Relay For Life University
Week 6 | Fundraising Development
Funding the Fight
Fundraising is encouraged year-round. Many teams will begin fundraising right after registering their team for the event at their kickoff. It’s important to set a goal. Set the fundraising goal 9-12 months prior to the event to get started with the goal in mind.
What you will focus on for Week 6...
Best Practices for Fundraising 101
The key to your success lies in training and motivating recruited volunteer teams by working with them to employ the best practices for team and community fundraising. As Relay For Life teams are recruited, identify their fundraising interests, make a plan, assist them with analyzing their plan to provide optimal return, and monitor their progress to conclusion. Sharing and presenting best practices from around the country will inspire and educate them to become effective fundraisers. The Fundraising Chair will recruit a committee, as necessary, to provide sufficient monitoring of the fundraising activities of all teams for that Relay. Remember, delegation does not equal loss of control. Instead, it demonstrates to your committee that you trust their abilities and empowers them to become leaders themselves.
The Relay For Life Fundraising Chair is a cheerleader, coach, and confidante charged with motivating these teams. The committee counts on this position to keep things running smoothly in order to organize successful fundraising for a team or community. The Fundraising Chair rallies the troops, overcomes challenges, and makes sure the job gets done in planning, implementing, and evaluating the very best fundraising activities.
Throughout the event process, the American Cancer Society staff partner serves as a partner and provides the Fundraising Chair with all of the necessary resources to get the job done.
A Balanced Approach
It’s a well-known fact that our most successful Relay For Life events and teams used a balanced approach to fundraising. In general, 73-85% of fundraising should come from Team Fundraising, 6-14% comes from Sponsorship and 3-10% comes from Luminaria sales. Using a combination of several types of fundraising allows us to reach as many people as possible, while at the same time promoting Relay For Life and building team camaraderie.
Resources to Read
- Wanna know where the money raised through Relay For Life goes? Check out this infograph that explains it all!
- Want a quick overview of fundraising? Click here to read what is live on RelayForLife.org that your volunteers also see!
- There are TONs of amazing fundraising resources for you and your volunteers. Choose one from here and share what you learned on your Yammer cohort group!
Activities to Join
- Fundraising 101 E-Learning via Society Pathways
- Relay Online Website training via Society Pathways
- Introduction to the Relay For Life Planning Toll via Society Pathways
- Connect with your learning cohort on this week's Monday Checkin Call
- Join the discussion on Yammer and share your questions, what you have learned, and ideas you have to make your Relays good and greater this year!
Action to Take
- Take the Week 6 challenge and set your team's fundraising goal using this Planning Guide. Your Week 6 Challenge is posted in your Yammer Learning Cohort.
- Review the Relay For Life recognition programs and talk with your manager about how to implement those programs with your events.