Blue Sky Collaborative's Viral Fundraising Blog

Jordan's Polar Plunge is Back

There is a really only one good reason to take a dip in the ocean off Plymouth Beach in the middle of winter.  It is to raise money to help cancer patients. 

Jordan's Polar Plunge is a creative a-thon event where participants raise money online.  The event culminates in March when everyone takes the plunge into the Atlantic Ocean in the middle of the unforgiving northeastern winter.

Over the past several years, thousands of people have  'Taken the Plunge' for the JHC Cancer Center, and have raised hundreds-of-thousands of dollars for this worthy cause.

For the second year in row, Jordan's Hospital Club has chosen SWEET for its pledge fundraising website.

Jordans' Polar Plunge is a very unique event with a rabbid group of supporters.  Even more, the money that is raised goes to a very worthy cause.  The success of this pledge event has grown over the years and the folks at Jordan Hospital Club should be proud of what they have built.  We are certainly happy that they continue to choose SWEET for their event..

The Wrong Pledge Event Website Can Actually Add to Your Event Costs

A colleague of mine in St Louis purchased a "do it yourself" website for his walkathon a few years ago.

He figured that the walkathon needed to accept donations in the online channel as well as by mail and phone.  That's sound reasoning.

He also assumed that the walkathon software would greatly reduce the time and cost of administering the event.  A drop in mail-in registrations, data entry, and mailing costs would drastically and positively effect the cost of the event for the organization.

He purchased a low budget "do it yourself" walkathon website to keep his costs down.

Great plan, right?

He was disappointed to find that the org was in fact spending more time designing their website than they had been spending on manual registrations.

The costs were actually greater for their organization.  And the result was a "lame website" (his words) that made their organization look bad.

The fact is, orgs that take on technical projects when acquiring software from low budget or open source providers are simply replacing their old manual labor costs with new ones. 

Instead of working on mailings and data entry, they are trying to figure out how to make text bold, or how to right justify an image and put a border on it.

What's the point?

If you're going to invest in a website for your walkathon, bike ride, or other pledge event invest in a product and service where the work is done for you.  This way, you can spend the time on marketing, communication, and revenue generation.  The point of the event is to raise money.  All your activities should be tailored to meet that objective.

New a-thon ideas for nonprofit organizations

Every year around this time we hear from more organizations that are looking for pledge fundraising software for their events.

This year organizations are getting very creative.

We're still getting our share of walk-a-thons, and bike rides.  But this year we are also making the fundraising web sites for:

Bowl-a-thons

Bowling events with a  pledge fundraising component.  Bowlers raise money for their nonprofit.

Golf-a-thons

Golf marathons where golfers accept pledges per hole.

Chess-a-thons

Chess tournaments with a pledge fundraising component.  Participants raise money and compete against other participants. 

Build-a-thons

Homew raising events by Habitat for Humanity.  Like extreme home makeover with a pledge fundraising component!

The bottom line

The bottom line is that organizations can find an a-thon format that meets their budget, aligns with their brand, and is something that their members can get excited about.  And regardless of the format, any a-thon should have a pledge fundraising component and use software like SWEET Pledge Event Software to streamline the registration and fundraising process.

Top 5 Things to Consider When Choosing Walkathon and Pledge Event Software

We've had so much activity in the past few weeks from people looking for software for their pledge events. 

The bump in activity probably coincides with budgets being refreshed in the new fiscal year and the beginning of planning cycles for 2010 events.

We've heard from people around the country with many different kinds of events.  Bowl-a-thons are popular this year.  We've heard form people planning Golf-a-thons too.  Of course, we've had our usual complement of walkathons and bike rides.

Regardless of the type of event, you can't have an effective a-thon without an online site that makes registration simple, communication easy, and fundraising effective.

Here are the top 5 requirements to consider when you choose software for your walkathon, bowlathon, or pledge event.

