Improving Charity Walks through Collaboration
Upping the "Fun" Factor
Hi all,
I'm trying to brainstorm ideas to make the actual walkathon event itself more attractive to people. I have never organized or participated in one, but I just started a new job and part of my responsibilities is to help organize an annual walkathon. We're in a decent-sized city, Grand Rapids, and past events have drawn an average of 200 people. I'd love to double that for this year, and I have until Sept. 18th to do it!
One idea I had was to see if there are any other compatible charity events taking place in September and join forces - we might be more newsworthy if we can develop a unique relationship that's mutually beneficial.
I'm also interested in finding out if there are other activities or entertainment that could be added to the agenda that would make it more interesting. Even a name change might help - to me, walkathons have always sounded boring: a bunch of people get together and go on a walk. I realize that's not all that happens, and that the idea is that anyone could participate as it is less physically demanding than other "-athons," but I'm just brainstorming. Our Walkathon is to benefit FAAN - the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network.
Any tips or ideas will be SO appreciated!
Thanks,
Heather
Tags: Fun, brainstorm, ideas
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Brian Carney on -
Heather - best wishes on your efforts in GR (I launched our Ride for Refugees there last year - love that town) Some quick ideas for you:
1) Teams: if you can have team captains - I know this is obvious but teams raise more - period. Our event averages $241 per rider and just over $2200 per team
2) Provide an incentive to Team Captains to ensure that everyone on the team raises the minimum required (in other words - go after the leaders rather than the followers)
3) The nature of your walk (FAAN) is very serious - don't let the folks in your marketing dep't make the mistake of focusing on the cause so much as the walk. Keep it fun and family-friendly. **ignore that for one idea below
4) Consider planning your route around the locations where food allergies etc are best known like: a food stores (having part of your route go through a Maijer or equivalent foodstore for the fun of seeing the risks etc - they might be more than interested in hosting a rest station.) a school (high, middle, public) stadium, rink, church, etc - in essence using the WALK as a living tutorial of the risks
5) For a walk your size where you can control it, a matching fund program could work very well. Have a benefactor pledge $10-$20,000 for gifts of $500 or more. This would juice your numbers nicely
6) Be careful of adding time-sucking additional 'events' to your singular 'event' - make the walk the main thing - concerts and post walk 'extravaganzas' only weigh you down and add costs
7) Sponsors - real estate brokers like introductions - have a rest station at a sponsoring Remax (or equivilent) branch office and have them pay $250 or for the right to have all 200+ walk by and in fact STOP at their location. Walks are great for this type of activity
Best wishes
Brian
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Permalink Reply by Heather Mantovani on -
Thanks Brian! I hadn't thought of using the route itself to get sponsors and educate on the food allergy issue. I think someone in the office has already reserved a local park for the walk, but I'm going to check into it to see what's nearby. If there aren't any good businesses/organizations to pitch as sponsors, I'll see about changing the location.
-Heather
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Permalink Reply by Roger Carr on
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Heather,
Lee Garverick, author of The Walkathon Guide, wrote a blog post entitled Fourteen Ideas to Make Your Walkathon Fun for Kids. It should give you some great ideas. I added a few more in a comment to her post that have worked in walks I have been involved with.
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Permalink Reply by Heather Mantovani on
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Thanks, Roger, for the links. I really like the bracelet idea - they're pretty popular at the moment, and we could give one color out before the event to advertise it, and then another during the event for participation. So many ideas - luckily I have until September, though I'm sure I'll blink at it will be here!
-Heather
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Heather,
There are an unlimited number ideas that could be pursued. This is good. But don't try to implement more than a couple of new ideas at a time. Otherwise, potential participants can get confused and fade away, and all of the ideas might not get implemented well. Organizing and conducting a successful charity walk is not easy. My advice when starting your first walk is to find plenty of enthusiastic volunteers and to concentrate on doing the charity walk fundamentals well. If it becomes a periodic event, then add a couple of new ideas each time.
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Permalink Reply by Matthew Cynamon on -
Heather,
I like to think that my specialty is making charity events more fun and engaging. Shoot me an email and I'd love to help out
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