How to hold a successful bake sale with Shout fundraiser Katie

On the 16 of June, Katie will be climbing the 3 highest peaks in the UK in just 24 hours.

Here, she talks to us about why she's chosen to take on the challenge for Shout and how she's working towards her fundraising target, starting with a bake sale.

What made you to decide to fundraise for Shout?

I'm passionate about raising awareness of mental health, keeping the conversation going and breaking the stigmas that are associated with poor mental health.

Myself and Anya, who will be climbing with me, are colleagues in a mental health hospital. We work with people who are experiencing mental health issues and know how important talking to someone as soon as possible can be. 

You and Anya held a bake sale to raise money towards your fundraising goal. Why did you choose this as your first fundraiser?

We both enjoy baking and thought it would be a fun way to fundraise. We asked permission to hold the bake sale in the reception area of the hospital so we could catch people on their way in and out. This was kindly agreed and so we set a date.

We spent the day before individually baking all our cakes and, with the help of another friend, Poppy, we had plenty of cakes to sell.

We printed out our charity's logos and on the day, I wore the fundraising t-shirt Shout had sent me.

What are your top tips for a successful bake sale?

• Print out QR codes linked to your fundraising page for those who don't have cash on them.
• Hold your sale in a busy area. We didn't advertise the sale at all as we had lots of people pass through and colleagues also went back and told others about it after they saw us.
• Be open, prepared to talk about the charity you're fundraising for and stay positive!
  

How did yours go?

At first, we were a bit apprehensive as we hadn't told anyone, we weren't sure if people would be interested but it turns out people really like cake (especially when they're at work)!

The best part about it was having people stop and talk to us about the charities and asking questions about them and offering us advice for our hike.

We raised an incredible £250 in total which we did not expect at all. Because of its success - and demand for cake - we're organising another one soon.

Katie has since held two more bake sales and a car boot sale to get closer to reaching her fundraising goal. You can support her too, here at this link.