Tom Andrews has seen his fair share of wacky things in his 27 years as a member of Wynnum Manly LCC – most of them were his idea.
And that, Tom says, is the key to successful fundraising.
“You just have to get a bit beyond your square,” Tom says.
And that is exactly what he did earlier this year to raise much needed funds for the 11 schools in his area. He came up with the idea to challenge his 88-year-old body and mind by riding 25kms along the Wynnum foreshore.
That may seem like a simple task to some but to a man with three stents and a stern warning from his wife and children… well he was asking for trouble.
“To a certain extent it was really pretty crazy with these three stents.” he says.
“The funny thing was just before the bike ride I went to my cardiologist. I asked him, after he had checked me out and don the stress test and everything, ‘is it okay to do this ride?’ He said ‘oh yes!’ and gave me a donation.”
Tom raised more than $6,000 for his local LCC through hosting the cycling event.
“I think it was a great opportunity to let supporters and chaplains see that there is an old bloke who is prepared to get out there and support them in some silly way,” he says.
For Tom, the motivation to tackle this great challenge came from the very real threat of losing three of his chaplains last year.
“I said, ‘Over my dead body!’ And so I made up my mind that I would do whatever it took to not let that happen,” Tom says.
As the saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures.
“So, I got my head shaved at our dinner and raised almost $13,000. That really blew my mind that I could raise that amount of money for chaplains like that.
“This year when it came around, I wondered what I would do. I said I would just shave my head again but they told me ‘there is nothing left to shave.’”
Regardless of the lengths he goes to, to fundraise Tom say he always comes back to the importance of chaplains in schools.
“I really have a passion for the chaplains,” he says.
“I believe it is one of the greatest works.
“There is no church in this district that would have more people who need looking after than our chaplains do.
“The opportunity to help many children every day.
“That’s why I really have a passion for chaplaincy and to keep rolling doing these great things for children.”
Tom’s top tips for a great fundraiser:
- Talk to people about your chaplaincy. That’s what you are there for so take the opportunity to talk to someone about it.
- You really have to think of something outside the box but still interesting enough to get people interested. People thought the bike ride was a bit quirky but still okay to do.
- Make getting your LCC up and running a priority. Get everyone to come together. Get the support from the people in your LCC group to get on board with your ideas.
- Make sure nothing else is on at the same time as your event. This is simple.
- You won’t pick a day that suits every single person on your mailing list but at least make sure there aren’t other big events on in the area at the same time.
- Pick a time. This year with our fundraising dinner we let the district know, all the churches, schools and wider community. A date saver went out for Friday, 9th of June. One of the schools had a trivia night on the same night and a church had a fundraiser on the Saturday. We stuck to that date but learnt to let everyone know well before the date.
- This one is personal – make sure to get support from your husband or wife and family. If I haven’t got that support I may as well give up.
- That’s something I have said to two chaplains recently. They were giving their report. I said to them to make sure that in all of this that they are doing involves or has the support of your partner and family. I keep coming back to that.
- This I always emphasise – God is first, family second and then everything else comes on the next line. You have to get those first two areas right. Keep your priorities set properly.