Plank Challenge - FAQs

Supporters raise money for Cancer Research UK by challenging themselves to hold a plank for 2 minutes a day across the month of April.

Once you have signed up, join the Facebook Group and click 'Join Group'. Once you're in, you can complete a form to get your free t-shirt, get tips for completing your planks, be inspired by other fundraisers, and find out anything you want to know about the challenge.     

Yes! If you don’t have Facebook, you can set up a Cancer Research UK Online Giving Page using the link below and collect sponsorship for your Plank Challenge: https://activities.cancerresearchuk.org/plank-challenge-apr-2025 

There is no entry fee for this challenge. Participants are asked to collect funds for Cancer Research UK through your Online Giving Page. This money will automatically be sent to us once paid onto your page.   

Whilst we encourage everyone to complete this challenge in April, this is a personal challenge, and you can start and finish your challenge at a time that is convenient for you. If you can’t complete your plank one day, then you can make up for it at any point of the month and continue the challenge into May.     

You can complete the challenge in any way that suits you. There are people of all levels of fitness doing this challenge. The important thing is that you're doing something that challenges you whether that’s the entire 2 minutes in one go or split up over the day. It should be tough, but doable. However, you choose to complete the challenge and raise money, you’ll be helping beat cancer.  

Don’t worry! You can make up your planks on another day or extend your challenge into the following month if needed. Complete the challenge in a way that suits you.    

The only thing that matters is that you challenge yourself and try your best to complete as much of the challenge as you can. Whether that’s completing your planks every day for the whole of April or not, the money that you fundraise through participating will allow Cancer Research UK to continue to fund life-saving research and we can’t thank you enough.     

We trust you! You don’t need to provide evidence that you’ve completed the challenge to us. Updating your friends and family, however, is important! Make sure you keep them posted on your progress and share videos, photos, and your Online Giving Page throughout April – the more updates the better. Supporters who regularly post about their progress raise, on average, 40% more.    

We recommend using our calendar here: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/sites/default/files/downloadable-resources/jlb_0149_plank_challenge_05.pdf to keep track of your progress. Tick off each day you’ve completed your planks and track the duration of each so you can see your overall total and timings. Don’t forget to post out about your progress regularly on your Online Fundraising Page to encourage donations!   

This handy article from the Guardian explains how to perform a plank safely: 

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jul/25/how-to-do-the-perfect-plank#:~:text=Hold%20yourself%20up%20on%20the,fooled%20%E2%80%93%20planks%20are%20hard%20work. 

Complete the below form to receive your free t-shirt in the post. Once completed, please allow 10-15 working days for your t-shirt to arrive: https://activities.cancerresearchuk.org/plank-challenge-apr-2025 

If you have not received your t-shirt after this time, please contact: supporter.services@cancer.org.uk.    

During registration, we offer the option to opt out of being sent a t-shirt should you not want one for the challenge. When filling out the sign-up form, simply select ‘no’ where it asks if you’d like to receive a t-shirt; you’ll still receive an Online Giving Page, be able to join the challenge group, and take part!   

To sign up to the challenge, please follow the link below: https://activities.cancerresearchuk.org/plank-challenge-apr-2025 

If you have any further questions please email supporter.services@cancer.org.uk or call 0300 1231022 (lines open 08:00 – 20:00 Monday to Friday and, 09:00 – 17:00 at weekends)   

Setting up a Giving Page is the easiest way to raise money. You can set one up here: https://activities.cancerresearchuk.org/plank-challenge-apr-2025

Unfortunately, returning t-shirts comes at a cost to Cancer Research UK, therefore, we ask that you keep hold of it for personal use (for example bed, gym, give to a friend, etc). If you would like a replacement, please purchase one using our online shop linked below: https://shop.cancerresearchuk.org/product/cancer-research-uk-t-shirt    

Sending out your t-shirt comes at a cost to Cancer Research UK so please only order one t-shirt per fundraiser to ensure as much money goes towards our life-saving research as possible. We ask for everyone requesting a t-shirt that they donate something to their fundraising page.   

Additional t-shirts can be purchased here.    

