Run Walk Ride Fundraising Audiocourses

Creating a Winning Local Sponsorship Plan

Maureen Carlson, President, Caliber, LLC

It's shocking how many local runs, walks and rides have the logos of numerous local sponsors on their event signage, but receive very little from them. Is your independent or chapter thon fundraising program maximizing its cash and in-kind sponsorship opportunities?

Price: $99 or FREE to RWRFC members
Buy now | Read more

 

Banding Together for a Cause

author, Rachel Armbruster

The former director of development at the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Rachel Armbruster played a key role in the creation of the LIVESTRONG wrist brand campaign, a program that transformed that organization. As author of "Banding Together for a Cause," Rachel will share insights gained from that experience that can help other nonprofits enhance their overall performance and event programs.

Price: $99 or FREE to RWRFC members
Buy now | Read more

 

The A to Z of Thon Fundraising Event Sponsorship
A Three Part Training Series

Maureen Carlson, EVP, Good Scout Group

Make funders run to support your event.

Does your organization produce a run, walk, ride, or similar event or series? Are you finding it challenging to attract more sponsorship dollars? Then join us in the three-part tutorial The A to Z of Thon Fundraising Event Sponsorship for the tools and insights you need to reach the next level.

In Session One, we’ll cover how to assess your event and its potential opportunity, create a valuation metric to define sponsorship levels, and build the effective materials you need to start your outreach. Session Two will focus on identifying the best sponsor leads in the right categories for your particular event, and getting you into the room with them, ready to present an integrated, customized ask. Session Three will delve deeper into understanding what companies are looking for, the process of getting to yes, proving your value through measurement and stewardship tactics, and making sponsors feel like your win is their win, too.

This comprehensive tutorial will ignite your team and empower them to secure your share of the sponsorship pie – so put on your running shoes and let’s get going! Each registrant will receive access to three recorded sessions and course materials you'll want to keep for future reference.

Registration Fee: $250 RWRFC members save 10%
contact us if you need the code

Price: $250 for the Series
Buy now | Read more

 

Tapping the Power of Relationships and Incentives to Drive Fundraising

Katrina VanHuss of Turnkey Promotions

Many fundraisers are motivated by mission, but new research shows that their performance can be dramatically impacted by leveraging three distinct factors:

1) The timing of motivational messages encouraging them to reach out to their network
2) The branded incentives offered to motivate them to fundraise
3) Relationships between participants and their pool of donors
Find out how three nonprofits used this knowledge to achieve terrific results – results that earned one of them a Fundraiser Success Award for Fundraising Excellence!

Please join us for valuable lessons on motivating more of your event participants to be fundraising machines.

Registration is Free. This teleconference is sponsored by Turnkey Marketing.

Price: Free
Buy now | Read more

 

Mining for Gold: Identifying and Sharing Innovation and Success across an Organization

Amy Boulas of the National MS Society

It’s no secret that for national organizations, many of the best ideas and most successful strategies come from the local level. The staff and volunteers in the field are closest to participants and donors giving them the best perspective on ways to engage, motivate, cultivate and reward these VIPs. Would you like to learn more about how to identify and scale success? Then make sure you listen to this presentation led by Amy Boulas, National Director, Walk MS with the National MS Society

Price: $99 or Free to RWR Members
Buy now | Read more

 

Driving Change from Headquarters to the Field

Jodie Kolkowski & Julie Taylor of American Heart Association

It's a sad reality that many worthy thon fundraising innovations developed at headquarters are half-heartedly adopted by staff and volunteers working in the field.

Price: $99 or Free to RWR Members
Buy now | Read more

 

Marathon Fundraising Success

Debra Askanase and Andrew Urban of First Giving

What differentiates top marathon program fundraisers from underachievers? To get to the bottom of this question, First Giving analyzed the performance of 907 Boston Marathon runners who collectively raised more than $2 million for nonprofit organizations in 2010.

Join us to learn how the timing, volume and messaging of fundraising messages can dramatically impact fundraising outcomes. All teleconference participants will receive a free copy of First Giving's "Marathon Fundraising Success Guide."

