BOWLING FOR SUDAN TEAM CAPTAIN PACKET

Transcription

1 BOWLING FOR SUDAN TEAM CAPTAIN PACKET

2 BACKGROUND Welcome to Bowling For Sudan! This unique event raises funds for our educational initiatives in Sudan. The event itself has eight bowling teams competing for two top spots: 1. Best Fundraising Team 2. Best Bowling Team As a team captain, you have committed to ensuring that your team of five individuals will raise a total of $2,500 before the event. That breaks down to $500 per person and is an easily attainable goal. Once your team hits this minimal goal, you secure your spot in the bowling tournament! Additional fundraising puts you in the running for the Best Fundraising Team Award! The Team Captain Packet introduces you to our fundraising platform and some resources to help you along the way. The OBSilence team is also available to provide additional guidance. We believe that fundraising should be simple, easy, and most importantly a lot of fun! If you re struggling with fundraising, motivating your team, or any thing, please reach out to Mark Hackett at mchackett@operationbrokensilence.org. He s our in-house fundraising guru who designs all of our fundraising campaigns. We re excited you have joined us! Let s get started!

3 An Introduction To Our Fundraising Platform Operation Broken Silence uses Classy, the world s largest and most trusted fundraising platform for social good organizations. We use Classy because we believe many people are weary of being asked to do the least they can do. Rather than just asking our movement for donations, we started asking followers to start individual fundraising campaigns for our programs. Together, they are raising tens of thousands of dollars that have saved and changed lives. Did we mention they are having a blast along the way? Your online Classy fundraising page comes complete with our best media and plenty of room for you tell your own story. Our partnership with Classy has also secured you some of the top fundraising resources in the world. The goal of Classy is to make fundraising easier for everyone, including you! Let s Get You Started! Bowling For Sudan is part of the Endure Campaign, the only ongoing fundraising effort to support fledgling schools in Nuba refugee camps. 100% of funds raised at Bowling For Sudan go to the Endure Campaign! Now, let s get you and your team up and running on Classy with four easy steps!

4 Step 1: Start Your Personal Fundraising Page Starting your own fundraising page is incredibly simple and takes less than 5 minutes! This is your first step in getting your team off the ground. CLICK HERE TO START YOUR CAMPAIGN => The next few steps are fairly simple. After putting your basic information in, you ll be taken to a second window to complete your page. A few things you need to make sure you do: 1. Click the photo icon to add a picture of yourself 2. Make sure your fundraising goal is $500 or more 3. Select your fundraising end date as December 31, 2015 Once the other items are completed, click Save & Finish. You can then follow the prompts to personalize your page further or go back and do that later. Congratulations! Your fundraising page is now ready to go! Doesn t it look nice? On the next page, we ll walk you through setting up your fundraising team that your teammates will join when they create pages.

5 Step 2: Start Your Team As you look at your fundraising page, you will now see a little yellow box on the right side asking you to create or join a team. Click the button to get your team started. You ll be prompted to join a team or create one. Click the big blue Create A Team button. Upload a team photo, create your team name, and make sure the goal is $2,500 or more. Click the button to finish. And now your team is ready to go! Here s the cool part, once your other team members create their own pages and join your team, all the money everyone raises will show up on the team fundraising page collectively! It s a great way for you to keep up with who has raised what. On the main campaign page, you can also see how you re stacking up against other teams! Step 3: Make The First Donation The best way to kick off your fundraising efforts is to make the first donation to your own page. You don t have to give a huge amount, just give what you can. There s two good reasons to do this: 1. This shows potential team members and donors that you re invested. 2. You ll understand what donating to your page feels like. Once you see how easy it is to give, you ll be encouraged later when you start raising money. Simply click the donate button at the top of your fundraising page. Pretty cool, right?