Unfortunately, medals come at a large cost to the charity so we will not be sending these out. However, we will send all participants a certificate at the end of the challenge in their completion email. You can also access downloadable digital badges to shout about your achievement on social media on the challenge fundraising hub.

Yes, under 18s can take part in this challenge, but we do not market to them and any third-party platform forum (e.g. a Facebook forum) is only available to over 18s. If under 18s are taking part, their parent/guardian must consent to the child’s participation, supervise the challenge, and accept responsibility for complying with the challenge rules. Currently we are unable to accept registrations for a child, so the child’s parent/guardian have to register on the child’s behalf. Similarly, if a child wants to raise money online and/or join a forum, the child’s parent/guardian must register for an online fundraising page and/or join the forum on the child’s behalf.    

Participants must register as individuals but can take on the challenge in a team. You can split the activity up between a group or you can all complete a plank a day across the month. To raise money together, you can set up a Team Giving Page once you’ve registered and received your individual pages. To do this follow these steps: 

To set up a team:   

1. All your team will need to sign up to the Plank in April Challenge so they each have their own Online Giving Page   

2. Once everyone has signed up, log into your account  ` 

3. Hit the 'Create new team' button and follow the instructions   

4. Once you've created your team, you can send the team page URL to friends and family so they can join too!   

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/get-involved/do-your-own-fundraising/practical-fundraising-help/set-up-a-cancer-research-uk-giving-page/cruk-giving-pages-help/fundraising-as-a-team

Using our Online Fundraising Platform is the easiest way to raise money. You will receive a Fundraising Giving Page once you’ve registered here: https://activities.cancerresearchuk.org/plank-challenge-apr-2025 

You can then share the page with your friends and family to gather sponsorship for your challenge.    

We don’t set a fundraising target for participants, but we recommend that supporters set themselves a reasonable target of raising £150 or more.  

We have plenty of fundraising tools and ideas to help you raise life-saving donations. Please see our fundraising hub with everything you need from the challenge here: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/get-involved/find-an-event/plank-challenge/fundraising-materials  

You can use our downloadable sponsorship form to raise money rather than using an Online Giving Page. Simply download the form, print it off and keep track of all your collected or pledged sponsorships. Once you have completed your fundraising, please send the form with a cheque to:     

Plank Challenge in April, Cancer Research UK, PO BOX 1561, Oxford, OX4 9GZ.    

This challenge is a fundraising initiative specifically developed by Cancer Research UK, and therefore all fundraising must go solely to the charity.     

Gift Aid is a tax relief allowing UK charities to reclaim an extra 25% on every eligible donation made by a UK taxpayer. This means Cancer Research UK can claim an extra 25p for every £1 donated, without it costing you or your sponsors an extra penny. If the donation is eligible for Gift Aid, sponsors need to fill out the sponsor form, following the guidelines at the top of the page.    

We promote our Online Fundraising Platform, but supporters can always create a Facebook Fundraiser instead of, or in addition. If they wish to do this, we advise that they set up an Online Fundraising Giving Page first and then connect to Facebook on their Giving Page.    

Facebook Fundraisers are automatically set up to only stay open for ten days. To make the most of your fundraising efforts, you need to change the end date to keep your fundraiser open throughout and after the challenge. To change the end date simply, click ‘More’ under the invite button, then click ‘Edit Fundraiser’. We recommend setting this date to at least a month after your challenge has ended so you can continue to collect vital donations for your efforts!   

Unfortunately, once your Facebook Fundraiser has finished you cannot reopen the same fundraising page. However, you can create a new one and set the end date for past your challenge, so that you can continue receiving donations once you’ve finished your challenge: http://www.facebook.com/fund/cancerresearchuk/    
   

To see your past fundraisers, go to the Facebook home page on a desktop and look underneath your name on the left-hand side - click fundraisers > your activity > scroll down the page until you reach "your past fundraisers"   

Donating on Facebook is safe and secure and there is no fee taken from Facebook to set up a Facebook Fundraiser. If you have any suspicious charges, we recommend speaking directly to your bank. If you have any questions about your Facebook Fundraiser please contact Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/help