1. The software must support YOUR registration requirements.  Do you need to know someones shoe size?  Your site should easily support that?  The bottom line is that if you find yourself changing your event so it works with the software, then you've purchased the wrong product.
2. Donations must go directly to your nonprofit.  Vendors who act as middle-men for your donation do so for one reason alone; they can skim off the top of your donations if they pass through their coffers.  There is no justifiable reason why a software company needs to handle your donors' money.
3. Avoid software vendors who work on commision.  Software vendors must not deduct a percentage of your transactions.  Since your software vendor has nothing to do with how much money is raised, they shouln't be paid based on a percentage of money raised. 
4. The software should look, act, and feel like your own web site.  Sending users to a different site with long scary URLs will prevent some folks from using the site. Remember, that the more people that use your site, the lower your costs will be for the event.  Don't give people an excuse to bail. 
5. The software should not take away your time and resources away from planning the event and fundraising.  Feel like saving money and buying a do-it-yourself solution?  Every hour that you spend on building a web site is an hour that you could be spending on recruiting and fundraising.  Sometimes, do-it-yourself is not the best way to go (I'm thinking of my Dad fixing the washing machine many years ago - it did not end well).   Get a professional to give you a professional site.

For more information, visit http://www.blueskycollaborative.com/bscv2/main/SWEET/

Video: Bike for The Heart Raises $300,000 for For Women's Heart Health

Sister to Sister, www.sistertosister.org, recently held a fantastic event called Bike for the Heart. 

I wrote about what made it awesome here - http://blueskycollaborative.typepad.com/blog/2009/10/charity-bike-ride-raises-over-300k-for-sister-to-sister.html

Here's a nice vid from the event.  Hopefully, those of you who are trying to organize a bike ride or a-thon of your own can take something away from the video from this FIRST YEAR (!) event.  (That's Caron Butler speaking at the beginning of the video.  Go HUSKIES!).

   

The Most Important Factor in Having a Successful Pledge Event

Give your fundraisers at least 3 months to raise money.

This applies to walk-a-thons, bike-a-thons, marathons and any other type of athon or pledge event.

Let's face it.  The economy is a little scary and many nonprofits are scrambling to find new revenue sources.

Saddled with cash flow problems and reduced credit lines, orgs are looking for money quickly. 

But be careful.  Your need for speed might torpedo your chances for success.

I recently spoke with two organizations that organized pledge event walkathons.  Both were planned within a span of 1.5 months and one had online registration open for 10 days. 10 whole days.  Needless to say both events were failures.

If you are organizing a pledge event you need to give your participants at least 3 months to do their fundraising.

In a typical $100,000 pledge event, we've found the following trend.

Month 1:  15% of funds raised

Month 2:  32% of funds raised

Month 3:  49% of funds raised

Post event: 4% of funds raised

Almost half of the revenue, in this case $50,000, was raised in the third month.  And it's not just because it was the final month.  We've seen that if the second month was the last month, the fundraising totals were lower.

People who are voluntarily fundraising for you need time to craft their message and make the ask.  The people that are being asked need time to sit down and respond.

When you are asking volunteers to raise money for you, remember that it is not their job to do so.  They have real jobs and responsibilities that take precedence over your non-profit.  So give them time.

If you're going to spend the time and resources to organize a walkathon or other pledge event, you might as well give yourself a chance to succeed by giving your fundraisers at least 3 months to raise money for you.

Habitat For Humanity Build-a-thon Raises $100,000

 Habitat for Humanity Chapters in East King County and Seattle/South King County collaborated on a Build-a-thon that raised nearly $100,000 to build homes in 8 different location in King County, WA Habitat’s goal was to raise $100,000 – enough to build one house.  They are currently at $98,842 and should be able to surpass their goal very soon.  Fundraising in this a-thon was done exclusively online by volunteers who ALSO helped with the home building. 

Habitat’s build-a-thon was an extraordinary event for many reasons:

1.    Volunteers built the home and they ALSO raised the money that financed the building.  This is a powerful model that is tailor-made for the internet and for volunteer driven orgs like Habitat for Humanity.  I anticipate more of this type of activity at Habitat chapters around the country

2.    Multiple Habitat chapters collaborated and shared the website to reduce their costs.  Yet, money that was donated online went directly to the chapter that was the designated beneficiary automatically.  No middle men, no processing fees.  They were able to do this using SWEET Fundraising Software.

3.    Hundreds of volunteers were able to sign-up for dozens of volunteer shifts.  It was a significant amount of coordination.  All of it  was done online, leaving staff with more time to coordinate the event day activities and promote fundraising.

