How to Raise Money with a Walk-A-Thon

How to Raise Money with a Walk-A-Thon A Step by Step Guide to Plan and Run a Successful Large Scale Walk-A- Thon Fundraiser Event From the fundraising ideas experts at Advantage Fundraising Online

Introduction This is a great fundraising idea for any organization is looking to run a large scale Walk- A-Thon fundraising event while incorporating online fundraising components. This strategic plan and step by step guide to of how to successfully run a successful Walk-A- Thon fundraiser will raise your organization more money and save you time. We are going to use September 1 st as the date of the fundraising event to give you an idea of how to block out your time for this fundraiser. We are also including several concepts such as internet fundraising tips, fundraiser goal setting examples, and how to set up a fundraising committee. All of these fundraiser ideas will help ensure that your fundraiser is a success. We have found that online fundraising campaigns raise more money because most people are comfortable making donations online. You increase exposure to your non profit organization by incorporating internet fundraising into your campaign. As time goes on, online fundraising will continue to help non profits raise more money. You may find you are behind schedule while reading this fundraising document. It s ok because you can run a successful Walk-A-Thon fundraiser in less time than the six months we have listed. Use our information and make it fit with your fundraising schedule and remember that the more you plan and prepare, the better your fundraising results will be. 2 Introduction Advantage Fundraising Online Raise

Table of Contents INTRODUCTION PAGE 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE 3 6 MONTHS FROM WALK-A-THON FUNDRAISER EVENT DATE PAGE 4 5 MONTHS FROM WALK-A-THON FUNDRAISER EVENT DATE PAGE 6 4 MONTHS FROM WALK-A-THON FUNDRAISER EVENT DATE PAGE 7 3 MONTHS FROM WALK-A-THON FUNDRAISER EVENT DATE PAGE 8 2 MONTHS FROM WALK-A-THON FUNDRAISER EVENT DATE PAGE 9 3 WEEKS FROM WALK-A-THON FUNDRAISER EVENT DATE PAGE 10 5 DAYS FROM WALK-A-THON FUNDRAISER EVENT DATE PAGE 11 DAY OF WALK-A-THON FUNDRAISER EVENT DATE PAGE 12 1 WEEK AFTER WALK-A-THON FUNDRAISER EVENT DATE PAGE 13 3 Table of Contents Advantage Fundraising Online Raise Funds. Raise your Advantage All Rights Reserved

6 Months from the Walk-A-Thon Fundraiser Event (March 1 st ) Designate a team of 2-4 chair-people to take ownership of the event prior to your first meeting. Schedule your first meeting to decide all Walk-A-Thon fundraising details and overall fundraising ideas. This first meeting is very important as it will set the tone for the rest of your fundraising event. Determine Fundraiser Goal: Before doing anything else you need to determine your fundraising goal. Without goals, a fundraiser will never meet its full potential. a. Determine your actual need $ b. Now determine your fundraiser goal. Your fundraiser goal should always be 30% larger than your need to give organization some room. We call this a stretch goal. This stretch goal will be the goal you promote throughout your fundraiser campaign. Remember you will want to also consider how much money you raise online with your internet fundraising efforts. c. Determine Stretch Goal: i. Actual need: $ x 1.3 = $ (stretch goal) ii. Example Need: $10,000 x 1.3 = $13,000 (stretch goal) Define Participant Fundraising Goal: This is one of the most important things you need to determine. Many non profit organizations divide their goal, by the number of members within their organization. They hope everyone will achieve their goal but unfortunately that rarely works. Here s how you determine participant goals: a. Assume 70% of your membership will actively fundraise. i. Estimated number of participants: x.70 = ii. Example: 100 members x.7 = 70 active participants b. Take your stretch goal and divide it by the number of active participants. i. Stretch Goal: $(stretch goal) (active participants) = participant goal ii. Example: Stretch goal is $14,000 divided by 70 active participants = $200 goal for each participant. 4 6 Months from the Walk-A-Thon Fundraiser Event (March 1st) Advantage Fundraising Online Raise

c. This is the fundraising goal for each person in your membership base. This formula gives you padding and room for growth. Remember only the chair-team should know of this formula. Determine Remaining Fundraiser Details: 1. Determine the Details: Walk-A-Thon Event Date Walk-A-Thon Event Start Time Walk-A-Thon Event Location Walk-A-Thon Lap Distance and/or Course Backup plan and location for rain, snow, or other unforeseeable issues. 2. Task each leader to recruit 3-5 volunteers each to lead. 3. Create your online fundraising website only takes about 2 minutes to do! This online fundraising site will save you hours of work and increase your results using multiple online technologies. It uses social media fundraising tools, online donation buttons, email fundraising tools and templates, text messaging tools, and a letter writing creator all in one. It s also a great record keeping tool for donations made online. This alone will save you and your team dozens of hours. It is a great communication tool for all of your membership and donors. It s free to use http://advantagefo.com 5 6 Months from the Walk-A-Thon Fundraiser Event (March 1st) Advantage Fundraising Online Raise