Price: Free
Buy now | Read more

 

Big City Mountainers & Founder, Summit for Someone Benefit Climb Series

Mark Godley

Big City Mountaineers provides challenged urban teens with mentoring through wilderness expeditions. Closely aligned with the outdoor industry, the group took a unique route to create its signature Summit for Someone program. Participants, who must commit to raise a substantial minimum donation, choose between dozens of professionally guided climbs and receive thousands of dollars worth of climbing gear donated by Backpacker Magazine and other sponsors.

Price: $99 or FREE to RWRFC members
Buy now | Read more

 

A Roadmap for Using Social Media

Jeff Risley, Vice President, Social Media at Barkley

Could you use a road map to integrating social media into your thon fundraising marketing mix?

If so, listen as Jeff Risley, VP of Social Media at Barkley, leads a teleconference covering:

  • how to get started with social media (or evaluate your efforts)
  • examples of events using social media well
  • a preview of "what's next" in the social media space

Price: $99 or FREE to RWRFC members
Buy now | Read more

 

Empowering Volunteer Leaders to Succeed

Tracy Hale at Turnkey Promotions

For many organizations, the key to producing ongoing, successful event fundraising programs is the proper cultivation and utilization of empowered volunteer leaders.

That being said, it’s not uncommon for nonprofit professionals to fear that volunteer leaders will “get out of control” and make decisions that the professional staff would not agree.

In this recorded session, Tracy Hale at Turnkey Promotions will share insights and strategies to effectively engage volunteer leaders to produce highly authentic financially successful events.

Topics covered include:

  • 1. Volunteer leadership: what difference does it make?
  • 2. Volunteers as leaders: who should I recruit?
  • 3. Volunteer motivation: where does it come from?
  • 4. Volunteer roles: who’s the most valuable player?
  • 5. Volunteer empowerment: letting go.

Price: Free
Buy now | Read more

 

10 Steps to Greening Your Event

Bruce Rayner, Chief Green Officer, Athletes for a Fit Planet, LLC

Environmental sustainability is an increasingly important issue for athletic event planners as municipalities, sponsors and participants alike demand ‘greener’ events.

Join Bruce Rayner, founder and Chief Green Officer of Athletes for a Fit Planet, as he presents a practical and cost-effective approach to greening your event. From recycling to carbon neutrality to greening your supply chain, Bruce will share insights and ideas for how you can create a long-term sustainability plan.

Fit Planet is a leading provider of environmental services to organizers of athletic events across North America , including running, multi-sport, cycling and walking events.

Price: $99 or FREE to RWRFC members
Buy now | Read more

 

Reaching For the Stars-- Working With Celebrities For Cause-Related Marketing Campaigns & Special Events

Rita Tateel, president of the Celebrity Source

Engaging the right celebrity can shower attention on your program and multiply its impact, but involving the wrong stars can waste money and staff time and yield the wrong kind of publicity. Listen in as Celebrity Source President Rita Tateel shares valuable advice on the proper integration of famous folks into your cause marketing campaign or fundraising program.

Price: $99 or FREE to RWRFC members
Buy now | Read more

 

The ABCs of Social Media

Donna Wilkins of Charity Dynamics

If you are unfamiliar with Facebook and Twitter, Donna Wilkins of Charity Dynamics developed a one-hour introductory class and printed guide that will help bring you up to speed. Please note: This is NOT a session on leveraging social media for thon fundraising. It is an introduction to fundamental social media vocabulary, concepts and tools.

Price: $99 or FREE to RWRFC members
Buy now | Read more

 

Communication from Registration to Beyond the Finish Line

Jonathan Drennan

Learn email communication strategies to increase your event’s number of returning participants, recruit new participants, and ensure that those who sign up stay engaged with their online fundraising tools and come back next year.

Price: $99 or FREE to members
Buy now | Read more

 

Dan Pallotta, author of UnCharitable

Dan Pallotta

Pallotta Team Works invented long-form AIDS and breast cancer events that attracted 182,000 participants and netted hundreds of millions for charity between 1994 and 2002. The company's work was so groundbreaking that it was the subject of a Harvard Business School case study, but Pallotta Team Works had to shut down in 2002 because of a dispute with the Avon Products Foundation, its main client.

