games start on the 29th August 2012!

How to Hitch...

Raise2Give has hosted a number of hitchhikes all over the country, and we often get asked by participants "how do i do it?" So we thought we put together a few top tips on how to hitch...

Our first piece of advise is to always BE POLITE! There are many fantastic people in this world, so remembering to say 'please' and 'thank-you' will never do any harm. Also be patient, the last thing someone needs is a bunch of pushy students asking for free travel when they have a queue of paying customers waiting.

Secondly, make yourself STAND OUT! Wearing a fancy dress costume, matching outfits or just some bright colours can really help you look approachable. Signs are also great for getting noticed, but be careful when choosing your outfit, for example something scary may put people off.

Thirdly, make sure you MEET PEOPLE. Popping into a local pub, grocery store or even a petrol station is a great way to meet local people and explain to them what you are doing. It is getting more unlikely that people pick up hitchhikers off the street so make that extra effort to talk to people who could potentially help you on your journey.

And finally... STAY SAFE! Your gut instinct is usually right so if you don't feel safe in what you are doing or who you are with, then don't do it. After all charity hitchhikes are meant to be fun and creative ways of fundraising for good causes.

And as our director says "it's not about the distance, it's about the journey"

Good Luck!

Breaking out... All the way to Morocco

Brighton Breakout Tracking Map

Last weekend Raise2Give was the host to Brighton Breakout, a university hitchhike held by Sussex Rag. With 46 participants all eager to get to the furthest destination in 36 hours, once again we couldn't keep our eyes off the tracking map!


With messages coming in from Paris, Brussels and even Amsterdam, it was team Ramin that got us all glued. How far would they go?

By saturday night the news came in that a flight had been booked and team Ramin were off to Madrid on Air Europa. So impressed with their efforts, we were telling everyone and anyone, however we soon learnt they weren't finished... Team Ramin were aiming for Morroco!!

Surely not we said to ourselves, but after a long train journey and two ferries, Team Ramin arrived in Morocco and truly earned the winning prize!


The whole event raised an amazing £2972.29 and we would like to say a huge thank-you to everyone that donated, participated or helped in this event.

Welcome to 2012

Happy New Year to you all! Did you see the London Fireworks? We thought they were great! The new year has also brought some new users to Raise2Give and we would like to wish them a warm welcome and good luck with all your fundraising.

Merry Christmas!

Here at Raise2Give we have all been very busy, but we thought we would take the time to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

LEGGIT 2011: Drum roll please...

With Leggit 2011 now over and all participants home, the fundraising total is finally in. We are pleased to announce that Leggit raised an outstanding £32,173.80! We would like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who sponsored this amazing event, and a huge congratulations to Bournemouth Rag for all their efforts. 

Leggit was in aid of four charities; Teenage Cancer Trust, Margaret Green Animal Rescue, Roundtable Children's Wish and The Royal British Legion, who are all very pleased with the money raised.

You can also see an article written on Leggit at www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/christmas/9364321.Bournemouth_students_Leggit_for_charity/

How to create an event on Raise2Give

With all the news events recently being loaded on the site, we thought we would take you through a step by step process on how to create your event on Raise2Give.

1. Firstly log into your account page with the email address and password that you registered with. Go to the events section and click on 'Add an event'

2. Fill in all the details about your event, including the time and place. You can always edit these later, but try to get as much detail in as you can initially. Make sure you add a photo that represents your event, most users tend to add their event poster or a picture that describes the event.

3. If your event requires a tracking system, make sure to click 'Allow Tracking' and if you want the event to show on your page now click 'Active'

4. Finally, click 'Add'. If your event requires tracking, you will now be prompted to add a location for the map to activate (this tend to be the start / finish location of the event)

Your event has now been created! So go spread the word and ask your fundraisers to click 'Make my page' to join this event! 

Good Luck! 

LEGGIT 2011: The Results...

LEGGIT 2011 Event Tracker

So this weekend saw the UK largest student charity hitchhike, LEGGIT, organised by Bournemouth University Rag.

With 382 participants split into 120 teams all trying to get as far away as they can in 36 hours, it sure was a weekend to remember!

With teams ending in Berlin, Milan, Budapest and of course the winning who got all the way to Tenerife, we are proud to say that we could not take our eyes of the tracker!

Raise2Give would like to thank everyone who took part in this event, everyone that donated and all those lovely people who help our travellers on their amazing journey.

LEGGIT 2011: And they are off...

 

This morning saw the launch of LEGGIT 2011 at Bournemouth University Rag. 

With 382 participants, Leggit is the biggest ever UK student hitchhike and we are so pleased at Raise2Give to be part of this amazing event. All of these participants have grouped themselves into teams, and now have the next 36 hours to get as far away from bournemouth university, without spending a penny! 

Make sure you watch their journey on the tracker at www.raise2give.com/leggit-2011

Welcome to Raise2Give

Hello and welcome to our very first blog post! This blog will be a chance for you to read all about the amazing people we work with, all the exciting events we have running and how we can help you raise more money for charity! So lets get blogging...