Hi Niki

I would tend towards publicising it but having other methods to keep momentum i.e. regular communications with donors as to how the fund is doing and what the money raised means in 'shopping list' terms for the charity i.e. 'the £2465 in the memorium fund so far has paid for one day of the air ambulance being in the air. this means we have been able to help people like.......'

doing something like this will mean that having the £5K is a nice target but not one that will mean that the fund loses momentum once it reaches that amount. with regular updates on the fund, these will be the focus and the sense of need urgency to stimulate continued input and the trees can be a nice recognition point for reachiing the £5K waypoint in that process (Maybe promote this as the '2 days funded' waypoint?)

Make sure that whenever a tree is planted, a brief story goes in your newsletter or whatever communication you have with your donors (if the family are happy with this) as well as making sure it goes out to regional press (again if the family are happy and maybe with a nice pic of them helping to plant the tree)  to try and pull in some cold donors from the local area.

The Charity press has its place as a channel to advertise in but I think its almost more important to go for your donors (a constant stream of stories will ensure that tribute funds are in their mind) and Northwest regional press.

If going for funeral collections have some envelopes printed that can be left on pews at the funeral that are printed with the fund details on the front and a credit card donation form and gift aid declaration on the back. this will give all who are there who wish to donate then means to, with cash and cheques going in the envelope and being sealed and address and/or bank details being written on the back.

If you are looking at tree selection it may be a terrible and twee idea but something of the Maple or Sycamore family that has autorotating seeds that fly like a helicopter could be a nice link to your cause.

Best of luck with the fund

Kind regards

Paul Nott
Flow Caritas