Fundraising During Retirement?

As some of you may have guessed I’m a big animal lover, with 3 of my animals coming from rescue homes, where possible I always try ans spare a few pennies to donate to animal charities.  Today’s post from the RSPCA is about fundraising when retired, however some of the tips included are suitable for all…

People greet retirement in different ways: some run to it and grab it with both arms, glad to be out of the rat race and to have time to themselves; others put it off for as long as possible and don’t really know what to do with all that free time.

If you have worked all your adult life, adjusting to retirement (however welcome it may be) can be difficult. Many describe the difficulty they have in accepting that there is suddenly no urgency, no pressure to get things done by a set deadline. The lawn needs mowing, so they leap up and dig out the mower rather than decide it could be done later that day or even the following week. Many marriages struggle to cope when one spouse retires and has time on their hands – some struggle to find things to talk about and need to take time to get to know each other again.

But if you are approaching retirement or are newly retired, you might have big plans for your free time and fully intend to do a lot of travelling and see the world! If so, you may feel that although you would like to give some time to supporting a charity you cannot commit to carrying out any voluntary work (at least, not on a regular basis). But if you are still keen to get involved in helping a charity, putting your lifelong skills to good use, could you be a fundraiser?

Fundraising takes some time to organise and to collect in money pledged by donors. There are official fundraising days organised by many charities such as collection tin days or fairs. But there are plenty of opportunities to raise money independently to pass on to the charity. A really nice way of seeing exactly where your money would go is to use the RSPCA Choices site.

RSPCA Choices allows you to select a particular project (perhaps to do with a local rescue centre, or to help pay vet bills) and raise money specifically for that project. Deciding which project to support can also make a nice activity for a couple to discuss together, making it a joint venture to occupy you both during your retirement(s). Once you have selected a project, you need to decide how to fundraise for it: you could create a sponsored event like a sponsored walk, or you could join together with others in the community and arrange something large like a gala.

Whatever you decide, you can create a web page (the RSPCA Choices site helps you to do this) to advertise and promote it. Having chosen the project yourself, you will be in a much stronger position to explain to people why you want to raise money and what their money will be used for.

Charitable work after retirement can give your day the structure and purpose that you may feel you have lost after leaving work. It can also ensure that you stay in touch with people in the community and allow you to make new friends. On top of all that, the fundraising you achieve will really help those in need.