Price: $99 or FREE to members
Buy now | Read more

 

Developing a PR Strategy to Keep Your Event Top of Mind

Jennifer Cawley

With so many endurance walks and runs available for the public to choose from today, it is important to keep your event top of mind and relevant with consumers. Through its strategic relationships and media relations approach, the Breast Cancer 3-Day has done just that, and the event is enjoying a record-breaking year for registrations. Learn how specific PR and media relations strategies have contributed to making this three-day, 60-mile event for breast cancer a success even during turbulent economic times.

Price: $99 or FREE to RWRFC members
Buy now | Read more

 

Legal Aspects of Athletic Event Fundraising

Erika Moore Hollis, Attorney

You don’t have to be a lawyer to manage an athletic fundraising event, but legal knowledge can help you avoid major problems. Valuable advice is given from attorney Erika Moore Hollis on responsible event and risk management, including waivers, sponsorship contracts, and insurance.

Price: $99 or FREE to RWRFC members
Buy now | Read more

 

How to Retain More of Your Endurance Fundraising Program Participants

Mike Dilbeck, National Director, Team To End AIDS

The good news about endurance fundraising: Every year more people sign up to raise large amounts of money. The bad news: Many programs see a third or more drop out before race day.

Price: $99 or Free to RWR Members
Buy now | Read more

 

The State of Event Fundraising: Perspectives on 2012

Jeff Shuck, president and CEO of Event 360

2012 has been a very interesting year for event fundraising. We’ve seen the rise of a lot of new, innovative events, we’ve seen successful programs stay flat, we’ve seen some long-standing programs experience a decline. What’s happening and what is our crystal ball telling us about the state of event fundraising for the future? What can you and your organization focus on to ensure growth in 2013? Listen as Jeff Shuck, president and CEO of Event 360, shares some tales from the front and some advice for moving forward.

Price: Free (sponsored by Event 360)
Buy now | Read more

 

Raising Big Dollars By Letting Supporters Do Their Own Thing

Marla Barr, Programs Manager at the San Diego Zoo Global and Nancy Palo, Senior Consultant with Blackbaud's Strategic Services Team

Requests from supporters to create their own peer-to-peer fundraising programs have long made nonprofit executives squeamish. Typical reactions range from: "For Pete's sake, why don't they just get in line and take part in what we've worked so hard to produce?" to "What kind of trouble are these people going to cook up without our close supervision?"

Those attitudes have done little to tamp down people's desires to go the independent route. Do-it-yourself online fundraising platforms make it easy for supporters to go out and hold their own programs with or without approval. The diversity of ways people are leveraging peer-to-peer fundraising on their own is tremendous from climbing mountains to asking for birthday donations to hosting virtual food drives.

Many flexible nonprofit organizations that embrace this trend instead of fighting it are reaping big benefits. Join us as Blackbaud's Nancy Palo and the San Diego Zoo's Marcia Barr describe how to make the do-it-yourself fundraising movement work for your organization.

Price: FREE (sponsored by Blackbaud)
Buy now | Read more

 

Endurance Event Fundraising Success: An Insider’s Perspective

Jon Moore, Director of Product Marketing, FirstGiving & Chelsea Steed, Director of RUN FOR AUTISM

Endurance events are a great way to use the draw of an established race to boost fundraising. Hooking into the “big event” is only the first step; effective planning and donor engagement is the real secret sauce. FirstGiving has examined fundraising performance data from three of the largest marathons (Boston, Chicago & NY) to extract practical & powerful planning practices.

Price: FREE (sponsored by FirstGiving)
Buy now | Read more

 

Tap the Power of Highly Social Campaigns to Raise More Money

Michael Schmidt the Director of Digital Media & Philanthropy at Arnold Palmer Medical Center and Dave Boyce, CEO of Fundly

How did the Arnold Palmer Hospital’s “Arnie’s March” raise five times more money than any prior year? What enabled Indiana University’ storied “Little 500” race to activate 62 fundraising teams – in just one week?