6 Step 4: Recruit Your Teammates This is the last step before you can start fundraising! You need four people to create their own fundraising page and join your team. We suggest you ask friends or coworkers to join your team. You can also ask your first two teammates to help you recruit the other two open spots. As each teammate decides to come on board, they ll follow the exact same process as you did with one difference: they ll join the team page you created instead of making their own. You can send them to your team fundraising page and ask them to click Join Team to start their page. Remember, only five individuals are on a bowling team. Of course, more of your friends are allowed to create their own pages and fundraise towards the team goal, just make sure everyone knows who will actually be bowling come event day! Fundraising Tip: Odds are that some people you ask to join your team can t commit the time. If they still want to help out, ask them to make a donation to your fundraising page! Congratulations! Now that all of your fundraising pages are up and running, it s time to hit the campaign trail!

7 LEADING YOUR TEAM TO FUNDRAISING SUCCESS

8 WHAT THIS EVENT IS ALL ABOUT Bowling tournament fundraisers aren t super common events. Then again, we re not a super common nonprofit. When we started our organization, we promised to go places no one else is willing to go to help people no one else is willing to help. That s why your fundraising success is rooted in one simple thing: what you re raising money for. Let s take a moment and look at what that is. Since 2011, the government of Sudan has waged a ruthless genocide against the people living in the country's Nuba Mountains. Schools, clinics, and markets are systematically bombed on a daily basis. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes. Over 30,000 children have fled to the safety of refugee camps. Fledgling schools in these camps have been started by local partners, but all of them are overwhelmed with growing needs. Operation Broken Silence began the Endure Campaign in December of 2014 to provide support and created a stunning documentary film about these children. The Endure Campaign is the only ongoing fundraising effort in the world to support these schools. Seriously, we checked. If we don t succeed, these children s future will be plagued by more violence. You re raising money for one of the most noble causes in the world today. And you re one of the few people doing it. So, what is Bowling For Sudan all about? This event is about these children. They need your help. Yes, fundraising and bowling is going to be a lot of fun! But ultimately, we re doing all of this for them. They deserve a better future, and you are becoming part of their story!

9 TIPS FROM OUR FUNDRAISING SPECIALIST We have an awesome external fundraising expert who makes our lives a lot easier. Her only goal is to teach us how to best raise money! Here are 5 tips from her about leading a team of fundraisers: 1. Leaders Lead. As the leader of your fundraising team, everyone looks to you to set the tone and goals of the team. You re the face-to-face inspiration that drives everyone forwards. Be understanding when a teammate struggles with fundraising and celebrate the success of each member! 2. Hit Your Personal Goal Early. The sooner you hit your own personal goal the better. It shows your team that their individual goals are attainable. Your personal experience can also be useful in helping teammates reach their goals! 3. Communication Is Everything. Teams with leaders who communicate well almost always outperform other teams. Be present, be responsive, and be personal. 4. Follow Through. If you make a promise to help a teammate out, be sure to follow through. If you have your teammate s back, they ll have yours. 5. If You Need Help, Just Ask! Fundraising campaigns rarely go as planned. Sometimes even the best teams struggle. You may be competing with other teams, but don t be scared to share ideas and tips amongst other team captains. Real leaders help other leaders.

10 TIPS FROM PREVIOUS TEAM FUNDRAISING CAPTAINS We ve had a lot of team fundraisers over the years. Along the way, we ve learned a lot about fundraising the hard way. Here are some tips from other fundraising captains! 1. Preemptively Congratulate. When new members join your team, get out in front of things by thanking them for their commitment. Send them a quick , text, or phone call letting them know how important their participation is to the continued success of the team. By setting an appreciative tone in your initial communication, you will make it much harder for people to forget, give up, or fail to follow through. 2. Be Responsive & Encouraging. As you see new members' efforts get underway reach out to them with brief communications. Congratulate people on reaching benchmarks, comment on their event pages, and of course respond to their inquiries. If team members feel like you are right there with them, they will follow through in greater numbers. 3. Be Relevant. You should consider creating a regular update for your team members. Keep them apprised of the progress they re making as a group and let them know what that means. Reinforce the fact that their success leads to real success in the schools they re raising money for. 4. Include The Personal Touch. Don t underestimate the impact that a two line personal e- mail or a short phone call can make with your fundraisers. Add the personal touch to increase follow through and drive up that amazing thing called inspiration.

11 WE RE EXCITED THANKS FOR JOINING US! We ll be checking in with you soon to see how team recruiting is going and to provide you with updates. If you need anything, Mark Hackett at