5 Months from the Walk-A-Thon Fundraiser Event (April 1 st ) This meeting is focused on delegating and creating a task force for your Walk-A-Thon fundraising event. Determine main responsibilities and task your volunteers to have items completed by the next meeting. Walk-A-Thon Fundraising Event Crew o Secures police, ambulance, fire, county, city, permits, insurance, etc. o Event and course planning including vendor/expo area. Responsible for recruiting volunteers, participants, and participant fundraising motivator. o Recruits volunteers for event and event preparation. o Sends out reminder email from http://advantagefo.com to make sure members create their personal online fundraising site. o Defines theme, logos, and artwork. o Creates sponsorship packet and contact local businesses. o Emails local business owners through Advantage Fundraising Online website to announce Walk-A-Thon fundraiser event and request donations. o Sponsorship packets mailed, emailed or available online for download. o Creates registration forms, accounting structure and financial processes. 6 5 Months from the Walk-A-Thon Fundraiser Event (April 1st) Advantage Fundraising Online Raise

4 Months from the Walk-A-Thon Fundraiser Event (May 1 st ) This meeting is focused on finalizing the large details of your Walk-A-Thon Fundraising event. At this point, your non profit organization should start gaining momentum towards raising money and you should start seeing donations online. Walk-A-Thon Event Crew o Final confirmation of Walk-A-Thon event course, markers, and all paperwork (permits, insurance, police, fire/ambulance). o Pre-order shirts and Walk-A-Thon materials for event. Responsible for recruiting volunteers, recruiting participants, and participant fundraising motivator. o Work with other organizations, churches, large local companies to increase participation and fundraising monies. o Ask them to forward your organization s Advantage Fundraising Online online fundraising website to their constituents and employees. Increase awareness and participation of your Walk-A-Thon event. Increase money raised for your organization. o Begin distribution of flyers, media timelines, press releases, and phone calls to media for coverage of event and weeks prior to event. o Email and online fundraising campaign to pre-register participants through your Advantage Fundraising Online website. o Secure corporate donations to be included on all printed materials. Direct them to make payments online for immediate collections. o Make any payments for location, participation and volunteer shirts, and all printed materials. o Download online fundraiser payment tracker through Advantage Fundraising Online one click page. 7 4 Months from the Walk-A-Thon Fundraiser Event (May 1st) Advantage Fundraising Online Raise

3 Months from the Walk-A-Thon Fundraiser Event (June 1 st ) This meeting primarily revolves around promoting your Walk-A-Thon Fundraising Event. All committee members should be highly engaged in the promotion of your fundraiser. Walk-A-Thon Event Crew o Promote and engage more participation through their personal online fundraising Advantage Fundraising Online site. o Designate volunteer roles and responsibilities for event, set up and breakdown. Responsible for recruiting volunteers, recruiting participants, and participant fundraising motivator. o Continue recruiting Walk-A-Thon volunteers. o Continue recruiting participants and encourage fundraising efforts through online fundraising website (http://advantagefo.com). o Begin distribution of flyers, media timelines, press releases, and calls to media for coverage of event and weeks prior to event. o Secure corporate donations. o Finalize registration and monies processes. o Tracking of all donations online. 8 3 Months from the Walk-A-Thon Fundraiser Event (June 1st) Advantage Fundraising Online Raise

1-2 Months from the Walk-A-Thon Fundraiser Event (Through Aug 1 st ) Now that all details of the fundraising event are complete, this period is focused on promoting to your community. The focus should be to get as many people involved with your Walk-A-Thon fundraising event and your online fundraising campaign should be in full swing. All volunteers and chairs promote, support, and encourage Walk-A-Thon registrants or participants to fundraise in person and fundraise online. Provide tips and success stories to keep registrants engaged and motivated. Online fundraising campaign should be used heavily at this time. All registrants should have their personal online fundraising website at this point and should have started requesting donations on Advantage Fundraising Online. Each person should use the social media fundraising feature Facebook fundraising just one click and they direct their friends to donate to your cause through their facebook page. Twitter fundraising just one click and they announce their fundraising for your cause and asking for a donation. LinkedIn fundraising just one click and all their professional contacts can donate to your organization. Google fundraising just one click and they direct all friends to donate through their google+ page This online fundraising site includes most other social media sites within its feature. Each participant should use the email fundraising option on their Advantage Fundraising Online site. They can load their contacts with one click and send an email asking for donations. Each person can send a fundraising text message to all their friends and those receiving the text can donate to your charity right from their phone. Each person can send a personalized letter to anyone they wish. They just click, edit, and print a letter. They then mail the letter and donations are sent directly to your organization. 9 1-2 Months from the Walk-A-Thon Fundraiser Event (Through Aug 1st) Advantage Fundraising Online Raise

