Swim Challenge - FAQs

It’s simple! Dive in and tailor your challenge to your ability. Choose your distance from 2.5km, 5km or 10km, or pick another distance that suits you. Decide whether you’ll take to the open water or stick to your local swimming pool, or you could do a combination of the two. Set yourself a daily distance, spread your challenge throughout the month, or see if you can do the whole distance in one go. Freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly or doggy paddle – it’s up to you! 

Our Swim Challenge in August is FREE to get involved in and we’ll send you a FREE insulated water bottle and printed swim tracker when you have registered, set up your Facebook Fundraiser for Brain Tumour Research and received your first donation.

• To set up your Facebook Fundraiser click here: https://givepanel.me/fb/6ENbrWAd
• Then complete this short form to register so we know where to send your FREE insulated water bottle and printed swim tracker https://givp.nl/erf/BP56N2q4 These will be sent within 10 working days after you have received your first donation on your Facebook Fundraising page

Now join our friendly Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/5284552918302198 for further help on how to get started and lots of support throughout your challenge.

Important:

If you register under a name that is different to your name on Facebook, please include both in the sign up form where indicated, otherwise you will not receive your free gift in the post. 

To set up your Facebook Fundraiser for Brain Tumour Research, please click here. It’s very simple and will only take a few seconds. 

Once you have successfully registered, set up your Facebook Fundraiser and got your first donation, you will be eligible to receive your FREE Brain Tumour Research insulated water bottle (retails at £15).

Receiving your first donation will automatically trigger us posting your water bottle out to you, along with your printed swim tracker so you can track your progress throughout the month.

Remember, if you register under a name that is different to your name on Facebook, please include BOTH in the sign up form where indicated. Failure to do this will mean we won’t be able to match your Facebook Fundraiser to a registration for so you will not receive your free water bottle and printed swim tracker. 

Once you have registered and set up your Facebook Fundraiser for Brain Tumour Research, you now need to get to work on getting your first donation to trigger your FREE gift being sent out to you.

You could get your Facebook Fundraiser started by donating yourself or ask a friend, family member or colleague to donate to your page too. Another way to kickstart your fundraising is to ‘invite’ people to your Facebook Fundraiser on your Facebook page and other social channels. Watch our short video here to find out how

You can always find your Facebook Fundraiser here: https://www.facebook.com/fundraisers/manage

Please allow 10 working days after getting your first donation for our volunteers to ship your water bottle and printed swim tracker to you. Please be patient as we are a small team and we’re doing the best we can. We appreciate your support as you continue to raise vital funds to help us get closer to finding a cure for this devastating disease.

Once you have set up your Facebook Fundraiser, completed the sign up form and received your first donation, a FREE insulated water bottle and printed swim tracker will be sent out to you.

Please allow 10 working days for this to arrive with you. This will account for any potential delays in the postal system.

Whilst you are waiting for your free gift to arrive, you can still get started with your challenge and raise vital funds to help us get closer finding a cure for this devastating disease. You can also access our digital fundraising pack which includes lots of useful tools and a printable swim tracker too! Download your fundraising pack here.

If you can’t find your Facebook Fundraiser on your Facebook profile page, please visit https://www.facebook.com/fundraisers/manage

Once you have set up your Facebook Fundraiser, please check to ensure it has been set up correctly. If required, you can edit the title of your fundraiser and your end date. To do this, click ‘edit’.

You will see the option “What’s the title of your fundraiser?” Please edit that (if not done already) to “Swim Challenge in August”.

You will also see the option “When should your fundraiser end?” Please ensure your fundraiser is set up to end on 7^th September 2022 or it will close automatically two weeks from the date you set it up. Once a fundraiser is closed, it cannot be reopened.

The video below also shows you how to edit your fundraiser:

If you have set up a Facebook Fundraiser for a different charity, don’t worry! Please end that fundraiser and set up a new one for Brain Tumour Research here: https://givepanel.me/fb/6ENbrWAd  

Remember to include “Swim Challenge in August” in your title and edit your end date to be the 7^th September 2022  if not done already.

Once you have set up your Facebook Fundraiser for Brain Tumour Research, completed the sign up form and received your first donation on your Facebook Fundraiser page, your FREE insulated water bottle and printed mile tracker will be sent to you.

