Are there particular tips for charity fundraisers and individuals who are fundraising? For us, the answer lies in the preparation. To explain this a little more, we came across a great article from CAFOD outlining their Top Ten Tips for Fundraising which we thought we'd share with you (with our own best tips included of course).

Planning an event can take up a lot of time, so start early. Sometimes even the best laid plans can do awry, so make sure you're well organised and have back up plans in place. You could ask around about good contacts for events within the sector or maybe see if you can make some great new ones. You can also start spreading the word about your event.

Think about sponsorship for your event. If you're a charity that might mean approaching local businesses and contacts or if you're an individual then it might mean setting up a Just Giving page. If it's an event which you've run before and received sponsorship for before, see if you can get that sponsorship again from the business you did before or if you can branch out to other sponsorship opportunities.

Don’t be afraid to ask for sponsorship. The worst they can say is "no". The personal approach often works best, so make sure you're persuasive but still personal. Make the prospective sponsor you're approaching feels valued and don’t just tell them what you’re doing, tell them why and how you're going to do it. Show them the bonuses they can receive for sponsoring you - two tickets to the opening anyone?

Don't forget about Gift Aid - donations with Gift Aid mean you'll receive an extra 28p from the Government for every pound you're given, and as a large supermarket chain once said - every little helps.

If you're a charity fundraiser, then no doubt you'll have avenues set in place for promoting your event, but you could always look outside the box. Think about local newspapers, Linkedin groups specific to your event, local events which you could promote your event at, fellow fundraisers and charity contacts, social media groups, online blogs, local businesses and radio. If you think about it, the possibilities really are endless.

With the internet you can promote your event in a vast amount of ways that used not to be available - so use them! Maybe you could write a blog in the run-up to your event, including photos of specific items and moments to really build up the excitement over your event. Don't forget Facebook and Twitter too - you could even get your team members to tweet in the buildup to the event and throughout the event itself, using a special hashtag (#) for the event so it can be followed easily on Twitter (for example, #CRUKRace, #BTATriathlon, #PULSEItsAKnockout). Also make sure that you add your details to the signature of any emails you send out - you want to be easily contactable.

Think about asking businesses if they have a matched giving scheme - it could make a big difference to the money you raise!

There are always more ways to boost your fundraising - you could hold mini events running up to your big event like quizzes or in house mini competitions.

Make sure you get great photos of your event - they're vital for coverage and for showing how your event went after its happened, and a great photo can be very inspiring. Think about the message you want to send out about your event, and select photos that promote that. This would also be a great time to make sure that you're using social media with attached images to promote your event as it takes place.

In the third sector there are always incredibly knowledgeable people who don't mind being asked for help - they might just come up with a great idea or the perfect solution. Remember that some fundraisers have been running fantastic events of the best part of 20 years - so why wouldn't you ask them for advice! Also think about who else does great events in the sector - it might just provide that moment of inspiration.