$€AR£H & R€$CU€ A FUNDRAISING GUIDE FOR VOLUNTARY RESCUE TEAMS
All
teams need
Operations,
Planning,
Logistics, and
FINANCE.
WHAT YOUR TREASURER WILL ASK YOU...
Just like the fuel your vehicles require, technology has its operating costs. We’ve done our
best to reduce this cost for voluntary teams, and we’ve published this guide to help you.
Many of you using Decisions
For Heroes are small local charities,
supported entirely by public
donations. We understand a core
part of our service is helping teams,
like you, find the funding for our
service.
So that got us thinking. Wouldn't it
be wonderful if Decisions For
Heroes could pay for itself? Even
better, wouldn't it be amazing if it
could raise twice that?
Decisions for Heroes is about
helping rescue teams save more
lives. It does this not only through
providing world-class software to
rescue teams and organisations at
at a low price, but by sharing
experiences. These experiences
include securing funding so you
can continue to be amazing people.
Smells Like Team Spirit
We consider everyone involved
with Decisions for Heroes as part of
our team. That goes for the
smallest team right up to the
biggest national organisation.
Share your fundraising ideas
Our team should work together to Send us your fundraising ideas and we’ll
help each other. If you have add them to the next edition of this
document. We love to get real world
fundraising ideas that we can add
to the next edition of this examples with photos and lessons
learned.
document, please send them
along. Let's continue to work Send your fundraising ideas to:
together to save more lives. info@decisionsforheroes.com
[1]
MAXIMISE LOCAL
BUSINESS FUNDS
Get a local business to fund your account.
Have a look at the template on the next page
and feel free to use it for contacting a local
business. The best spots to target are local shops,
bars, and restaurants, where your team members
are regular customers and already support their
business.

How much do we ask for?

We leave the amount you ask for up to you. On
the scale of a local businesses marketing budget,
the voluntary price for Decisions for Heroes is so
Add your
cheap that you should be able to ask for more
rescues to
money than the service costs you, leaving you
any public
extra money for your other needs. website!
We recommend that you try to target your
fundraising within your local area or community
giving people the sense that they will be helping their
neighbours and family should they get in trouble and
need your help.

This is the reason that Decisions for Heroes

developed their free online widget. The widget will
publicly display your teams last 5 incidents with map,
annual stats and year-on-year variance.

You can offer your D4H account sponsor their name

and link on the bottom, just a like a virtual engraved
plaque you might hang in your base.

So where will the widget be shown?

Everywhere! We give you a small piece of code
which can be copied and pasted into any website, blog,
or forum. You can give the code out to all your team
members, friends and family. You might even get it
featured on a local news site or government portal.

Either-way, your sponsor will be happy for the great

local exposure associated to a good cause

To have your team widget switched-on, send an

email to support@decisionsforheroes.com

[2]
 Kerri Loretan, Team Secretary,
LXSAR Rescue Team,
LX Rescue Station,
Chamonix, France.

Ms Jane Smith,
General Manager,
Paddy’s Irish Bar,
Chamonix, France.

Dear Ms Smith,

The reason you are reading this letter is because LXSAR, your local search & rescue team, need help.
With your help they will save more lives, and provide better assistance to those in distress on the Belle View
cliff trail, most popular with your customers.

This year we are making a large effort to optimise our response to rescues, record better statistics, and
begin to look at trends and patterns to aid us in preventing accidents in the first place. We will be using a
piece of new software technology called ‘Decisions For Heroes’ that saves lives, to record our training and
rescue operations, to keep accurate records on all of our members experience. Rescue teams pay an annual
subscription to gain access to this service.

We are asking Paddy’s Irish Bar for an annual donation of £420 to fund this service for us. With this
software we will be able to reduce the loss of life in our community, increase our rescuers safety, and lower our
administration costs and burdens.

We’d love to put Paddy’s Irish Bar with a link to your website on our rescue tracker widget which is
publicly displayed on our website and those of our members. You’re welcome to put it on your website too,
and it will automatically update with our latest call-out stats.

LXSAR currently has 26 voluntary members and is funded entirely by voluntary contributions. Last year
we rescued 112 people in the locality, everything from 3 hour stretcher evacuations from the mountain to
searching for missing elderly persons. Together we can have a smarter, more efficient, and safer rescue team
for our community.

