Not a Ride, but a Run - U.S. Half Marathon in SF

[michelem]

Hi all,

This will be my first ever fundraising event - the U.S. Half Marathon in San Francisco, November 4, 2007. I will be raising funds to support pancreatic cancer research. Please check out my brand-new fundraising website and let me know what you think.

http://www.active.com/donate/pancrea...ran/mlmagnaghi

Any tips and hints are greatly appreciated - as I said, this is my first time doing this and I am clueless!

Thanks very much.

Michele

P.S. If you ever hear of a ride that supports pancreatic cancer or lung cancer research please let me know! Now that I have the cycling bug, running just isn't as fun anymore.

[michelem]

I'm feeling rather discouraged. Weeks after my initial e-mail campaign of close to 150 e-mails I have received one $50 donation toward my approx. $2400 goal (have to raise that minimum to get overnight race accomodations). HR posted a flier at our central offices (over 100 employees) as well. Nothing from that. Any suggestions???

[maryellen]

having raised $ for my empire state aids ride in 2005 i learned that fundraising can be weird. some folks will donate if asked directly but won't even look at a fundraising email. hang in there and be persistent, you'll get there. talk up your training runs. or maybe threaten to go to work without showering until you raise your minimum.

[Zen]

Keep e-mailing until you get responses.
also look for big money donors, like a gym or a bank. i think banks have a requirement to make charitable donations.
Write up your own letter and throw some pathos in there. Make it personal as to why you're doing that fund raiser.
Think of the stuff the humane society sends out, it always tugs at the heartstrings.
Fund raising is tough.

[michelem]

Thanks for the suggestions. Our city donated land for a dog park, but the residents have to raise the money to build it out. It is S . . . L . . . O . . . W going, and this is for something that I hear people complain about all the time (lack of a dog park)! So, yes, I agree, it seems that fundraising is just plain hard! I'll keep at it.

[Duck on Wheels]

UK Elephant raised a good bit of her ALC6 money by baking cookies. She packaged them in little baggies with a sticker on each baggie with some basic information about the funding goals and her fund-raising web site URL. Sold them at the university where she works and the one where her bf works. I think she did that from a little table with flyers about the event. I don't know if she got any further donations that way, but the cookies sold well. Of course, she bakes really gooooood cookies! Aside from that, it's persistent nagging, emailing friends and family with stories about how training is going, personal stories about people affected by the disease the funding will go towards finding a cure for, thank you notes ...