How Rubber Ducks can Help Raise Money for Charity

Whether you are looking to raise money for a school or a charity, a rubber duck race is a great way to raise some much needed funds for a worthy cause. Rubber duck races are easy to organize and are great fun for the whole family to participate in as sponsoring a duck is fairly cheap and a rubber duck race in full swing is a fabulous spectacle.

To hold a rubber duck race there are two basic requirements, a stretch of running water and a whole bunch of rubber ducks.

The best thing to do is to initially locate a stretch of water, either a river, canal or stream can be ideal for a race. Whatever you find, the stretch of water should be long enough to hold a decent length race and have enough flow so that the ducks can traverse the course easily. The last thing that you want is for your ducks to be stuck in one place, so a lake isn’t the best choice for a race! Make sure that there aren’t too many obstacles along the stretch of water that you choose else you may find the ducks get trapped and you have a lot of unhappy sponsors.

Unfortunately you can’t just turn up to any stretch of water and hold a rubber duck race. You’ll need to obtain consent from the owner of the water, or relevant agency, whether that is the local council or water board. Once a stretch of water has been identified and consent has been gained then you can move on to the next stage on planning your duck race.

In the UK a rubber duck race is considered a ‘lottery’ therefore you could fall foul of the law if you don’t get the relevant license. Depending how much you want to charge for your duck sponsorship depends on who you need to speak to. In the first instance your local council can help you out and point you in the right direction.

You may want to consider getting Public Liability insurance for your rubber duck race as you are holding an event with the public. The emergency services may also be required to help with the safety of your event. A rubber duck race is meant to be a fun event, but this can turn sour quickly if someone gets hurt or falls in the river after getting a bit too excited from following their duck too closely! Volunteers can also help marshal the event to provide extra safety and keep some order.

You should also consider the environmental impact of your race. You can’t simply let the race finish and leave the ducks in place so you’ll need to prepare a rescue plan for collecting all the ducks after the race. Fishing nets can help scoop up ducks, or perhaps you can consider asking a local kayak club to come along who can also help collect the ducks. If you’re event is for a good cause then you’ll generally find that volunteers are fairly easy to come by and are only too happy to help.

Finally you’ll need to find ducks for the race. For rubber duck racing there are two types of rubber ducks - weighted ducks, that self right in the water or non weighted ducks. The weighted ducks are probably better for racing, but they will cost more so non-weighted ducks may be the better option.