Price: FREE (sponsored by Fundly)
Buy now | Read more

 

Rapidly Growing a Small Program

Alicia O'Neill, Director, Endurance Events and Race Program MMRF

Insider Insights from the the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation

Faced with daunting challenges, including a disease and foundation that no one has heard of, no program, no staff, no budget and no chapters, the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) launched an Endurance Events Program in 2008. In just five years the program has generated over $8 million and developed marquee partnerships, like the Empire State Building Run-Up, generating widespread publicity and raising significant dollars for the cause.

Price: $99 or FREE to RWRFC members
Buy now | Read more

 

Unleashing the Power of Your Outliers

Meghan Dankovich, Laurie Schaecher and Suzanne Mooney, Event 360

Meet the outliers: They are your top fundraisers. The new event donor who just became a major donor. The captain of your team with the most fundraisers. The opposite of your average event participant—the opposite of normal.

Price: FREE (sponsored by Event 360)
Buy now | Read more

 

Using Engagement Tactics to Drive Overall Event Performance

Charity Dynamics’ Cassidy Richards and American Diabetes Association’s Shana Masterson

What is the role of engagement in driving peer-to-peer event success? Join Charity Dynamics’ Cassidy Richards and American Diabetes Association’s Shana Masterson for key insights from the Nonprofit Donor Engagement Benchmark Report for understanding your participants’ giving behavior, engagement preferences and motivations that drive their support for charitable organizations and causes.

Price: FREE (sponsored by Charity Dynamics)
Buy now | Read more

 

Advanced Concepts in Peer-2-Peer Fundraising - Maximizing ROI

Mike Spear, director of customer growth, StayClassy and Jennifer Kalker, Event Resources and Fundraising Engagement Coordinator for the National MS Society

The face of run/walk/ride fundraising is changing. New fundraising and engagement tools make it easier than ever to tap into your supporters networks and inspire them to go above and beyond for your cause. Learn how to leverage cutting-edge crowdfunding and marketing tools to get maximum ROI from your events, and integrate them seamlessly into a year-round fundraising initiative that empowers your supporters like never before.

Key Takeaways:

- Starting strong and setting yourself up for success

- Optimization tactics for every stage of your campaign

- Getting the most from sponsors and multimedia assets

- Maximizing event ROI through "rolling peer-to-peer" fundraising

Price: FREE (sponsored by StayClassy)
Buy now | Read more

 

From "Good for Nothing" to Just Plain Good: Engaging Youth With Alternative Fundraising Events

Paul Ghiz and Zac Johnson

For many non-profits Gen Y and Gen Z are untapped event fundraising markets. Join us for this discussion of how to create programs that will engage constituents in their teens and twenties led by DonorDrive's Paul Ghiz. Zac Johnson will describe strategies and tactics that have made the Children's Miracle Networks 36-hour-long marathons on campuses across the country both wildly successful and a continuing tradition. You'll leave with better understanding of how to get Gen Y and Gen Z consumers to participate and donate and why they're so important to your fundraising efforts today and tomorrow.

Price: Free
Buy now | Read more

 

Helping Thon Participants Host Successful Independent Fundraising Events

Christine Bohle, Senior Marketing Manager, Eventbrite

An increasing number of pro-active nonprofits are helping thon participants hit their fundraising goals by giving them the advice and tools they need to throw successful independent events (e.g. everything from happy hours to formal dinners) Live events provide a powerful platform for raising a lot of money, quickly. When combined with traditional online fundraising strategies, your athletes cannot just meet their fundraising commitments, but crush them!

Price: Free
Buy now | Read more

 

Effective PR for Thon Fundraising Programs

Jackson Wightman is Minister of Propaganda at Proper Propaganda

But let's face it, there are so many thons, they tend to occur during a particular period of the year and media resources - whether we're talking about old or new media - are stretched.

Bottom line, it's hard to get media to come and cover your run, walk or ride.

Don't give up! There are some easy to implement PR tactics that will make your event stand out in the eyes of the media, and move you to that next level.

During this recorded session, Jackson Wightman, who has generated millions of dollars in earned media for charities and charity events across North America, shares a variety of tips on scoring media coverage for your thons. From using video to service media needs, to employing social media to engage reporters, to activating constituents for coverage, you’ll get all the tricks of the trade in this presentation.

