A group of six students from the University of Bath have created their own social media challenge to raise £400 for the NSPCC charity.
The group, made up of Hyunji Lee, Javier Galindo Forn, Kornkanok Teainchai, Lily Beynon, Madhav Yadav and Szu-Ting Chen designed the challenge as part of their work towards their MSc in sustainability, management and marketing and the children’s charity’s Childhood Day fundraising.
Earlier this year, the NSPCC urged fundraisers across the country to take part in their new landmark day, where people were encouraged to bring out their inner child and raise money with the theme of play.
In response, the students designed a challenge where participants would share an image of themselves from their childhood, tag four friends who would do the same and donate £4 to the NSPCC, which is the cost of one call to Childline.
Lily Beynon, who is part of the group said: “We decided we needed to come up with a fun challenge that would encourage people to follow our page and get involved.
“So, we came up with a #Pic4childhooddaychallange where we asked people to post a picture of themselves on their Instagram story, donate £4 to our JustGiving Page and then nominate four friends to do the same.
“This has been really successful in reaching an audience and gaining followers as well as raising money!
“Our JustGiving donations are currently at £155 and over 50 people have taken part in the challenge. It’s also a fun and interactive challenge which allows people to reminisce over their childhood.”
As another part of their fundraiser, the students also created a drawing competition, in which children are encouraged to submit a drawing relating to childhood,
The winner and runner up will receive prizes kindly donated by local businesses in Bath.
To enter, entrants simply have to submit their drawing via this form to be in with a chance to win.
As well as claiming a prize, the winning image will also be used as part of any subsequent Childhood Day media related activities in the South West.
Lily added: “The most enjoyable part of fundraising has been seeing people donate and engaging with our campaign.
“It is so rewarding knowing all our work is going to a good place and the money and awareness we raise will hopefully help to make a difference. It is also motivating and inspiring seeing people being so generous and kind.”
NSPCC Community Fundraising Manager for Bristol, Bath, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, Emma Hildesley said: “These students have done an incredible job to create such an imaginative fundraising event.
“It has been amazing to see their idea come to life, and then reach thousands of people on social media, whilst raising money for the NSPCC at the same time.
“Fundraisers never fail to impress me with the amount of passion and dedication they show towards the NSPCC, and these students are a wonderful example of that.”
To find out more about other fundraising events on offer, visit the NSPCC website here.