AIDS Walk Fundraising: Part 1

I'm the team captain of my company's AIDS Walk Team this year. I've never participated in a fundraising walk and of course I've decided to document our team's fundraising progress.

AIDS Walk allows each team to set a fundraising goal. Anyone who works with me (as well, I suppose, as anyone who's received a solicitation letter I've sent) knows I'm a big fan of goals. It's so much more satisfying to hear that your $25 donation will count towards someone's $150 goal, of which $75 has already been raised, than to be asked generically for a donation of an unspecified amount for a donor who will only know how much s/he is trying to raise when the event is over and the checks are tallied.

A goal is also motivating for potential team members, especially those who might not be too comfortable asking others for money. The prospect of raising "as much as you can" is daunting. The task is less scary if, for example, you encourage your team members to raise $100 each. You can give them a fundraising strategy, such as "Donate $25 yourself, and then ask three others to do the same." This technique is more rewarding--they've accomplished something when they've raised that $100. (Of course, $100 was chosen based on the anticipated team member demographic: many recent college grads and young theatre artists. A team of bankers might want a higher goal.)

So I set a goal for each team member to raise $100, and I predicted we would get 50 team members. In retrospect, I think the 50 team member goal was too ambitious. Many people express support when you mention the idea of doing a charity walk, but it takes a time commitment so you have to factor a high drop-out rate. Also, since I set that goal, I've learned that it takes only 25 team members to get a designated sign-in booth at the event. That makes 25 a meaningful number. I've been reaching out to new team members via email and facebook, saying, "We have 15 team members registered and we need just 10 more to get our own booth." I think that has encouraged people to sign up faster; they realize their participation will lead to a tangible outcome.

I'll continue to document our fundraising progress and which techniques are most successful. Before I end this post, here is one other few other observation I've made:

I've had the most success by emailing my personal contacts, both for recruiting team members and donors. I spent time crafting a clear and upbeat email with all the event information as well as a brief FAQ. I encouraged each new Team Member to forward the email to their own contacts and just change the name on the signature to their own. That's been a successful tool. Even if your other members are enthusiastic about the event, you'll always get the highest response if you put the time into creating materials and then tell them "all you need to do is press send." It makes it harded for them to procrastinate doing it. Also, I've contacted the team members each week to see if they have any questions and to remind them to invite their friends to join the walk.