Habitat’s plans are to build on this year’s success to increase their fundraising and home-building goals in future years.  They also intend to expand the back office capabilities of their SWEET site to give administrators even more control over resource and volunteer allocation on the days of the event.  For more information visit, www.habitatbuildathon.org.

 

SBAWP Launches Viral Fundraising Campaign

The Spina Bifida Association of Western Pennsylvania (SBAWP) recently launched "Light up a Life,"  a viral fundraising campaign.  Participants in the campaign raise money online in order to meet their own fundraising goal.

"Light Up A Life" can be found here: http://lightupalife.sbawp.org

One participant, Libby Powers, has set her fundraising goal at $4000.    A lofty goal considering that the Theaverage amount raised by participants in viral fundraising campaigns is $250.  Libby’s online fundraising profile can be viewed here.  http://lightupalife.sbawp.org/sbawp/participantpage.asp?fundid=9&uid=12&fkroledescid=5

Many of the participants in SBAWP’s viral fundraising campaign are actually individuals with Spina Bifida who are beneficiaries of SBAWP’s services.  Libby, herself, has benefited directly from SBAWP’s work.  She states in her profile, "As a someone who personally attended these retreats and camps for over a decade, I can vouch for how incredibly important they are!"

We anticipate very high response rates on "asks" made in this campaign.  The early results are promising.  SBAWP has netted over $3000 , 48 donations, and 50 participants in 3 business days.  The early success has the organization thinking about loftier goals for the program in the future.

For more information about SBAWP visit http://www.sbawp.org.  To learn more about the Light Up A Life campaign, please visit http://lightupalife.sbawp.org or contact SBAWP’s Development Director, Sue Powers @ spowers@sbawp.org.

Tips on Choosing Walkathon or Pledge Event Software

1. Beware of the do-it-yourself software vendors.  Essentially you pay them yet you end up doing all the work.  I can't tell you how many times people have called us to tell us about their awful experiences and countless hours spent to create a crappy fundraising site using an antiquated system.  They wished that those hours were spent on fundraising.  Remember, just because you pay less for something does not mean that you are getting the most for your money.
2. Avoid transaction fees.  Don't pay percentages on your online transactions to software companies.  They don't deserve a commission on the money that YOU and your supporters raised. 
3. Don't compromise your brand.  If you've spent hard earned money and time on your own web site, why would you send someone off to another site that does not look ar act anything like your own site?  Find a vendor who is interested in promoting your brand, not theirs.
4. Find software that fits your event not the other way around.  Since most walkathon software vendors offer inflexible systems, orgs are forced to change their events to fit the software.  Find a vendor that can accommodate the quirks and intricacies of your event without charging you an arm and a leg for it.  If you want to charge different registration fees based on age, gender, participation level or even lunar cycle, then you should be able to do it!
5. Take a long term approach.  Find a tool that you can use and re-use year after year.  Re-inventing the wheel every year is costly.
6. Get it over with.  Spend your time raising money!  Don't spend your time building or tinkering with a web site.  It's costly on many levels.

Charity Bike Ride Raises over $300K for Sister to Sister

Sister to Sister recently held their bike-a-thon, Bike for THE Heart and so far have raised over $300,000.

www.bikefortheheart.org

I can't stress enough what a great job their folks did to put on a world-class charity cycling event.  We can all learn from their efforts.  Here are some factors that led to the success of their pledge fundraiser.

1. So many options for everyone to participate including families with young kids and skilled cyclers.  http://www.bikefortheheart.org/bfth/schedule.asp
2. It was fun.  The agenda is off the charts with Ringling Bros., A cappella groups, food, music, etc... It looked like a lot of fun.   http://www.bikefortheheart.org/bfth/schedule.asp
3. Lots of incentives for top fundraising teams and individuals.  http://www.bikefortheheart.org/bfth/prizes.asp
4. They went viral.  Sister to Sister also had incentives for people that recruited participants. 
5. Well designed fundraising web site that made it easy for folks to register and donate.
6. Professional and attractive site design that made corporate sponsors more likely to give.  Trust me, no one will want their logo on your site if it is crap.  People will tell you that your design does not matter but you shouldn't listen to them because they are wrong.

Sister to Sister is becoming one of my new favorite orgs.  Their attention to detail, creativity, and effectiveness shone through in the Bike for THE Heart event.

You should check it out if you want to see how to put on a first class bike-a-thon.