I will ring you on 01 3425 2355 next week, we would love to give you, your staff, and your families a
tour of our rescue station, equipment, and vehicles. On the same day, I will give you a demonstration of the
software ‘Decisions For Heroes’ and how our team uses it.

Yours in Search & Rescue,

Kerri Loretan,
LXSAR Team Secretary.
Ph: 01 2552 6436

[3]
 This article was originally
ENDURANCE RIB RUN published on the Howth Coast

FUNDRAISING Guard website. The unit are a

voluntary unit of the Irish Coast
Guard coastal rescue service.

CHECK OUT A REAL WORLD EXAMPLE

This fundraising event is one that our own Rescue Team Over the last 5 years the Rib Run has raised over
Contact Donnchadh MacCobb took part in to raise €260,000 for the Lifeboats and the South Coast
money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institute
trawler Tragedy appeal, with last year bringing
(RNLI) 'Train One Save Many' campaign.
Theme your in a massive €40,000. Last year, when the Rib
fundraising Run went to Milford Haven, all the crews
On 23rd April 2009, a member of the
around your were at sea for over 12 hours in very
Howth Coast Guard unit, Donnchadh
service. demanding rough weather conditions.
MacCobb, will join the 6th annual RIB (Rigid
Inflatable Boat) Run from Kinsale (Co Cork,
At 8am on the 23rd April, the Ribs leave Kinsale. It
Ireland) to Neyland Marina (Milford Haven, Wales) in a
promises to be quite a spectacle for those watching
sponsored endurance passage of over 300 nautical
from shore as they are led out of the harbour by the
miles to raise funds for the Royal National lifeboat
Kinsale Lifeboat.
Institution’s, “Train one, Save many” campaign.

MORE ENDURANCE FUNDRAISING SWIMMING SURVIVAL CLIMBING DRIVING

Why not train for a How long could Climb and abseil Use your teams
channel crossing members of the the height of response vehicles
or fixed pool public survive in a Everest from a to publicise a 4x4
distance. Make a liferaft or public location like endurance rally for
trophy for an emergency a local shopping local off-road
annual emergency shelter? Last one centre roof. enthusiasts.
services race. to leave wins!

[4]
OTHER FUNDING IDEAS
AND GETTING ONLINE TO REACH PEOPLE
First Party Fundraising
One of the most effective ways
for teams to raise money is to run
fundraising events. Some of these
types of events could include:
• Station open days to the public
with educational talks.
• Free personal equipment, boat, or
vehicle safety checks at trail
heads or harbours.
• Distribute safety leaflets with local
sponsor names.
Third Party Fundraising
Another big way that teams
raise money is by encouraging
‘Third Party Fundraising’. This
means that teams encourage
individuals to take part in events
and raise money for them.
Examples of third party
fundraising are when supporters
used a sponsorship cards or an
online donation site to:
• Run a marathon.
• Do a skydive.
• Survive an endurance event.
A Bit About Us
Decisions For Heroes is a
web application that saves lives.
We do this by helping rescue
teams record and analyse their
rescue operations and training
exercises.
www.decisionsforheroes.com
Team Website
The best way to
advertise these events is
on your team website.
If your team does not
have a website, we Reach out
strongly recommend to your
that you set one up! supporters!
Use your website to
keep your supporters up Facebook Page
to date. It is a good idea to offer the
An emerging trend is to create a
chance to sign up for alerts on your
Facebook Page for your team. They
website where supporters will
are free, and offer a great place for
receive an automatic e-mail alerting
news updates to be published.
them that the teams website has
been updated.
Teams can set up a page and
suggest to people that they know to
Yo u m a y b e a b l e t o u s e
become 'fans'. In not too long you’ll
advertising space on your website
find that you will have a couple of
as a bartering tool for some of your
hundred fans from your team
suppliers. For example "You give us
members, friends, and families!
the funding for this piece of
equipment and we'll put a link to
It's a great way of spreading the
your stores on our website”.
word about rescues, events and any
other news to do with your team.
Examples:
www.baysearchandrescue.org.uk
To create a page for your team:
www.killaloecoastguard.ie
http://www.facebook.com/
www.k9-sar.com
advertising/?pages
40-Day Free Trial Postal Address
Make sure your team get ByteSurgery Ltd.
their 40-day f ree trial. No Docklands Innovation Park,
commitment, no risk. 128-130 East Wall Road,
Dublin 3, Ireland.
No Capital Expenses
We offer subscriptions on a Speak With Us
monthly pay-as-you-go basis. +353 1 442 9217
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