Peer-to-peer fundraising hit an all-time high on JustGiving in 2023

Happy New Year folks!

We hope you enjoyed some downtime over the Christmas break and have returned to work feeling refreshed, recharged, and positive about the year ahead.

If not, this blog post should change your mindset.

Here’s some good news to kick off 2024.

Fundraising is on the up

According to JustGiving, 2023 was a record-breaking year for fundraising.

Despite the challenges posed by the cost-of-living crisis, a whopping £550 million was raised through the platform, benefitting 20,000 good causes across the UK.

The highest amount raised since JustGiving launched in 2020, the numbers tell us two things:

1.   People are still giving.

2.   Peer-to-peer (p2p) fundraising is on the rise.

With this in mind, here are a few key takeaways from 2023 to inform your fundraising strategy for the year ahead.

According to JustGiving:

• 950,000 JustGiving fundraising pages were set up, an average of 2,600 pages per day (9% more than 2022).

• There were two million more donations to charities in 2023 compared to 2022, with 3.5 million people donating to a good cause more than once.

• The most popular fundraising activities were running, walking, cycling, and swimming. Over 65 million miles were recorded on fundraisers’ Fitbits and Strava apps (the equivalent of 2600 laps around Earth, or 169 trips to the moon!).

• Skipping challenges saw a 286% increase in popularity from 2022, raising almost £230,000.

• London Marathon fundraisers raised over £39 million, including £2m+ on race day alone.

• £1.5 million was raised through live streaming, via Twitch, YouTube, and TikTok.

• Thousands of brave fundraisers jumped out of planes for good causes, collectively raising £5.5 million (a 40% increase on 2022).

• Norwich proved to be the most charitable city in 2023, (22% of residents donating to good causes), followed by Bristol, Reading, and Cambridge.

• Schools across the UK raised an incredible £605,000.

Fundraising in action

Those are the stats. Now let’s look at some of the inspirational fundraisers that contributed to that incredible total.

Prepare to have your cockles warmed.

Seren Price

At just five years old, Seren Price became the youngest person ever to complete the Three Peaks Challenge.

Together with her father, Glynn, Seren battled snow, poor visibility, and -18C temperatures, to conquer the summits of Yr Wyddfa, (formally known as Snowdon) in North Wales, Ben Nevis in Scotland, and Scafell Pike in northern England in little under two days.

The duo had intended to complete the challenge in 24 hours but stopped to help a fellow climber on Ben Nevis who had become fatigued and needed help back down the mountain.

The selfless young climber raised over £7,000 for Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Joshua Patterson

For most people, one marathon is a struggle. But not for Josh Patterson.

Last year, the TV personality and mental health campaigner ran 76 marathons in 76 days in each of the UK’s 76 cities, to raise awareness and money for mental health charity, Samaritans.

He started his epic challenge in February, in Inverness, and crossed the finish line in London’s Pall Mall on May 13, to the cheers of hundreds of supporters.

He travelled across the UK in a camper van and battled all weather conditions to complete the challenge.

By the end of the 11 weeks, he’d covered a whopping 1992 miles, bagged himself a Guinness World Record for ‘the most cities to run a marathon distance in, on consecutive days’, and raised more than £320,000 for Samaritans.

Gabriel Clark

13-year-old Gabriel is a bit of a whizz when it comes to woodwork.

The teen first went viral in 2022 after launching a unique fundraiser to help children affected by the war in Ukraine.

Gabriel spent hours crafting a wooden bowl, which he dubbed 'Bowl for Ukraine'. He finished the bowl off by etching a blue-and-yellow ring round it in the colours of the country's flag.

His father, Richard launched a raffle on social media, which attracted thousands of entries and a phenomenal £250,000 for Save the Children.

Spurred on by the success of Bowl for Ukraine, the 13-year-old, who taught himself woodwork and has been honing his craft since the age of four, created 'The Hope Bowl' in 2023, to support children further afield.

The bowl, which took him ten hours to turn, comprised of three types of wood – ash, sapele, and zebrano – representing three of the main areas of Save the Children’s work around the world – education, food, and medicine.

Gabriel’s efforts raised more than £24,000 for the charity’s Emergency Fund to support children in crisis globally, taking his fundraising total to nearly £275,000.

Final Word

Looking to add a community fundraiser to your team in 2024? We can help. Give us a call on 0203 750 3111 or email info@bamboofundraising.co.uk to get started.