Could you stay silent for 30 hours – for animals?
It isn’t long until World Animal Day on October 4!
Take part in the #WorldAnimalDayChallenge during September – YOU can make a real difference for animals and the organisations that take care of them!
It has been a tough year and a half for everyone, including countless charities around the world.
Animal welfare organisations, large and small, are trying their hardest to survive the COVID-19 pandemic.
YOU CAN HELP!
We’re asking you to find creative ways to help your chosen animal welfare charity bounce back.
There are 30 days from September 4 to October 4 – base your event on the number 30! Activities could all take place on the same day or you can spread them out over the next month.
If you aren’t sure which organisation you’d like to help, consider our dedicated World Animal Day ambassadors – there are over 90 in 70+ countries, all working to improve animal welfare standards!
NEED AN IDEA?
1. Commit yourself to a sponsored silence for 30 hours! You could even decorate a sign or t-shirt explaining what you’re doing, including a link to your Just Giving or fundraising page to get more support. (See the image at the top of this page.)
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2. Spend 30 hours in a dog kennel at a local animal shelter. Alternatively, get a local personality or businessperson to take part, asking them to raise a target amount for charity before being released. This ‘lock-in’ event was held at an old animal rescue centre in Essex (UK), back in 2015. |
3. Organise a ‘knit and natter’ session with friends – create 30 dog coats or blankets for an animal shelter. (Check if they need them first!)
4. Share a combination of 30 charity websites, campaigns or petitions on your social media pages to raise awareness and increase support.
5. Do you enjoy art? Offer your skills to a rescue shelter by creating 30 quick portraits of animals who have been adopted from their centre – either the first 30 families to apply, or the highest 30 bids.
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An alternative is for animal shelters to ask their staff to create the portraits instead! The charming results of similar fundraising projects by rescue centres have previously been hugely popular on social media and have raised thousands in donations. In the UK, ‘Hercule Van Wolfwinkle’ has raised over £50k for charity with his unique works of art! |
6. Hold a ‘dance marathon’ for 30 hours! Find a good venue and make sure you have plenty of drinks and some snacks! For greater success, you could form teams – at least one member must be on the dance floor at all times. Funds could be raised through sponsorship. (The winners will be the dancers with the most stamina, not the best moves!) Read about ‘dance marathons’.
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7. Everyone loves a bake sale! Sell 30 different cake varieties at work, school or anywhere else. This would involve a lot of baking so you might need to recruit some friends! Tip: make super-easy vegan cakes by mixing a fizzy drink with a well-known packet of cake mix – cola works great in chocolate cake and cream soda is tasty in vanilla sponges! |
(The coffee and walnut cake pictured was made by World Animal Day HQ using this method.)
8. If your local laws allow it, earn cash donations by busking – try and include a few animal-related tunes in your repertoire of 30 songs!
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9. Throughout this month, volunteer to walk 30 dogs for friends, family and neighbours. Ask them to make a small donation to your favourite animal welfare charity. 10. Offer to wash cars in your neighbourhood, in return for contributions – aim for 30 cars if you can! 11. Alternatively, mow 30 lawns, or clean up 30 yards, in return for donations! |
12. Do you belong to a gym? Get everyone involved and complete a specific workout every hour, on the hour, for a specified time period (30 hours). Your ‘Workout of the Day’ could be sponsored, in aid of an animal welfare charity.
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13. Wear an animal costume for 30 hours! Children might like this one… perhaps their whole class at school could take part! (You’ll find lots of other suggestions for schools and youth groups of all ages in the ‘Get Involved’ section of our website.) 14. Ask 30 friends (including on social media) to add a promise to animals on our pledge board. |
15. With your employer’s permission, hold a mini-Olympics at work during September, with 30 fun events. List the challenges and participants’ progress on a leader board. ‘Sports’ could include a three-legged race, egg and spoon race, sack race, shooting hoops, darts etc. Employees could pay an entry fee, with a novelty prize being awarded to the overall winner.
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16. Hold a yard/garage sale or attend a car boot event with your unwanted belongings. From your earnings, donate 30% to charity (or a relevant amount, depending on your local currency). 17. Ask 30 local businesses to donate a small prize and sell or auction them online, mentioning the donors to help promote their companies. |
18. Do you work with groups, for example, in a school or retirement home? Buy blank greetings cards, with envelopes, and ask your group to decorate 30 cards to sell for an animal welfare charity. A local café or other business might be willing to display them, or you could sell them on social media.
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19. Record yourself doing 30 sit-ups, 30 press-ups, 30 squats, 30 football keepie-uppies or headers, 30 burpees and, finally, a 30-second plank in ONE go! 20. Run or walk a total of 30km (or miles) throughout September, recording your progress on Strava or a similar app. 21. Hang on to a bar for 30 seconds (or longer) live on social media! 22. Organise a live stream video gaming session for 30 hours (using a service like Twitch or YouTube). |
23. Good at singing? (Or not?) Host a karaoke session and aim for 30 songs. Charge a small fee for entry.
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24. Drive 30km (or miles) or from your home and take a picture of the first animal you see. Create your own hashtag, share the photo on social media and ask others to do the same. If you have international friends, the animals might all be very different! 25. Host a virtual pub quiz with friends and family, compiling a total of 30 animal-related questions. Charge a nominal entry fee in aid of charity, or the non-winners could make a small donation. |
26. Approach your friends and family who have specific skills and ask them to take part in a series of 30-minute tutorials online, which you would organise. It could be anything from yoga to cookery to art! Ask ‘students’ for a small fee in aid of animals.
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27. Name 30 endangered animals in a short, simple video. Post it on social media and ask your friends to do the same. You can find relevant information on the IUCN Red List website – your friends and followers might not even have heard of many of the animals at risk. 28. Pick up 30 pieces of litter a day throughout September to help save wildlife. |
29. Make a small donation to 30 different charities, share it on social media and encourage your friends and family to do the same.
30. If a donation isn’t possible, create a social media post thanking animal welfare charities and rescue centres for the amazing work they do – tag 30 organisations in your post on World Animal Day.
We’re sure you can come up with your own unique activity ideas!
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
Before you can add your fantastic event to the website, YOU WILL NEED TO REGISTER.
| When you’ve added your event to the website, watch out for an email from World Animal Day HQ – we’ll be in touch to offer you a FREE 2.x5′ logo flag and dog bandana to help promote it! | |
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With participants’ permission, please share photos or short videos of your event online with the hashtags #WorldAnimalDay and #WorldAnimalDayChallenge – it might encourage others to add their own activities!
We look forward to seeing your events being added to the World Animal Day website throughout September!
Together, we can help ensure the survival of animal welfare organisations around the world.