Fundraising Goals

When running for charity, there is nothing more motivating than thinking of how every day of training; every sponsor signed up; every step on race day are all contributing towards your chosen goal. But what will that goal be and how could the money be spent?

WER work in 20 different countries, so your efforts will be helping to change children's lives across the world. Below are a few examples of the projects you could raise money for. Why not pick one of these as your personal or team goal? WER will be happy to provide images and news that you can use for your Just Giving pages or on sponsorship forms.

If you are interested in a region or area of work that is not listed below, please get in touch with our events team on 0844 249 2129 or by emailing ben@wer-uk.org.

Please note that some events have a minimum fundraising requirement. Details can be found on individual events pages.

£70 buys a plough for use in the remote village of Ikotos, Sudan. Ikotos is an area devastated by conflict. The local community were forced off their land and out of their homes. Returning home after 20 years, there is much work to be done to make farms productive once more. The soil in Ikotos is hard and has not been tilled for years so a plough will help them enormously.

£100 could purchase an oxen to pull the plough. £40 will buy a harness and yoke. Or you could raise £380. This would be enough to purchase 2 oxen with all the necessary equipment and provide training in their use. This would also provide feed for the oxen for the first 12 months.

£120 will buy shoes for an entire class of school children in Lira, Uganda. Only the luckiest children in Lira have a pair of shoes, but they often save these for 'Sunday best'. Your run could ensure that a whole class have shoes, every day of the week. Shoes protect against a host of problems to which children are particularly prone such as hookworm, schistosomiasis and infections resulting from small cuts and lesions.

£250 buys a wheelchair for a paraplegic child in Guatemala. Guatemala has almost no provision for paraplegic children who instead are forced to rely utterly on other people for mobility. This often means missing out on education and socialising with peers. The freedom of being able to move around without being carried is a miracle to the recipients. The wheelchairs are specially designed to fit the local terrain and are built by wheel chair users, trained and employed in a specialist workshop.

£300 will support a girls' football team in Paarl East, South Africa. Each team has 15 members and a coach trained, not just in football, but also to provide life skills coaching to address issues such as drug use, sexual health and gang membership. The project has had major success in reducing unplanned pregnancy amongst players, one of the major causes of poverty in the area. Your run could pay for a football, boots, whistles, meals for the players and a living stipend for a coach. WER also supports boys' teams.

£450 will set up a chicken project for a child headed family in Burundi. Burundi was engulfed by the Rwandan conflict leaving many families without parents or guardians. The head of these families can be aged anywhere from 10-15 and will often have several siblings to support. Food and safe water become the top priorities leaving little time for education.

A complete chicken project includes 22 chicks, feed, a chicken shed and inoculations together with training. The programme quickly provides income and food and with WER support the family are encouraged to expand the operation. Best of all, chickens do not take as much time to look after as other animals so the whole family are still able to go to school.

£500 will support a child at the Butterfly Centre, South Africa. In a country where nearly 30% of pregnant women in 2008 had HIV, the care and support of children born with the condition is vital. The Butterfly Centre provides 25 children aged 1-6 with day care which includes feeding, basic education, play and a safe environment. Parents, who are often extremely unwell, are given support and advice on healthcare.

£600 will pay a teacher's salary for one year in Ethiopia. With a national literacy level of just 43%, and just 35% amongst women, Ethiopia needs teachers so that they can maximise the opportunities for the next generation. By paying a teacher's salary for one year your support will not only provide education for children it will also provide jobs for graduates, raising their status as role models.

£2,500 is enough to drill, clad and cap a well in any of the African countries WER work in - providing safe clean drinking water to thousands of families. Safe water is not only healthy it also frees adults and children alike from walking miles each day to fetch water. This has an impact on all other aspects of a chid's life. Less fetching and carrying means there is more time for other important activities such as going to school.

£3,000 will provide one year of vocational and literacy education to 20 widows in DR Congo. In a society where women have to obtain their husband's permission to accept a job, open a bank account or a take part in other commercial activities, it is hard for widows to survive . This programme focuses on sewing and literacy as a combination that can allow the participants to set up their own micro-enterprise.

£3,500 will help to set up a cattle breeding programme. Cattle programmes provide milk and income for poor communities. This target will enable the purchase of dairy cows, a cattle shed, inoculations and feed. WER provides training, advice and business planning so that the herd can be quickly expanded and options such as cheese making explored. This programme can lift a whole village out of poverty and it also makes for an excellent demonstration and learning centre.

£7,000 will pay for an agricultural training centre in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. With 65% of the population living in urban slums, Dominican Republic is home to thousands of homeless and slum-dwelling children for whom life is no more than a daily struggle for food and water.

Funded by WER, Integración Juvenil (IJ) offers a way out of poverty for over 340 children. The project provides education, life coaching and food. In many cases children taking part in the scheme are the first generation of their family to be able to read and write. An agricultural training centre will provide vocational training in the latest high-yield farming techniques for young people and will generate income for IJ.

£40,000 buys a well drilling rig. Few runners could raise this kind of money on their own but a team might be able to. If you wanted to go for something this ambitious WER can help you find other people to fundraise with and give you all the support and resources you need. We will even help you with advertising and media. A rig like this will typically drill around 120 wells before needing a complete overhaul. That works out to well over 200,000 people whose lives would be utterly transformed. Amazing!