What does my Sporting Challenge Fundraising target mean for H&H?

Hospitality & Hope needs to raise over £1 million each year through voluntary giving; to enable us to continue our fight to eliminate food insecurity and deliver our food education services for the most vulnerable people in our community.

2026 will be the first year we are delivering a series of Sporting Challenge Events, as an integral part of our core income, events like the Great North Run / Arla Great North Swim, Sunderland 10k/half marathon, and the Northumberland Big Hike. These events are new to us in 2025 and will become a vital part of our fundraising calendar, so we encourage all our runners to try hard to hit the targets they have been set. In previous years we have only been able to secure one or two individuals to participate in these events for H&H; help us achieve our 2026 target of 90 participants!

Each GNR place costs us around £130. This is why we ask you to raise a minimum of £350, so that not only is the true cost of your place covered, but that additional money is raised to support our beneficiaries and allow us to do our life changing work in South Tyneside, combatting food insecurity and delivering life changing educational and fun food activities.  Other events, we look at the entry fee, and associated costs, and ensure the sponsorship amount we set, allows us to achieve a worthy amount of income.

What if I don’t raise the minimum sponsorship of £350?

Throughout your journey our Fundraising Team will make regular contact to support you in your fundraising efforts. We do monitor the fundraising platform we set up for you and will communicate regularly regarding your individual fundraising activities. We help by sharing them to our audiences across social media, website, newsletters and in our PR and Media stories. We also keep in touch, offering advice, ideas and our extensive experience in all things fundraising including easy fundraising ideas, wins, and activities as well as downloadable digital assets (available on this site) on our website to help promote your fundraising story.

It’s so incredibly important you don’t give up, and you continue fundraising as much as you are able as H&H doesn’t make a single penny for our beneficiaries until you reach £130 in fundraising.

If you find yourself struggling at any point, don’t hesitate to reach out and contact us, and we’ll be here to support you in that journey. You’re never alone. It’s amazing how quickly lots of small activities can add up. We have lots of readymade fundraising mechanics to help you. See our fundraising activities on the “get involved” area of our website. Our team are on hand to support you with advice and ideas.

What about Gift Aid and Match Funding?

And don’t forget that 25% gift aid is added by the government for donations given by working people, this is known as charitable tax relief, on each donation, and costs them nothing. Its automatically added when they tick the box to say they are employed.

Why not approach your company to see if they offer Match Funding for Fundraising activities. Many do, but you need to apply for it 3 months in advance. For further reading see our Match Fund page on our website

If you are unsure about anything to do with your fundraising, or you have any other questions, please give us a call. We’re only too happy to talk to you!

Email fundraising@hospitalityandhope.org.uk or call us on 0191 420 3336 and ask for the Fundraising Team.

Deferring spaces & cancellation: What happens if I decide I no longer want to take part or I’ve had an accident and I’m not physically able?

If you are reconsidering taking part, after booking your place, please just give us a call so we can talk through your options. We do not have the ability to cancel places once the deadline set by The Great North Run has passed. We will advise you of this date, way in advance, once released to us by The Great North Run.

Once we give you your place, it is your responsibility to redeem your token through the Great Run Company and we also reserve the rights to cancel any tokens that haven’t been redeemed two weeks before the deadline set by Great Run, so that they can be reallocated to those on our waiting list reducing the risk of any financial loss to H&H.  For all other events, we manage this process for you, so there’s nothing for you to do except add your story to the fundraising platform that we create for you.

If you do decide you cannot take part at all, we’d strongly encourage you to defer your place to The Great Run events until the next year. Any unused places cost us money, both in terms of your registration fee, event costs and lost fundraising.  We do understand that things happen, so please just give us a call as soon as possible.

How do I defer my space? If you wish to defer after the Great North Run deadline has passed, you will need to do this yourself online, via Great North Run. Search ‘Great North Run withdrawal’ online to find and complete the form. If you choose this option, please be aware you will need to pay the full registration fee to take part in next year’s event and will not receive a refund for this year’s event.

Can I give my place to a friend/relative? Places are non-transferrable for the Great North Run, both before and after the deadline; this is due to health and safety reasons and is a condition put in place by the Great North Run itself.  Please do speak to us, and we can advise a way forward. For other events it may be possible, depending on how far in advance you contact us.

Can I get a refund? All event registration fees to us are non-refundable. If you still have questions, we are only too happy to help. Please just give us a call on 0191 420 3336 or email fundraising@hospitalityandhope.org.uk