What to put on a sponsored walk sponsorship form

A sponsorship form has one job: to make it easy for someone to say yes and hard to forget they did. Most forms fail because they ask for too much, or because they do not say what the money is for.

The top of the form

Put four things above the table, in this order:

1. The event. Name, date and distance.
2. The cause, in one sentence. What the money will pay for, as specifically as you can honestly say.
3. The walker. Name, and class or team if relevant.
4. A personal line. A blank space headed “I am walking because …”. Walkers who fill this in raise more, because sponsors are giving to a person.

The table

Column	Why
Sponsor’s name	So the walker knows who to thank
Amount	The pledge
Per km / per lap / flat	Circle one
Total due	Filled in after the walk
Paid	A tick box, so nothing is asked for twice

Leave eight to ten rows. A form with thirty empty rows looks unsuccessful with five filled in. A form with ten rows looks nearly full.

Wording you can adapt

I am walking 5 km at sunset on [date] to raise money for [cause]. Every amount helps [specific thing]. Thank you for sponsoring me.

For a lapped school walk:

I will walk as many laps of the field as I can in 45 minutes. You can sponsor me per lap or with a single amount.

The bottom of the form

• How to pay. Cash to whom, or the link or code for online payment.
• The deadline. A date about two weeks after the walk.
• Where the form goes. Who to hand it to.
• A contact. One name and one email address for questions.
• A thank-you. One line.

Tax relief declarations

Some countries let charities reclaim tax on donations if the donor signs a declaration; Gift Aid in the United Kingdom is the best known. The wording and the details you must collect are set by the tax authority and must be used exactly. Ask the charity you are raising money for to supply the correct form. Do not write your own.

Privacy

Sponsor forms carry names and sometimes addresses. Collect only what you need, keep completed forms somewhere safe, pass them only to the charity, and do not use sponsors’ details for anything else.

Three habits that raise more

• Fill in the first line before handing it round. The first amount sets the level. Ask a generous relative to go first.
• Take the money at the time. “Paid” ticked on the day of the pledge beats a promise.
• Give walkers a number of sponsors to aim for, not a sum. “Find eight sponsors” is easier to act on than “raise fifty”.

To show walkers what their pledges come to, use the sponsored walk calculator.