How To Get The Most Out Of 5050OCF

(and how to get others to put the most in)

Tips on designing your 5050OCF challenge

You can simply resolve to cover 50kms of distance at your own pace, in your own style, over the month of July. Maybe a short walk, run or bike ride daily, or a longer one a few times a week. But if you're looking for ways to spice it up a little, here are some possibilities: 

  • Take the lead from this brilliant Spanish father-and-daughter duo, who put on different costumes every day to take the bins out. Design your 5050OCF challenge costume(s). It hardly has to be as elaborate as these ones, but people are much more likely to sponsor you if they think you're willing to look a bit bonkers. Did we say bonkers? We meant adorable.
  • Maybe you know of fellow fitness enthusiasts who have home exercise equipment, say a stationary bike or rowing machine. If so, why not set up a virtual "race"? Schedule a Zoom, Skype or Google Meet, and see who gets to 10, 20 or even 50kms first. Who knows, these sport-less days, maybe you'll even be able to sell (virtual) tickets!
  • Not ready to brave the streets or parks clad in full-body lycra just yet? See how quickly a few laps of even a small garden mounts up. Download a fitness tracking app and see how many kms you rack up just with average daily activities, like shopping or picking up after the kids.
  • Perhaps you've decided you're just going to walk the 50kms over the course of the month. Who's to say that your walk has to be… unsilly?
  • Install a free step counter app on your smartphone, and see how many steps you can rack up and by pacing back and forth across the living room while bingeing Netflix. Then, all you have to do is measure your stride, multiply by the number of steps, and voilà! We bet you the distance is bigger than you thought.
  • Dance your 50kms away. Dance your 50kms away. We've found that the tango, the waltz and a modified version of “Come Dancing” are actually pretty good for covering ground. Any kind of dance moves will rack up the steps on the average pedometer if you do it hard enough. Who would not sponsor a 50kms dance challenge?
  • If the weather is against you, an easy 20-minute aerobic workout, or even 12 minutes of jogging on the spot indoors also counts. There's a vast number of YouTube tutorials that can help keep things interesting, even if the scenery isn't changing.

    Here's a couple to get you started:
Indoor running 2.4km (1.5 miles)Indoor Bouncy Walk 1.6km (1 mile)

Suggestions for maximising your fundraising

  • Tell your story. People will care more and give more if they know why you care. Fundraisers who tell their story (hear about how oesophageal cancer has affected you or your family and friends) tend to raise on average 74% more than those who do not.
  • Put a face to the name. Fundraisers who upload a profile photo raise substantially more than those who don’t.
  • Share early and shamelessly! Share your page via email, social media and any other channels available (local newspapers, radio phone-ins, personal blogs, whatever) as often and as loudly as you can. Also, studies have shown that people who share their page within an hour of creating it generally raise 52% more than everyone else.
  • Update your fanbase. People who actively share their progress, which you can do automatically by syncing up your fitness tracker (Strava or Fitbit) to your sponsorship page, raise on average 40% more than those who don’t.
  • Keep us in the loop. We love to hear from you and we know how inspirational your stories are to others, so send us ideas, experiences or updates on your progress and we can also promote your challenge through our OCF channels.
  • Be your own biggest fan! This is such a vital cause and by donating to your own page, you show your own commitment to it. In general, those whose own names appear prominently in their list of donors tend to raise over 120% more on average.
  • Don't be shy about increasing your target if you can. People tend to donate less than they might if they see you are very close to your goal, so don't hesitate to raise your target amount if you think you can.
  • It ain't over till it's over. Experience has taught those who run similar online sponsorship drives that 20% of donations come in after the challenge is over. So even if you've completed your 5050OCF challenge, it can't hurt to reach out one last time to your sponsors – especially if you have some news or a funny story about what happened during your challenge to share with them. Maybe they'll dig even deeper.
  • Don't forget to say thank you to your donors. And you are very much encouraged to thank them on behalf of the OCF as well. Never has "Cheers, you're a lifesaver!" been so apt.
  • Don't forget to tag us on social.Using the tag #5050OCF we’ll also be sharing your stories on our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram feeds, as well as listing a running total of kms covered and monies raised.

Frequently Asked Questions