Walk Your Socks Off runs from 3 May 2021 to 31 May 2021. At point of sign up you will select the week in May that you want to complete the challenge within or if you aren’t sure yet you can select “I'm choosing my own dates in May”.

This year, when you fundraise a life-changing £100 per person you will receive a Super Stepper tote bag as well as your socks.

No, it’s free to sign up but we challenge you to set a minimum fundraising target of £50. Walk Your Socks Off is really fun, so getting sponsorship should be a walk in the park!

We would love you to raise as much as possible but we understand that this isn’t always possible, therefore everyone, who raises £50 or over for adults and £25 for children aged 16 and under, will receive a pair of snazzy designer socks. 

We ask that all participants who sign up for this event are aged 16 or over, however children can take part in a group as long as an adult signs up and takes responsibility.

Yes you can, there is Walk Your Socks Off for groups! Take on your step challenge within the government restrictions safely with colleagues, classmates, your youth group or friends, or together as a family. Complete the steps individually over a week, a weekend or collectively complete the steps in a day, the choice is yours!

To calculate your group fundraising total just multiply £50 (£25 for children under 16) by the number of those in your group and get working together to hit your fundraising target. For example: if there are 5 adults in your group work out £50 x 5 = £250 group total. If there are 3 children and 2 adults work out £50 x 2 = £100 and £25 x 3 = £75, so the group total would be £175. If you achieve your total group target, we will reward everyone with an exclusive pair of Guide Dogs socks, child’s and adults’ sizes available, just select on sign up.

What happens after I sign up?

We’ll send you a welcome email once you’ve signed up with more details on your challenge. You’ll receive your digital welcome pack in March as well as emails from us leading up to and throughout your challenge. These emails will be packed with ideas on how to complete your steps, tips on fundraising and inspirational messages from people who have benefitted from our Guide Dogs’ services.  
 
You can also join our dedicated Facebook group to be part of a community who are taking on the Walk Your Socks Off challenge!

Walk Your Socks Off is a virtual challenge and we also want to be more eco- friendly. So, this year, when you sign up, you will receive a link to the download resources stuffed full of great tips and ideas. You will also receive emails from us throughout your journey to support you and keep that motivation going! Don’t forget to check your junk or spam folder as you wouldn’t want to miss out on key information! If you have any problems please get in touch with our friendly team on walkyoursocksoff@guidedogs.org.uk.

This year we are pleased to announce Guide Dogs have collaborated with the iconic British Designer Julien Macdonald to design exclusive socks for Walk Your Socks Off.

“I was delighted to design this year’s socks for Guide Dogs’ Walk Your Socks Off 90th anniversary campaign. It’s a great event for an incredible charity that provides life-changing services to help people with sight loss.” – Julien Macdonald 

Please note, always follow the washing guidelines, wash at a low temperature and we recommend not to tumble dry them.

Our amazing socks are the key feature of this challenge, but if you go the extra mile and fundraise £100 each or more we will reward you with a limited edition Super Stepper tote bag! For other Guide Dogs merchandise you can visit our Guide Dogs Shop.

Walk Your Socks Off is a challenge to raise vital funds for Guide Dogs’ life-changing services, so we are very grateful for any sponsorship you can generate. Please visit our fundraising tips and ideas page. 

As long as you’ve raised £50 or more for adults or £25 for children aged 16 and under by 11 June 2021, you’ll receive your pair of designer Guide Dogs socks in return for your amazing efforts. For those taking part in a group you will need to raise £50 (or £25 for children) multiplied by the amount of people within your group in order to all receive your socks. For example: if there are 5 adults in your group work out £50 x 5 = £250 group total. If there are 3 children and 2 adults work out £50 x 2 = £100 and £25 x 3 = £75, so the group total would be £175. If you’re in a group you’ll be asked at point of sign up how many kids/adult socks you will need.

We rely on your donations to continue our life-changing work. Every pound raised makes a huge difference to children and adults in the UK living with sight loss. The money you raise will help us provide life-changing services for thousands of people with a vision impairment. From covering the costs of our working guide dogs, including food, vets’ bills and ongoing training, to empowering young people with sight loss by teaching them independent living skills. We couldn’t do this vital work without our amazing supporters like you.

How your funds change lives:

• £50.00 could pay for fun, tactile activities to help children co-ordinate their muscles and movements.
• £96 could pay for an eye test each for two guide dogs in training.
• £116 could buy a Training School Kit for one of our guide dog trainers who will teach pups the specialist skills they need as fully qualified guide dogs.
• £710 could buy a Birthing Kit containing all the essential equipment for a guide dog mum to safely deliver her puppies.

JustGiving is an online fundraising platform to help you manage your sponsorship. Once you’ve signed up for Walk Your Socks Off you’ll be prompted to create a fundraising page by logging into your existing JustGiving account or creating an account if you’re a new user.

It really is the easiest way for you to manage your sponsorship, submit your donations online and for us to see when you’ve hit your target and send those socks out pronto! It’s also so easy to share on social channels to get extra sponsorship from friends and family.

Once you’ve created a JustGiving page you can customise it with your personal story, photos, details of your fundraising goal and progress. Customising your page brings in lots more donations and will get you your socks even faster! For help with customising your page, visit the JustGiving help centre.

The quickest and easiest way to collect sponsorship is through donations directly to your JustGiving page. However, you can also accept offline donations for your challenge too.

With JustGiving your donations are transferred to Guide Dogs automatically, so you do not need to do anything!
 
If you’ve raised sponsorship money offline fill in the sponsorship form, write out a cheque payable to Guide Dogs and remember to put your name and address on the back of the cheque (and the name of the person who registered the group- so we can link your socks back to you) with the code I21001007 so that we can bank your money correctly, and post it to:

Walk Your Socks Off 
Income Processing
Guide Dogs for the Blind 
Hillfields
Burghfield Common 
Reading
Berkshire
RG7 3YG

Other ways to pay in your hard-earned fundraising are: 

Pay in by Phone

Pay your money via credit or debit card directly by calling 0345 143 0200. Don't forget to quote I21001007.

Bank

Please take your cash or cheque to a branch of Barclays bank and quote our Barclay's banking details: Sort code 20-65-82 Account 43870731 and use the reference I21001007. If you are asked to provide a paying in slip, please contact walkyoursocksoff@guidedogs.org.uk 

If you can no longer complete your challenge, there’s no need to let us know. We hope you’d consider taking part in Walk Your Socks Off or another event for Guide Dogs in the future.