Fundraising means to collect money for a specific reason or cause. Fundraisers collect money for many different causes. Some of those might be caring for people with a condition, providing food for the homeless, raising money to build a new school somewhere in the world, or raising money to fund more medicine for people that need it.
Fundraising is a wonderfully charitable thing to do and there are many ways to fundraise. Some people organise events such as walks, dinners or dances. Others will do energetic things like running a long distance, cycling, or climbing mountains. Then you have people who do crazy fundraising challenges to raise money such as cycling around the world, swimming the English Channel, or running through the desert. There are many ways to fundraise, which is the beauty of it! People can do what suits them and what they enjoy doing to raise money for the cause they support.
Fundraising is important for all Huntington's Disease Associations (HDAs). Many HDAs don't have a lot of money or resources, so they often rely on kind people to raise money for the charity by holding or taking part in a fundraising event. Without people fundraising for HDAs, they would be unable to provide most of the support they currently offer to families affected by Huntington's disease.
In fact, HDYO was created by people fundraising! When HDYO was being set up, it required funding to pay for things like the website and all the nice illustrations and videos you see around the site. In order to get this money HDYO asked for grants from other organisations and we received donations from people who supported the idea of HDYO. But we also had young people fundraising for HDYO and we got out there and fundraised ourselves too.
There are many benefits to fundraising for both the organisation and the person fundraising. For the organisation it is vital extra funding to keep on allowing them to provide the support they do. In particular with regards to Huntington's disease, it allows HDAs to maintain and improve the support they offer to families affected by the condition, and it also allows them to give money towards Huntington's disease research - which helps hurry up the search for a cure.
But perhaps most importantly fundraising has a wonderful effect of the individuals taking part. Because for them, it brings more confidence to face Huntington's disease and you will feel proud of yourself for achieving something, knowing that you have helped that cause. It also gets other people involved in your cause and allows them to do something to help you, and it's a fun way to create more awareness about Huntington's disease - which allows you to be more open about the disease in a positive way with friends and family.
Fundraising is a win-win for all involved and HDYO would urge you, if you can, to fundraise for your local HDA.