3 Weeks from the Walk-A-Thon Fundraiser Event (August 10 th ) All registrants should be very active in promoting your Walk-A-Thon fundraising event. They should be actively on their personal Advantage Fundraising Online site using all the online fundraising tools available to promote and encourage their friends to donate. Walk-A-Thon Event Crew o Begin final confirmation of volunteers and registrants o Pre-make information packets for registrants. o Confirm all Walk-A-Thon event day materials such as tape, communication devices (phone numbers or walkie talkies), cones, ensure course is pre-marked. Responsible for recruiting volunteers, recruiting participants, and participant fundraising motivator. o Send email to all registrants about details of event including hourly breakdown, parking and collection processes. Be sure to promote fundraising tips and success stories. o Begin final corporate donation requests. o Begin second to final email blast to all corporations requesting donations online through your Advantage Fundraising Online online fundraising website. o Final distribution of flyers to local businesses. o Begin second to final media campaign promoting event online, through email, social media, and over the phone. o Continue tracking physical donations. o Download online fundraising donations on Advantage Fundraising Online. 10 3 Weeks from the Walk-A-Thon Fundraiser Event (August 10th) Advantage Fundraising Online Raise

5 Days from the Walk-A-Thon fundraiser event (August 25 th ) These are the final days to promote and encourage for your fundraiser. Walk-A-Thon Event Crew o Final checklist of volunteer responsibilities. o Pick up all Walk-A-Thon event day items such as water, snacks, and first aid kits. Responsible for recruiting volunteers, recruiting participants, and participant fundraising motivator. o Emails sent to participants encouraging them to achieve their fundraising goals. Provide 5 tips to help raise money. o Final email fundraising request from each participant o Final social media fundraising request from each participant o Final text message fundraising request from each participant o Reminders calls to corporate sponsors. o Final email fundraising request to each corporation that did not donate. o Pick up donation items from local businesses. o Continue tracking physical donations. o Download online fundraising spreadsheet prior to event start. This will make the registration process simple. 11 5 Days from the Walk-A-Thon fundraiser event (August 25th) Advantage Fundraising Online Raise

Walk-A-Thon Fundraising Event Day! Walk-A-Thon Event Crew o Early morning course set up. o Mid-event operations. o Post event clean up. Responsible for recruiting volunteers, recruiting participants, and participant fundraising motivator. o Assist where needed. o Take many action and fun photos of participants and volunteers. o Post event clean up. o Welcome corporate sponsors. o Thank and recognize all volunteers and participants for successful event. o Assist Event Crew. o Post event clean up. o Early morning check in/registration and collection tables set up. o Final money tally to announce at end of event. It s important to have a final get together after the Walk-A-Thon fundraising event is finished. Ask volunteers for their feedback on how things could be improved for next year. Ask for feedback on what went well. Celebrate successful Walk-A-Thon event and thank everyone for their hard work. 12 Walk-A-Thon Fundraising Event Day! Advantage Fundraising Online Raise Funds. Raise your Advantage All Rights Reserved

1 Week After Walk-A-Thon Fundraising Event Walk-A-Thon Event Crew o Store all useful materials for next event. Responsible for recruiting volunteers, recruiting participants, and participant fundraising motivator. o Thank you notes/emails to each volunteer and participant thanking them for a successful Walk-A-Thon fundraising event. o Announce how their contribution made an impact for your organization. o Use the simple thank you email template on Advantage Fundraising Online to do this. o Request all participants to send thank you emails through Advantage Fundraising Online. o Thank you notes/emails to all corporate sponsors and businesses that donated goods. o Announce how their contribution made an impact for your organization. o Post photos and videos online and encourage all participants to visit your site. o Final accounting tally and breakdown of participants money raised. o Download final online fundraising data from Advantage Fundraising Online. Be sure to make detailed notes on how your fundraiser went. It s important for the next person who may be taking over for you. Begin a yearly journal so those that follow in your footsteps can see your success and how your Walk-A-Thon fundraiser event was such as success! 13 1 Week After Walk-A-Thon Fundraising Event Advantage Fundraising Online Raise Funds. Raise your Advantage All Rights Reserved