Price: $99 or FREE to RWRFC members
Buy now | Read more

 

Strengthening Your Endurance Fundraising Program in 2013

Staci Brown, President SLB Consulting

Widely-regarded as one of the most effective players in the endurance fundraising space, Staci Brown will help you kick off your 2013 endurance fundraising program with insights into:

  • marketing your program
  • selecting the right combination of races
  • staffing for success
  • retaining past participants
  • providing current participants with effective fundraising support

Price: $99 or FREE to RWRFC members
Buy now | Read more

 

Walk Now for Autism Speaks

Paul Irwin-Dudek, Walk Now for Autism Speaks

Product of the merger of two organizations, Walk Now for Autism Speaks is the nation's largest grassroots autism walk program with over 400,000 individuals participating in 95 markets in the US and Canada. Only six years old, the program hit #17 on the 2011 Run Walk Ride Thirty list by raising $30.1 million. National Walk Director Paul-Irwin Dudek shares the story behind the program's rapid growth and an in-depth look at strategies it has adopted to tackle challenges.

Price: $99 or FREE to RWRFC members
Buy now | Read more

 

Leveraging Data to Keep Your Event Results on Track

Cassidy Richards, Charity Dynamics

After endless hours of planning, your event has left the station and is rolling down the tracks. As it picks up steam, drawing closer to the event date, the tasks pile up and it’s difficult to slow down, check the gauges and adjust the levers to keep results on track. As an event engineer this is exactly what you need to do and we’ll give you tips on how to do it.

Price: Free
Buy now | Read more

 

Support Events with Social Media that is Impactful, Actionable and Profitable

Stuart Boyd and Blake Groves of Charity Dynamics

Are you using social media effectively to support your events? Tools such as Facebook and Twitter can measurably improve your event results when done right. In this session you’ll learn best practices for using social media to:

  • Attract new event participants
  • Increase participant retention
  • Empower participants to fundraise
  • Generate awareness for your event

Price: Free
Buy now | Read more

 

Focusing Efforts to Support Fundraising Participants

Amy Braiterman & Amy Boulas

In recent studies by Blackbaud and the Run Walk Ride Fundraising Council, we learned that participants view participation in an event and fundraising for an event as two separate tasks.

In this session, Amy Braiterman and Amy Boulas, focus on the art of supporting participant fundraising efforts. This dynamic duo shed light on how to mine your data to uncover fundraising participants vs. those who simply want to support you on event day. Once you’ve identified the fundraisers from the non-fundraisers, you'll hear tactics to reach them and exceed their fundraising goals.

Price: Free (sponsored by Blackbaud)
Buy now | Read more

 

The Art and Benefits of Storytelling

Matt Glass, Eventage Partner and Chief Creative Officer

Just like any car, computer or cruise line company, your cause is a brand. Your goal, just like a for-profit organization, is to connect more people with your brand and, ultimately, raise more money and awareness to fulfill your mission. Eventage Partner and Chief Creative Officer Matt Glass will show you how storytelling is one of the most powerful ways to create and build customer connections. Effective storytelling can help you recruit new participants, motivate increased fundraising in the months leading up to your event and create a unique on-site experience which can further cement your relationship with your event participants.

Price: Free (sponsored by Eventage)
Buy now | Read more

 

Subject Lines that Get Opened

Insider Insights from the ConnectedNonprofit

Your subject line has one purpose: to get your email opened. These short little buggers need to pack a powerful punch because they are the difference between an opened email and a trashed one.

This session is designed to make writing effective headlines easy for you.

Price: $99 or FREE to RWRFC members
Buy now | Read more

 

Realizing the Promise of Third Party Events

Mike Malekoff, former vice president at JDRF

Hear Mike Malekoff, former vice president at JDRF, share insights gained while transforming third-party campaigns into the successful Team JDRF program. You'll learn about strategies JDRF and other groups have employed with supporter-organized and third-party events (like marathons) to maximize revenue and expand supporters and donor networks. Mike is introduced and joined by Todd Levy, Managing Partner of DonorDrive.

Price: FREE (sponsored by DonorDrive)
Buy now | Read more