Localgiving to give fundraisers the chance to become Local Heroes this April

• Localgiving’s fourth annual Local Hero campaign to run from the 1st – 30th April
• The top 20 fundraisers at the end of the month will secure cash prizes for their chosen cause
• £5,000 of funding will be awarded to local charities with a top prize of £1,000

Localgiving will be running its fourth annual Local Hero campaign this April.

This national competition gives fundraisers from across the UK the chance to compete to be crowned Local Hero Champion 2019 and win a top prize of £1,000 for a local charity or community group they love.

Local Hero 2019 will launch on 1st April 2019 and run until 30th of April 2019.

Fundraisers will be ranked on the Local Hero leaderboard according to the number of unique online donors who sponsor their page during the month. At the end of the campaign, the top 20 fundraisers will be given prizes ranging from £100 to £1,000. Overall, £5,000 in prizes will be distributed among the causes supported by the Top 20 fundraisers.

To participate, all people need to do is think up a challenge, set up a free fundraising page for a group on Localgiving and persuade as many people as possible to support their cause. All fundraisers whose pages are live on Localgiving in April 2019 will automatically be included in the campaign.

During Local Hero 2018, 343 fundraisers raised over £115k for 171 local charities and community groups across the UK. The winner of the campaign, Lamyaa Hanchaoui secured a fantastic 292 unique sponsors, raising over £4,000 for Sufra NW London plus an extra £1,000 in prize money. The funds raised went towards helping newly arrived families from Syria resettle in London.

Mohammed Mamdani, Director of Sufra NW London said:

“The campaign galvanised our staff, volunteers and donors and was a hot topic for weeks as the numbers of donors increased. We were continually urging people to support – and more broadly, it raised awareness of our work with refugees, which until then had minimal profile”

Local Hero is not just about the race for top spot. Fundraisers with smaller support bases have frequently been among the prizes. In 2018, 20th place went to a fundraiser with 43 donors. Moreover, Local Hero is about more than marathon runners and gruelling physical challenges. In the past, people have won prizes for a whole range of activities - from reciting poetry to abstaining from social media. So nobody should not be daunted by taking up the challenge.

Chris Dormer, Managing Director of Localgiving, said:

“Local Hero is one of our favourite campaigns. Each year we are blown away by the creative ideas that fundraisers come up with to support the local causes they love. As the competition heats up, a real buzz builds around those fundraisers fighting it out at the top of our leaderboard.

This competition is about far more than individual fundraisers - it is about bringing communities together behind their local charities and helping them get the recognition and funds they so richly deserve”

• To find out more about Local Hero 2019, you can watch this short campaign Local Hero video or visit our campaign page.
• People can set up a fundraising page for a local charity here.
• For wanting to participate in Local Hero who are not yet Localgiving members can sign up here. Localgiving members have a whole array of resources to help them support their fundraisers, from template press releases to editable campaign posters.

- ENDS-

For more information please contact: Lewis Garland, Communications Manager - lewis.garland@localgiving.org

About Localgiving
Localgiving is the UK’s leading membership and support network for local charities and community groups. It aims to empower grassroots organisations to fundraise online, connect with supporters and take control of their financial future. In addition, it provides advocacy for the local voluntary sector and works to secure third-party funding for its members. It provides free training opportunities, fundraising resources and regular incentivised giving campaigns to help groups raise funds online.