27 27 FAQs

You'll be sent a link to a digital Challenge Guide when you register.

27 27 is free to sign up to, you’ll then raise donations as part of the challenge. We’ve set fundraising goals for you with some rewards for hitting certain milestones at £27, £127 and £270.

27 27 is open to anybody who is 16 or over. If you are under 16 and still want to take part, please ask a parent or guardian to contact us by emailing [email protected]

Yes, 27 27 is open to anyone who is 16 or over. If you are under 16 and still want to take part, please ask a parent or guardian to get in touch with us at [email protected]

When signing up, you’ll be given the option to choose which university you’re studying at. Your fundraising will count towards your university’s joint total and ranking position on our leader boards if you provide this info.

If your place of study doesn’t appear on the list, you can still take part by joining in as a general supporter of Mind, sixth form or college student, or school pupil.

You will then get the option to create a team that you can ask others to join. Your team will show the leaderboard of either general supporters of Mind, sixth form or college students, or school pupils.

If you think we’ve missed your university off our list, please drop us an email at [email protected], and we will see what we can do to get your university added in.

Yes. 27 27 is all about taking on a challenge in solidarity with student mental health. You might want to join 27 27 if you have recently graduated, work in a school or university, or are a parent or caregiver to a student. Please remember that a lot of our support is geared towards our student audience.

Registrations open on 27 January and will remain open until 6 March 2023. If you've signed up, you can start your challenge after 6 March. But please note our support is timed to be delivered up to the end of March.

You will receive your t-shirt within 10 working days of getting your first donation on your fundraising page. Please take this into consideration and start fundraising early if you would like your t-shirt for the first day of the challenge.

Once you receive your first donation on your GivePenny fundraising page, we will send you a free 27 27 t-shirt to the address you signed up with. Please allow up to 10 working days from your first donation for this to arrive.

If your t-shirt still hasn’t arrived 10 working days after your first donation, please let us know. You can send an email to [email protected]. Please also include your postal address and a link to your fundraising page.

Anybody who raises over £27 will receive a 27 27 medal, as a special thank you for taking part. These will be with you a few weeks after the challenge has ended.

If you’ve not received one by 7 May, please send us an email to [email protected] with your postal address and a link to your fundraising page.

If you are fundraising with someone else and the fundraising page is in their name, you will not automatically receive a t-shirt or medal. To receive your t-shirt and medal you will need to register and create your own page. If you have already started fundraising together, please email us at [email protected] and we will see how we can help.

Yes. Each person in your team should register separately to make sure everyone gets a t-shirt and medal when you reach your fundraising goals.

When signing up, you’ll be given the option to select which university you’re studying at. This will let your fundraising to count towards their joint total and ranking position on our leaderboard.

You can create teams within your university too. You will need to do this at the point of signing up. You can create a team for your club, society or friendship group or search to join an existing team. Please name your groups appropriately as this will help others to find your team.

For the best fundraising experience (including getting your rewards when you reach fundraising goals), each person in your team should register separately. 

If you decide to share your individual page with a team member, you will need to contact us at [email protected] in order to organise additional t-shirts once you’ve started to receive donations.

If this is your first time fundraising for a charity, we’ll support you to achieve your 27 27 goals. We send out weekly emails which include fundraising tips, so look out for these. If you’ve not yet received them, please check your junk folder. If you still can’t find any emails from us since signing up, let us know by contacting [email protected].

Online fundraising is the easiest way to fundraise, and we recommend using GivePenny to get the best 27 27 experience, including getting rewards for reaching your fundraising goals. You can set up a page when you sign up. 

We are extremely grateful for however much you can raise for Mind, but we have set some goals and rewards to inspire you to hit your fundraising potential and help even more people with mental health problems.

When registering and creating a fundraising page, your target will be automatically set to £127 but you can update this at any point.

This year, fundraising rewards are set at the goals of raising £27 to receive a medal, raise £127 to receive a medal and exclusive 27 27 socks, and raise £270 to receive an extra bonus reward on top of these other rewards.

If you don't raise £127 you will still be able to take part and will receive a medal at the end of the challenge after hitting your £27 milestone. We encourage everyone to raise as much as they can and are here to support you if you have any questions.

Fundraising online is the easiest and safest way to take part. We recommend that you only fundraise through the online giving page, GivePenny.

If you need to fundraise offline, please send an email to [email protected], so that we can advise you.

27 27 is a bespoke event created by national Mind and all donations will go directly to national Mind.

We understand that the difference between national and local Minds often causes confusion and that many people are not aware of our federated structure.

We at national Mind are a separate charity from the local Mind organisations, and while we have similar aims and values, we fulfil slightly different roles. We provide the nationwide information services, an Infoline, and campaign nationally for support and respect for everyone experiencing a mental health problem. This structure allows the local Minds to work on front line services specifically for the communities that they work with.

We're so grateful for the generosity and efforts of all our supporters and we'll spend your donations responsibly, so that together, we can continue to provide advice and support to anyone experiencing a mental health problem.

The money donated through fundraising events will be spent where needed the most. For example, campaigning for better mental health provisions or running our mental health services. You can find out more here.

We encourage you to run your 27 miles your own way, at your own pace and in your own time. Some students may prefer to run one mile a day, whereas others may prefer less runs but longer distances.

If you’re new to running or could benefit from more structure, please see our running guide for 27 27.

Hayley, our Head of Physical Activity at Mind, has compiled our Guide to Completing 27 27.

Apps like Strava are a useful tool for tracking runs and you can link your Strava account to your fundraising page.

A very rough, tech-free way to track your miles is to remember that running a mile can take on average of between 10-12 minutes. This will depend on your terrain and running experience, so do not worry if it takes longer.

No, you can do 27 27 however works for you! There are a number of ways that you can still take part if you would not like to run, such as walking or cycling instead, or completing 27 reps of a certain exercise each day.

Although we are apart, everyone taking part in the 27 27 challenge is sending a clear message: it’s time to take our mental health seriously, and we won’t give up until everyone with a mental health problem gets the support they need.

You can join the 27 27 Facebook group, which is for people taking part. The group is open now and a great place to connect with your fellow challengers.

Share your photos and stories on social media and use the hashtag #2727 to connect with others who are doing the challenge. Be sure to use our special GIFs too by searching 'Mind Charity' in the GIF bar on Instagram Stories (also works on Facebook Stories, Snapchat and TikTok). Also feel free to tag Mind in your posts so we can see how you’re doing:

Facebook: @mindforbettermentalhealth

Twitter: @mindcharity

Instagram: @mindcharity

TikTok: @mindcharity

The 27 days begin on 1 March and last until 27 March. We know it's not always possible to complete all your miles on time - you might get sick or injured. If you need to extend your challenge, talk to us at [email protected].

It is important that you stay up to date and follow the UK Government guidance, including from devolved nations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland when undergoing your challenge.

Advice could change over a period of time so in order to ensure you stay safe for yourself and other people we advise that you keep up to date with announcements and apply any new requirements and limitations to your fundraising.

Please consider carefully whether you wish to take on the challenge if you may be in vulnerable circumstances or be at higher risk from coronavirus. Your safety is the most important thing to us, and we do not want anybody to put themselves at risk through fundraising.

We’re here to support you every step of the way with 27 27. If your question has not been answered, please email us at [email protected]. Please bear in mind that we may take up to 5 working days to respond.