The story
About Helen & Douglas House
Helen & Douglas House is a children’s hospice based in Oxford. Founded in 1982, the charity is the world’s very first children’s hospice. The charity provides round the clock care for children with life-limiting conditions and their families based in Oxfordshire and the surrounding counties.
The hospice achieves this through respite stays, sibling support, stay and plays, and community outreach, right the way through to end of life care and bereavement support.
The need
Growing the Bubble Rush
As part of its annual fundraising efforts, Helen & Douglas House runs the Bubble Rush – a family-friendly, foamy 5k that participants can run or walk. They do this alongside an accompanying event village which has stalls, games, fairground rides, food and drink to create a real community feel.
The Bubble Rush has been a staple for the charity over the last six years and as the hospice’s only family-focused mass participation event, Helen & Douglas House was keen to continue the growth of the Bubble Rush in 2025.
That’s where they consulted with Enthuse, to see how they could use the platform to full effect.
The Bubble Rush is a great way for the charity to engage the community
The Enthuse approach
Maximising the impact of the event
For the 2025 Bubble Rush, Helen & Douglas House made the decision to open registration four months earlier than usual, offering it to participants immediately after the last event in September 2024 rather than waiting until January 2025. This helped the charity to capitalise on that post-event enjoyment and meant Helen & Douglas House already had 100 registrations prior to the date it usually launches on – a great way to boost early momentum!
The event registration page for Bubble Rush 2025 was branded in the cause’s colours with the charity’s logo, helping to ensure the charity was front and centre on sign-up. It’s on this page that participants could purchase their tickets with the prices clearly indicated, segmented by adult, child and infant. This included early bird discounts to encourage timely sign-ups.
The charity was also able to customise the page to communicate what was included in the price of the ticket (entry, t-shirt and medal). Most importantly, the charity could use the up-front section to stress the importance of fundraising. The charity made it clear that the ticket price covered the cost of the event but it was fundraising on top of that which would make a positive impact on children’s lives. They challenged each person to try and fundraise a minimum of £20 each.
Once the participant had selected their ticket, the charity was able to collect all the important information it needed. This included name, contact details, t-shirt size, wave start time as well as any medical or access requirements and marketing opt-in. The charity was also able to give participants the opportunity to create or join a team to take part and fundraise with. Lastly, registration finished with a call for donations, reminding participants of their pledge to fundraise at least £20 or to provide a £10, £20, £50 donation instead. This made it clear that fundraising was integral to taking part.
The charity was keen to ensure fundraising was central to participation
When it came to fundraising, participants had an Enthuse page automatically created for them upon sign-up. The fundraising page was already branded into the charity’s colours with its logo and those taking part were encouraged to customise the page with their story of why they wanted to help, a profile picture and a fundraising target. What’s more, participants could also thank donors under the donation on their page to show their appreciation and let future donors know their support will be appreciated.
Additionally, if a group of individuals were fundraising as a team, their fundraising page would reflect that, logging all the activity in one place. This was great for families who were taking part together but also for corporates who wanted to get involved, too. All of these fundraising efforts were collated into the collective fundraising hub for the event, so everyone could see how their funds contributed to the overall target for the charity.
Helen & Douglas House also made the decision to optimise the donation checkouts for the 2025 event. When donors went to give to a participant’s fundraising page, the charity set pre-loaded amounts of £10, £20 and £40, all of which had tangible descriptions to show how the money could be used and the impact that would have. This was a really effective way to demonstrate the support the hospice provides and why donations are needed.
Lastly, the charity made a concerted effort to up its stewardship programme in 2025, starting earlier to remind those who had signed up to fundraise three months out from event day. Regular stewardship emails to check in and motivate were also a good opportunity to provide tips on fundraising page best practice, encouraging participants to add a profile picture, update their story and even self donate to build momentum. As an extra incentive, anyone who raised £100 prior to event day received a Helen & Douglas House branded reusable water bottle which could be collected at the event.
Customising the event registration page to include a message on why we fundraise and getting participants to agree to it before purchasing their ticket helped us set expectations and hit targets.
Bex Shawsun – Community & Events Product Innovation and Development Manager, Helen & Douglas House
Results
Growing a flagship event
Helen & Douglas House wanted to grow their Bubble Rush event in 2025, encouraging more people to fundraise for their cause.
The results speak for themselves with the fundraising total growing from £47,944 in 2024 to £56,577 the following year – an uplift of 18%.
The charity also saw a 9% increase in the number of pages created – but most importantly – the average page value went up from £82.65 to £126, a brilliant 53% growth rate year on year. The average donation amount also went up by 26% to £24.54.
The Bubble Rush is a fun, memorable event that’s brilliant for engaging with the community and growing awareness. Enthuse’s branded solutions contributed to that, ensuring the charity’s brand was central to every digital touchpoint while helping the hospice to raise more.
Tailoring the checkout with pre-loaded donation amounts and tangible descriptions helped us to show the value of our work and bring that impact to life.
Bex Shawsun – Community & Events Product Innovation and Development Manager, Helen & Douglas House
