Springtime Smallies Challenge FAQs

Springtime Smallies is a fundraising event for the TikTokers, Tweeters, and Instagram posters among us who want to help Blue Cross change the lives of pets and people in need.

Take to your favourite social media sites and share your small story – have you had a small animal who’s just too cute not to share? Share your experiences, share Blue Cross small animal guidelines and encourage your friends and community to make donations to your Tiltify fundraising page.

When is Springtime Smallies running from and to?

Registration opens on 1 March 2026 and the event officially begins on 1 April 2026 and will run until 30 April 2026.

Why do we need to fundraise?

Because small animals such as rabbits, hamsters and guinea pigs are frequently thought of as an easy or ‘starter’ pet, and we want to let everyone know that there are no starter pets! Together, we can show all pets deserve to be understood and live in happy and healthy homes. The money you raise will go towards helping them and all other pets that need our care, whether it’s at our rehoming centres, animal hospitals or even our network of pet food banks.

Do participants need lots of followers?

There's no minimum follower count required to take part, just a love for small animals and a readiness to share your Tiltify fundraising page!  

Does it cost anything to take part?

No, the challenge is completely free to enter.

What can I do during this event?

We encourage you to get creative online and share your small story! If you stream, you could set up an overnight ‘hamster cam’ to record your little pal’s nocturnal activities. You could post videos or photos of your pets from the past, sharing fond memories of them. You know your own creative vibe and your audience best, so think what they would want to see and use this as a way to gain donations for the charity.

Are there rewards available for taking part?  

Absolutely! There are amazing physical prizes you can unlock as you fundraise. As you hit each milestone, you’ll rise from a bronze, silver, gold, and finally platinum reward! Each milestone is associated with how many of each species we admitted into our care in 2025.

• Gerbil level: at £84 you’ll unlock our bronze level pin badge
• Rat level: at £198 you’ll unlock our silver level pin badge
• Hamster level: at £227 you’ll unlock our gold level pin badge
• Rabbit level: at £292 you’ll unlock both our gold pin badge and a custom Blue Cross prize!

In previous events I had to complete a certain number of hours, what’s the goal with Springtime Smallies?  

There’s no time target for this event, only the goal of trying to raise £1 for every small animal Blue Cross admitted in 2025!

Is Springtime Smallies suitable for under 18s?

You can still take part in the event but we do ask that you get parental permission before doing so. This way they can support you throughout your challenge and make sure that you look after yourself during your challenge. If any parents would like to know more about the event they can contact [email protected]. Why not try sharing your small stories with classmates at school and encourage fundraising at your school fairs!

As this event involves being active on social media, we ask for parental discretion, and we do not encourage young children to post photos of themselves on the internet without explicit parental permission.

What is Tiltify?

Tiltify is a fundraising platform similar to sites such as JustGiving or Enthuse. It allows users to collect donations over the internet safely and securely with the money being raised sent directly to Blue Cross. Donations can be sent via card details, Paypal, Apple Pay and Google Pay. It’s our chosen website for this event as it has lots of specialist features which make it a great tool for anyone who is live streaming to raise money for charity. It also has polls, milestones and auction houses!

Can I use another fundraising platform such as JustGiving or Facebook?

We recommend using Tiltify for Springtime Smallies however if you prefer you may use other platforms. The only downside to this is you will not be automatically eligible to receive the fundraising rewards, so if using one of these methods you must contact [email protected] and provide them with a link to your fundraiser along with your postal address so you can be found on our system and added to the reports which are sent to our fulfilment team before they process and post rewards.

Do I need to get sponsored to take part?

The event is free to take part in and even without fundraising you can help to raise awareness about Blue Cross and the work we do.

Of course, if you can fundraise, every donation no matter how small is greatly appreciated as we couldn’t help pets in need without donations and support from people like you. If you can’t get sponsored but still want to help, you can always donate to your own fundraising page to make a difference, and you might even unlock some of our rewards as a little thank you for your kindness.

How do I get sponsored for taking part?

When you sign up on Tiltify, you’ll create a fundraising campaign that will let you easily collect sponsorship that is then sent directly to Blue Cross to help support our work with pets in need.

To help you get donations, we’ve put together a fundraising guide full of inspiration to get you started. While a lot of this guide covers live streaming, a lot of this advice works for all content creation and social media sharing!

Our top tips though are to share your fundraising page with friends, family and followers as much as possible, taking the time to let them know how donations will make a difference and what it would mean to you and the charity. Don’t be afraid to send a short message with a link out in a message or WhatsApp group!

We also recommend taking the time to use some of Tiltify’s extra features like polls and rewards to make your fundraiser interactive. Some of the ideas that we’ve seen work well are often the simple ones too, eating a sour sweet or food you don’t like when someone donates a certain amount or naming a character after everyone who donates. You can get as creative as you want and share your ideas with team mates in our Discord.

How do I register for Springtime Smallies?

Registration for the event will open on 1 March 2026! To make sure you’re the first to hear all about it, join our Discord today.

Got any other questions?

You can either join us on Discord or you can email [email protected] band we’ll be more than happy to help out.