Help Lisa Create Change with Influential Stars

My name is Lisa Connell, and I have been living with an inoperable meningioma brain tumour since 2006.

From the beginning, I wanted to turn my experience into something positive by raising awareness of brain tumours and supporting organisations funding vital research and helping those affected.

In 2010, I launched Rent A Date For Charity, which gained worldwide attention and raised more than £50,000 for brain tumour causes. My health later forced me to pause, but my determination to help others never disappeared.

That determination eventually became Influential Stars.

Influential Stars is a purpose-led fundraising platform that brings creators, supporters and causes together through meaningful campaigns. These include meet-and-greet campaigns, where a winner has the opportunity to meet a UK creator or personality; Exclusive Experience campaigns, where a winner and their guest enjoy a special experience without a creator meet-and-greet; and sponsored events, through which participants raise funds and awareness directly for their chosen cause.

We support UK-registered charities, verified personal crowdfunding pages and eligible community causes, including people and families facing serious illnesses, life-limiting conditions and other life-changing circumstances.

Influential Stars operates fundraising campaigns; we are not a charity and do not conduct lotteries or raffles. Every entry-based campaign includes a free postal entry route, meaning no purchase is required.

Depending on the choices made by the creator and the person who introduced them:

• A minimum of 70% of net campaign profits is donated to the chosen cause.
• This increases to 80% when the creator pays their thank you forward.
• It can reach 85% of net profits when both available thank-you payments are donated to the cause.

Why I am asking for help

I have self-funded Influential Stars for the past three years while raising my daughter Ruby as a single parent. I do not take a wage from the platform, but the website, systems, administration, compliance, marketing and day-to-day running costs still have to be paid.

We have been incredibly fortunate to receive help from talented volunteers. However, people understandably cannot continue working unpaid indefinitely, and we have lost valuable team members because they have needed to move into paid employment.

Influential Stars now needs the financial breathing space to cover its essential monthly costs, create paid roles and retain the skilled people required to develop campaigns, recruit creators and support more causes. Until the platform reaches that point, I am continuing to cover these costs personally, and it is becoming increasingly difficult.

The difference one person could make

It could take just one high-profile creator, supporting and sharing one campaign, to transform both a cause and the future of Influential Stars.

For example, one million paid entries at £5 each would generate £5 million in gross entry income. If the full 85% pay-forward applied, the chosen cause could receive 85% of the resulting net profit, while Influential Stars’ 15% share would provide the funding needed to establish paid roles, strengthen the platform and create many more campaigns for other deserving causes.

This is an illustration rather than a guarantee, but it demonstrates what could become possible when the right person chooses to use their influence for good.

How you can help
You can support us by:

• Donating through GoFundMe to help cover essential operating and development costs.
• Introducing us to a creator, celebrity or public figure who may be willing to support a campaign.
• Supporting and sharing campaigns running through Influential Stars.
• Registering as a Creator or Collaborator.
• Sharing our mission with your friends, family and professional network.

Any funds raised through this appeal that are not required to sustain and develop Influential Stars will be donated through the platform to support registered causes.

I know what Influential Stars could achieve. It has already proved that people want to help; we now need the support and visibility that will allow us to turn that potential into something sustainable.

Please help me keep Influential Stars moving forward so that together, we can continue creating opportunities, raising awareness and making a genuine difference.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Please donate today and help me help others.

For more information, visit Influential Stars or follow us on social media:
@1nfluentialStars & @OfficiallyLisaConnell