Important, please read in full: If you have already received donations on your Facebook Fundraiser for a different charity, please contact them and for the money to be sent to Brain Tumour Research. Please ensure the charity references your name and states that the funds were raised for the “Swim Challenge in August” when they send the money, so we can attribute these funds to you and add to your overall fundraising total. Please send them  this link for how to pay us.

The other charity will receive those funds after you’ve closed the Facebook Fundraiser. They are the only ones who can send it to us on your behalf.

Facebook Fundraisers close automatically two weeks after the date you set them up, unless you extend the end date. Once a Facebook Fundraiser has ended, it cannot be restarted, but don’t worry.

If your Facebook Fundraiser has ended, please just set up a new one for Brain Tumour Research  here Remember to include “Swim Challenge in August” in your title and edit your end date to be 7^th September 2022, if not already.

If you have experienced the above, don’t worry, we will still be able to attribute the funds from both of your Facebook Fundraisers internally to give you a combined total for your challenge. Please email us at SwimChallenge@braintumourresearch.org and we can ensure this is done for you. 

Sometimes Facebook will charge £0.73 when you make a donation to validate if the Facebook account making the payment is real. However, the £0.73 should go back into your account quite quickly after. If not, please contact Facebook to assist.

Here are some top tips to help you get your first donation and trigger your FREE insulated water bottle and printed swim tracker:

• Donate to your own Facebook Fundraiser to get it off the mark (Facebook recommends this too!) as this will encourage others to donate too and help you achieve your goal

• Share your Facebook Fundraiser on all of your social platforms with your colleagues, friends and family, letting them know why you are taking on the challenge and explaining that they can support you and donate in just a few clicks - £4 is the minimum donation on a Facebook Fundraiser and anything they can give will make a difference
• Invite people to your Facebook Fundraiser using the “invite” button at the top of your fundraising page

You can find your Facebook Fundraiser anytime by clicking here:  http://www.facebook.com/fundraisers/manage.

For more top fundraising tips, head to our friendly Facebook Group here.

It’s a proven fact that the more you share your Facebook Fundraiser across your own social platforms, the more successful you will be with your fundraising.

• At the top of your Facebook Fundraiser, you will see a button which says “share”, click on that and follow the steps to post it to your own Facebook page and/or copy and paste the link (URL) to share it via email, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp or any other social platforms to ask for donations from specific friends, family or colleagues
• If you have a personal connection to brain tumours which you don’t mind sharing, tell your story on your social media channels and on your Facebook Fundraiser as you ask for donations - when your friends and family see how much raising vital funds for this cause means to you, they will be more inspired to support you and donate
• As you start your Swim Challenge in August remember to post about it on your own social media with photos of you taking part/km you’ve completed so far and include the link to your Facebook Fundraiser asking people to donate - people will be inspired to support you when they see how amazing you’re doing
• Post photos of your printed swim tracker with daily or weekly milestones achieved - you could even encourage people to join you explaining that there are so many easy ways they too can get involved in the challenge.
• Don’t forget to share a photo of you in your FREE insulated water bottle and let people know why you are supporting Brain Tumour Research

If you can no longer join us for the Swim Challenge in August, don’t worry. If you’ve already registered you don’t need to do anything, nothing will happen.

If you have already opened a Facebook Fundraiser you can choose to keep it open and continue to collect donations to help fund the fight against brain tumours or close it if you would prefer. 

If you own a fitness watch you can set your exercise activity to “swimming” which will then track your kilometres for you. Screenshots of your distances can be uploaded to your Facebook Fundraiser and shared with your friends and family on your personal Facebook page to help boost your fundraiser and encourage donations. You can also handwrite them on your printed mile tracker which we will send out to you once you get your first donation.

Alternatively, if you don’t own a fitness watch and are choosing to swim in a pool, you can calculate the distance of the pool length and convert to kilometres.

To interact with your fellow challengers, join our friendly Facebook group here:   https://www.facebook.com/groups/5284552918302198

The reason we ask you to raise £274 or more to receive a medal is because it represents 10% of the cost of a day’s research at one of our Brain Tumour Research Centres of Excellence, which is an amazing achievement.

