Fund Raising – Walk-A-Thons
If you’re thinking of putting on a fund raising activity that’s a little different, one where people will really have a good time, why not try putting on a walk-a-thon? They’re certainly different and if you’ve got some healthy individuals in your organization, you can really rake in a few bucks with some generous sponsors. If you don’t know where to begin when putting on a walk-a-thon, the following tips should give you a good idea of where to start and what’s involved.
For those thinking of a fund raising walk-a-thon because you don’t need to get food for people, you’d better think again. Most walk-a-thons are all day events and people do need to eat. So plan on getting some hot dogs and other things of that nature. Even popcorn will do fine. Just as long as people don’t starve.
As for the walk-a-thon itself, the first thing you need to do is decide on where it’s going to be held. This is usually easy and cost free. Any local park will do as long as it has some kind of path of field people can walk around. This is why walk-a-thons are very good to run. They are relatively cheap.
The next thing you need to do is print up what they call boosters. These are simply sheets of paper where people sign their names and put their pledge amounts. You can have them make a pledge per mile walked for the person they are sponsoring or they can simply pledge a fixed amount no matter how much the person walks. You will find that the majority of people these days simply pledge fixed amounts because they don’t want to end up with a bill for hundreds of dollars in the case of somebody who is an Olympic runner. So don’t expect too many dollars per mile pledges.
The next thing you have to do is find people who are going to do the walking. This can be very difficult in organizations where the majority of the members are elderly. Unfortunately, in these times, most of the people doing charity work are up in years. So asking these people to walk many miles may be asking a lot. However, these people have relatives and most likely younger ones at that. There is no reason you can’t ask some of them to participate. There is no rule that says that the walkers have to actually be part of the organization itself.
And then of course there is the matter of snacks. If walkers get hungry or thirsty, especially thirsty, it would not be a good idea to run this event without at least bottles of water. The last thing you want is for your walkers to get dehydrated, especially if you’re running the event on a hot summer day. Food is optional, but water is an absolutely necessity. So make sure you have plenty of it.
Fund raising is a lot of hard work indeed. But if you follow the above tips, there is no reason that your walk-a-thon can’t be a huge success.
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Fund Raising
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Hey stop running – what do you think this is a marathon or something
3 days, 50 miles, closer to a cure for MS…located in Cape Cod, MA
This video, obviously inspired by the great Andy Samberg “Lettuce Skit” on SNL, was for our school’s charitable Walkathon. The video was supposed to give students instructions on how to acquire pledges and give them incentive to raise money. I don’t thikn the video accomplished either of those goals but it was still widely appreciated by the student body. By the way, the whole thing was improvised.
