Now that we're a month into 2020, your event planning has probably started to ramp up, and it's time to start raising funds for your 5K event. You've set a goal, now how do you reach it? Here are a few fundraising tips we use at Powered by Professionals that can help your organization achieve its 5K event fundraising goal and plan an awesome event:
1. Individual and Team Fundraising Incentives
If you're not already doing this, make sure to have fundraising incentives for your fundraisers, and give them a reason to be excited about reaching a goal! Fundraisers appreciate it when their efforts are rewarded. Consider giving them a personal "team sign" at the event if they raise $500, or a "team tent" at the event if they raise $5,000. However you decide to set your incentive levels, these are great ways to reward your teams for hitting certain fundraising goals, but it will also have the added benefit of making your event site look even more celebratory!
2. Short Term Fundraising Competitions
Fundraisers get excited as they get closer and closer to an event, and something that works well is announcing a fundraising competition a few days out from the event to really keep the momentum going! If you have the capacity to get some experiences or items donated for the walk, it can be great to use them as a reward for a fundraising competition. Here's an example - "The team that raises the most in the final 72 hours before the event will win 4 tickets to a Broadway Show! The winning team will be announced at the event."
3. Hold a Kick-Off Event
Another great way to engage your fundraisers is to hold a kick-off event for your team captains. Invite them all to meet your staff and their fellow team captains. It gives you an opportunity to share updates about your organization to the team captains and also gives the team captains a chance to talk with one another about fundraising ideas.
4. Get to Know Your Team Captains
Your team captains created a team page for a reason: they have a strong tie to your cause! Do more than just let the automated emails go out to them; give them a call and learn more about their story, or invite them to a kick-off event. Personally email them to get them excited about a fundraising competition, or make sure they're aware of any fundraising incentives for the event. Ensure that your team captains are as invested in your event as you are invested in them.
5. Get the 5K Course Certified for Runners
It takes a little bit of planning, but once you have a certified course measured to be exactly 5K it will help to get more runners at your event. There's an opportunity to attract a lot of people who want to participate in the 5K just to run it, but they'll want to know that the course is certified to make their time official. An added benefit is that more people will learn about the mission of your organization on race day. Plus, USATF race certifications are valid for 10 years so you don't have to go through the process each year if this is an annual event.
6. Dig Through your Data
Don't forget the fundraising lists from two or three years ago. Who fundraised more 2 years ago than last year? Who increased their fundraising over the years? Who participated 2 years ago, but not last year? Reach out to these lapsed fundraisers to see if you can re-engage them in this year's race. Get these fundraisers excited early on!
7. Use Tiered Registration Pricing
Early Bird, Regular, and Day of Event pricing: the advantage of tiered pricing is two-fold: First, it creates a sense of urgency to register before the event gets more expensive. Second, it drives more people to register early, which creates more buzz and more opportunity to attract participants.
If there are a couple key takeaways from all this, it would be to really work closely with your Team Captains, and to try to get them excited about your event. Hopefully these tips will help you reach your 5K Event Goal, but if you want more advice we're always happy to talk about fundraising and how to make your event a success!