It's time to ditch the spaghetti feed and launch your fundraising race, run, or ride!
Are you tired of spaghetti feeds and silent auctions? I get it. Your non-profit has put on these events forever, and they work (sort-of).
As the leader of your agency, you are carrying the torch and hosting these fundraisers is part of the deal.
When it’s all over, you calculate the hours put into these events and wonder if it’s worth it. But what’s the alternative?
Grants are uber-competitive and funding is limited. Try finding grants to purchase your new building, or to pay your staff salaries- it’s almost impossible.
What if I told you your charity could fundraise thousands in one weekend– and that those funds could be spent in the way YOU know best? This opportunity will still take a lot of time, volunteers, and blood sweat and tears, but YOU will be in control.
Enter… fundraising races, runs, and rides. Here are a few great reasons to ditch the dinner and put on an athletic event instead!
- You’ll know what your revenue and expenses will be months in advance, and year after year.
- Through the process of registration, your agency will naturally collect email addresses, mailing addresses, and other important demographics. You can then use this information to stay in touch the rest of the year (try collecting that information at a spaghetti feed!). If you play your communication strategy right (i.e don’t send out a daily email asking for money…), your registration list will soon become a list of donors and volunteers.
- You’ll raise more money in less time. One or two big-ticket events can easily take the place of monthly fundraisers, allowing your staff to get back to the much more important work of your agency! Think about this- the average ticket to a marathon is between $100-$150. A first-year running event could quickly be pulled off with just 100 athletes, that’s $10,000! Scale that to 500 athletes (and add in peer-to-peer fundraising) and you can easily eliminate your more traditional fundraisers. Yes, there will be expenses such as T-shirts and medals, but that should account for less than 15% of your budget. As time goes on (and your registration increases), your overhead will actually go DOWN as more companies will begin donating to you instead. The KEY to fundraising at at a race, run, or ride is putting on a quality event– you must do your research (such as course planning and event timing), but the payoff is worth it.
- Fundraising races, runs, and rides are less taxing on your local community and will actually bring in revenue to your town (even to other charities- talk about a great way to get more volunteers). If you find local business owners start to avoid you when your fundraising event comes around, it may be time to consider alternatives. Local businesses can only handle so many donation requests, and they get a LOT. Fundraising races, runs, and rides bring in revenue without ever having to rely on local donations.
- The participant’s ‘takeaway’ from your athletic event is vastly improved over a one-time meal. Instead of dinner and a slideshow, your event will offer a shareable experience. This new event will provide the foundation to a relationship with future volunteers and donors; this is the key to sustainable funding. This leads to the next important point…
- People will talk about your cause! According to Running USA, 40% of runners share their experience on social media. If they have a good time, they will invite their friends to join (tip: make sure you provide them with the immediate opportunity to share and register for your event online. If you need help setting up registration and/or website, contact Josie at Kata Marketing).
- You can still do a silent auction and dinner, but make it part of your bigger event (and don’t specifically ask for donations- your patrons have already contributed in the form of their registration fee and dinner ticket). Remember, the point of the dinner is not to fundraise, it’s to share your story and build your relationships.
- You’ll reach a new audience. Do you see the same faces at every event? This means you have a loyal team and you’re doing something right- that’s terrific. But serving the same demographic time after time doesn’t help your non-profit grow. When you put on an athletic event (or a few of them, targeting different groups), people will travel from all over the country and even the world to participate. Believe it or not, there is a bonafide industry serving these individuals, families, and athletes who want to travel and experience new events. Get on their ‘Bucket List’ and your non-profit will grow, I guarantee it.