About Rob

A Life Full of Fundraising

Welcome!

I'm Rob Hampson. Author and publisher of Rewarding-Fundraising-Ideas.com.

I'm also an aspiring filmmaker (writer/director) from South Africa, who on my journey towards my dream has been involved in many different types of fundraising...

Fundraising for my schools, sports teams, for charities, and of course, a personal fundraising campaign to raise funds to pay for the ridiculous expenses of attending the Los Angeles Film School!

Much of that research time was spent on the internet (where I found some really amazing and profitable fundraisers), but I also took the time to speak to and gain knowledge from other experienced fundraising campaigners!

I really wished that I had had the knowledge and the ideas that I have now, back then when I was starting my personal fundraising campaign.

It would have saved me a lot of time and effort, and quite honestly would have meant a much more successful fundraising campaign!

And that's why I want to help you now, by bridging that gap and helping you not waste the time and effort that I did. Which is what gave me...

The Idea For Rewarding-Fundraising-Ideas.com:

While researching and running my personal fundraising campaign I had found it very frustrating not finding a website that gave a wide range of fundraising ideas and advice. A website that had an easy way of navigating around and finding the ideas that I wanted and needed.

What I found was that most websites either had a limited amount of ideas or only focused on specific types of fundraisers (like internet fundraisers).

A lot of the sites also didn't explain the ideas properly or didn't inform me on how to actually run those ideas.

I wanted to find a site that offered a wide range of both online and offline fundraising ideas. A site that not only gave great ideas, but that gave the advice and guidelines on how to actually run those fundraising ideas.

And then one day I came across a great e-course that taught the process of building a successful website...

It had such an excellent, simple and obvious process that made so much sense that I thought, "Hang on, I can do this!"

And so the idea for Rewarding-Fundraising-Ideas.com was born...

I had the fundraising experience, I had the fundraising knowledge, and I had loads of ideas... So why not use all that to help others with their fundraising needs... Why not build the website I had spent so much time looking for!

I am now proud to say that I have a successful website that is providing many different fundraising ideas (with many more, still to come!) to a wide audience of people!

I also welcome you to share any fundraising ideas, tips, stories or content that you may have... Click here to share your contribution!

This website is a resource for you, the fundraiser. This is a place where you can share your knowledge and where we can build a fundraising community to support and inspire each other. I invite you explore this site, contribute your ideas, and come back often to see what's new.

My Fundraising Experiences:

My first experience with fundraising was when I was at primary school. All of us at some stage help raise funds for our school, but what made this experience so great was that we were so involved in the fundraising process...

The fundraiser was a flower bulb fundraiser where the kids had to go out and sell flower bulbs to friends, family and strangers. We were part of the organizing, selling and collecting of the fundraiser and it was such a great learning event for us all... A real life skills lesson!

I then continued to be involved in fundraisers for my schools and my sports clubs, throughout my school career and beyond it. From event fundraisers like food taste evenings, to sports events, to parties.

In 2006 I travelled to the UK to start saving towards film school and worked for a company called Fabulous Developments Lmt. We helped Charities like Scope gain monthly donors by doing door to door sales signing people up to a monthly direct debits of £6.50.

We raised loads of money for those charities (and probably still are from those people who haven't cancelled their monthly direct debit donations!).

It was also an unbelievable experience that really taught me so much! I would definitely not recommend it as a career though, but for someone looking to learn people skills it's worth doing a short stint of!

And after that came...

My Personal Fundraising Campaign:

In 2008 I applied and was accepted to the Los Angeles Film School. It was a dream come true...

The one major problem though was the huge expense of attending the Film School. For the years course it cost $40,000 in fees, plus travel and living expenses which I budgeted to be another $30,000!

What I had saved up so far wasn't anywhere near to that cost and my parents would never have been able to help out (as much as they would have liked to!). So what could I do?

I thought that there's no ways I'm going to let this opportunity go to waste... I'd been accepted so I might as well do my absolute best to try raise the funds needed!

And so my personal fundraising campaign began... I got onto the internet, started researching fundraising ideas, and asked around for as much advice as possible.

Nick Williams & Myself, Aylesbury to Cornwall 2008 -
300 miles in 26 hours!

During my campaign I ran a few different successful fundraisers including a sponsored cycle of 300 miles in 26 hours, and a musical theatre evening (read my success story about this fundraiser).

I also ran a successful internet fundraiser through a website I set up which included Google ads, affiliate fundraising, and accepting online donations!

Unfortunately, even though the individual fundraisers were successful, my campaign as a whole didn't reach the unbelievably high target I needed, and I wasn't able to attend the Los Angeles Film School!

But I did take a lot away from the whole venture! The experience and knowledge I gained was immense and the contacts I made have been invaluable.

Without that fundraising campaign I wouldn't be in the position I am now... Both with my fundraising knowledge and experience, and with my Film Career! It was totally worth it!

So What Since Then?

Since then I have been involved in a few fundraisers for non-profits including a film festival evening I ran with my friend, Bruce Grobler, where we raised funds for the Edendale Children's home.

Magic, from Edendale Childrens home, and I,
talk to the audience at our Film Festival!

The film evening included 2 short mocumentaries by Bruce, a short documentary on Rural Schooling in South Africa by me, and Bruce's short narrative film called "wounded".

The films were well accepted and the evening was a real success!

Although I've been involved in these few fundraisers, the majority of my time has been taken up writing and building this website...

As well as working on my latest project in Film which is a TV series. The story was my own idea and is set in Durban. I am busy writing the script for it!

So What Else Do I Do With My Time?

Well...

One of my favourite hobbies is obviously watching films... I absolutely love movies. Watching films is never considered as procrastinating (unless I have loads of work to do on my website or script)...

It's always considered as learning, especially when watching with the director's commentary on!

I love the outdoors (I grew up on a farm), horse riding, hiking, bird watching... you name it!

I am also currently a professional polo umpire and am planning to start playing again (it's unfortunately an expensive sport to play!).

I love sports, and am an avid follower of Rugby, Cricket, Football (that's soccer, not Gridiron) and obviously polo. I have also played all of those sports.

I also really enjoy reading books (I'm a Dick Francis fan) and am fascinated by history! There's so much we can learn from it, if you just look hard enough!

And That's Me!

I currently live on my parents' farm in Eston, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. I have plans to move to Durban to help with the researching and scriptwriting of my TV series.

I hope that this website provides you with some great ideas, advice and tips... Because that's what it is meant to do!

And I wish you all the best of luck with your fundraising!

Relaxing with my brother James in the
United Kingdom back in 2007!

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