My initial target was to raise €1,000 for Temple Street Children’s Hospital, Dublin in 3 months along with 99 other students across Ireland as part of the 100minds programme. In just 3 months I achieved huge results and a surpassed the €1,000 target to further benefit the chosen 100minds cause, Temple Street Children’s Hospital. I held 2 events in my hometown in Tipperary - both were a great success. Firstly, on Christmas morning I organised a dive into the Shannon (brave or what!?). From this event I managed to raise almost €600 in less than 1 hour. I couldn't believe the generosity of people in my hometown this Christmas, 2014. This was all in aid of the children’s hospital in Dublin, Temple Street, as part of 100minds initiative in which 100 students across Ireland were selected to each raise €1,000 for this worthy cause. The following day I organised a ‘Fat Turkey’ walk running from our GAA clubhouse to our local pub, Hannigans. This alone rose just over €550 and it didn’t stop there as through word-of-mouth and the help of digital communications I was able to reach out to more people and raise even more funds to a grand total of €1,506!

For anyone embarking on a fundraising initiative I would recommend a number of things:

Good friends, family and neighbours!!!!! They will help you in many ways from bashing out ideas to helping with the organising of events. There is more work involved than you may initially think and it’s nice to have support.

An idea that is a little different from the norm – people will prefer to donate to a well-thought out idea. In my case a total of 35 brave people actually made the leap although many people came along Christmas morning to support with donations and witness the craic!

Be passionate about whom you are fundraising for – young children who are sick definitely meets this criteria. This project will impact over 130,000 sick children positively as this money is going towards life-saving equipment, family support and allowing the environment to be a child friendly place that doesn't seem daunting.

Enjoy the experience and learn from your mistakes – I certainly did and would recommend any 3rd level students interested in this idea to put themselves forward next year and take part in raising awareness and funding for a worthy cause under the 100minds initiative. It pushes you to think on your own feet and really go for something you value. You also gain a great insight into what event management requires and can understand why it’s often referred to as a stressful career.

All in all, I had a great experience both from working with the 100minds team and also when I was organising the events. The Christmas morning dive was so successful that people have asked me to run this event again next year and possibly split the donations between 2 charities. I also learned a lot and if I were to run a similar event next year I would dive in straight away (excuse the pun). I would start advertising to a larger crowd sooner - the event caused great attraction and talk in the area so why not! There are many great free marketing tools online that would really enhance awareness and therefore donations!