As a charity, we have to be careful where we invest our supporters’ money so we can maximise funds for the vital research that is so desperately needed. In this instance, we are giving away a water bottle, which retails at £15, and a printed mile tracker. Both of these free gifts have a variety of costs associated, and so it is not possible to give away a medal as well at this time. We really appreciate all of the effort our supporters are putting in right now, particularly in the current climate. It’s a difficult time for everyone – including charities – and we do really appreciate any donations we receive, whatever their value.

There are people taking part in this challenge who have already raised £274 on their Facebook Fundraiser so it can be achieved and many have even gone on to exceed their target too! In September we will begin sending out the FREE special medals in batches to those who have achieved £274 on their Facebook Fundraiser and signed up correctly.

Well done on achieving £274 or more! This represents 10% of the cost of a day’s research at one of our Brain Tumour Research Centres of Excellence and is a huge achievement. We are so grateful for your hard work and determination in raising those vital funds.

Medals are being sent out throughout September and to receive yours, you do not need to do anything or contact anyone. Once you reach the £274 target, this will trigger a medal being sent to you automatically. 

Firstly, we want to let you know how much we appreciate all the effort our supporters are undertaking right now, particularly in the current climate. It’s a difficult time for everyone and we do really appreciate any donations that we receive, whatever their value.

We understand the desire to purchase a medal. However, the reason this currently isn’t possible is due to our policy of recognising those who go on to raise £274, which represents 10% of the cost of a day’s research at one of our Brain Tumour Research Centres of Excellence. For those who go on to raise £2,740 to sponsor a full day of research at one of our Research Centres, they have the opportunity to place a tile on our Wall of Hope. In addition, we find many of our supporters enjoy having a donation target and a reward for meeting this goal.

We understand some of you may be disappointed by this, however, we hope that the FREE insulated water bottle and printed swim tracker you can receive will also be a great reminder of your amazing achievement along with the difference you’ve made to the cause.

We hope you understand. Thank you once again and best of luck with the challenge!

If you raise £274 or more, which represents 10% of the cost of a day’s research, our team will send you a FREE special medal in September. If you don’t want to receive a medal, please email us at SwimChallenge@braintumourresearch.org and our team will be able to update your preferences. 

Yes, you do! If you raise £2,740 or more you can sponsor a day of research at one of our Brain Tumour Research Centres of Excellence.

You will be contacted about the creation of a unique tile, including a special message, to be placed on our Wall of Hope at the Research Centre of your choice.

You can find out more here in the meantime: www.braintumourresearch.org/fundraise/sponsor-a-day

We understand that not everyone has a Facebook account or there will be those that wish to donate in cash and that’s no problem! There are a few different options to collect donations from those people.

In your digital fundraising pack, which you can download here you’ll find an offline donations form (sponsorship form). This is a great tool to carry with you to collect on the spot donations.

Any offline donations will be added to your overall fundraising total at the end of your challenge and count towards reaching that £274 target to get your FREE special medal.

You can pay in offline donations routinely or altogether using the link here:  www.braintumourresearch.org/appeals/swim-challenge-paying-in-your-money  

Please quote your name and “Swim Challenge in August” as a reference so we can add these funds to your total.

Alternatively, for those who are happy to donate via card, but do not have a Facebook account, you can set up a JustGiving page here: www.justgiving.com/campaign/SwimChallengeinAugust2022  This link can also be shared via WhatsApp, text message and email. 

No, Facebook only shows donations collected on their platform on your Facebook Fundraiser. But don’t panic! The funds you have raised outside of Facebook will be attributed to you and your personal fundraising total.

To do this, when donating via the paying in page here we require you and your donors to reference your name and “Swim Challenge in August” in the comments box so our finance team can allocate them correctly.

If this is done, we will be able to attribute your offline donations along with your Facebook Fundraiser to give you a combined final total at the end of your challenge. Don’t forget – if you raise £274 or more (both via Facebook and offline) you will receive a FREE special medal in September.

You can pay in any offline donations that you have received for your Swim Challenge in August here.

Please ensure that you quote your full name in all correspondence so we can identify your donation and attribute it to you and your fundraising total.

If you have any cheques to pay in, please send these to us along with your full contact details (full name and salutation, address and postcode, a contact phone number and email address) so we can send out a thank you email or letter.

Please make cheques payable to:

Brain Tumour Research

Suite 37, Shenley Pavilions

Chalkdell Drive

Shenley Wood

Milton Keynes

MK5 6LB