We just wanted to thank everyone who participated in last weekend’s Run for a Reason in NYC. We had about 25 runners join us in the 5 mile run through Central Park. Through your AWESOME efforts you all helped raise $13000 for 13 different charities and causes. Overall, it was a great weekend and we look forward to next year’s run!

Here are a few pictures from the event.  You can check out the rest of the album on Facebook

GiveForward wants to give a shout out to Aron “the fundraising dominator” Grossman for being the first GFer in GiveForward history to reach 100% of his fundraising goal.

This fundraising stud is raising money for the Fresh Air Fund, an organization that provides free summer vacations to inner-city kids from NYC. You can check out his page here.

Aron is one of over forty people running in GiveForward’s Run for a Reason five-mile fun run next weekend in New York City. Although Aron has admittedly never run five consecutive miles in his life, Aron decided to be like Gheorghe Muresan, and “score one for the kids.” Way to go, Aron!!

For all the ladies out there, you can catch a glympse of this big-hearted, fundraising stud at 8:30 AM on October 26th as he completes his history making, first ever, five mile run through Central Park.

Anyway, if you’re reading this Aron, we just wanted to say “Congratulations” on this monumental accomplishment. GiveForward will be sending you a congratulatory bottle of Gheorghe Mursesan cologne for your efforts.

GiveForward’s “Run for a Reason” is two weeks away and we’re happy to say that Team GiveForward has raised over $5000 so far a number of different charities and causes. So far there are about 45 people signed up to run the race with us on the 26th and many of them have been busy raising money for their favorite charities.  For everyone who has been busy fundraising, great job and keep up the good work.

We’ll keep a running tally of our total raised and add more updates on the blog as the race approaches.

Thanks again for all your hard work!

Our economy is in the tank; your 401(k) has taken a nosedive and you’re about to ask Grandma Elsie for her favorite Depression era recipe for shoe soup. We know it’s not pretty out there, and trust us, we feel your pain. That’s why we’ve decided to come to the rescue. That’s right, you heard it here first, folks. After days of negotiation, the powers that be at GiveForward have passed an historic $300 bailout plan to jumpstart the old economic engines.

OK, so maybe it’s not as monumental as $700 billion, but we are giving away 300 smackers to help jumpstart your fundraising efforts. Here’s how the GF bailout plan works:

On October 26th GiveForward is traveling to New York to Run for a Reason in the Poland Springs Marathon Kickoff Fun Run.

If you are running with us on the 26th, you are eligible for either of the two cash prizes below

On October 26th 2008 GiveForward will be in New York ‘running for a reason’ to raise money for our favorite charities in the Poland Springs New York Marathon Kickoff Fun Run.

We aren’t in good enough shape to run the NY Marathon, but we’re pretty confident we can conquer a five mile fun run through Central Park. The idea behind ‘Run for a Reason’ is that unlike most charity races where everyone runs for the same charity, with this event, you get to run for the charity or cause that is most important to YOU.

If you are interested in joining us, send us an email (ethan@giveforward.org) and let us know, sign up for your GF fundraising page, and make sure to register for the race before Oct 11th. It’s $25 to register. $30 after the 11th. You can register at http://www.nyrr.org/races/2008/r1026×00.asp

Hope to see you all out there!

Remember when you were a kid and Mom used to get on your case about writing thank you notes?   Well, Mom was right.  It’s always a good idea to thank the peeple that helped you out along the way.  That’s why we just added a new feature that allows you write personalized thank you emails directly to your donors.

Here’s how:

When you log in and go to “My Fundraisers” click on the “My Donors” tab.  From here you can send an email directly to Aunt Edna, your amigos or even the friend of a friend who sent you $10 to help with your fundraising effort.  So go ahead, be a mensch and give it a try.  We promise you,  Aunt Edna and the rest of your donors will really appreciate it.

We have come to the finish line of our week-long fund race, and after counting every last penny, we are happy to Congratulate Priya Patel as our fund race winner!

Priya raised $550 for her fundraiser “Bring Bouba Back” and GiveForward will recognize her impressive efforts with a check for $100.

We also want to congratulate everyone who participated and made GiveForward’s first fund race a success. Collectively, you raised a little over $1400 in seven days, each helping make a difference for the fundraiser of your choice.

If you missed this fund race, Stay tuned to GiveForward for future competitions. Thanks again everyone!

If you checked out my previous blog post, The Three Ps to Successful Fundraising, you probably already know that spreading the word to friends and family about your fundraising effort is critical to reaching your fundraising goal. But what you might not know is that there is a right way and a wrong way to spread the word to your peeps. You have to promote strategically if you plan on raising lots of money for your cause. This blog post explains how.

The Wrong Way. I guess it makes sense to first start off by telling you what not to do. The quickest way to cripple your fundraising campaign is to set up your fundraising page and then immediately send a mass email to everyone you know asking them to donate. This is a bad idea. No bueno amigo.

Sending a mass email is bad for two reasons.

First, mass emails are impersonal. People don’t feel compelled to donate when they receive a mass email. People respond much much much more positively when they receive a phone call or a personalized email that is directed towards them.

Second, if you send out a single mass email to everyone you know, you have no control over who donates first. Why does it matter who donates first? Well, it has to do with the law of monkey see, monkey do.

When people come to your fundraising page, they check out the donor list to see the average donation size. Then they donate a similar amount. If they see that most people are donating between $50-$100, then they will likely donate between $50-$100. On the other hand, if they check out your donor list and see that most people are donating between $5-$10, then they’ll probably donate $5-$10 too.

By contacting all your friends, family, co-workers and schoolmates at the same time with a single mass email, you’re leaving your fundraising campaign entirely up to chance, as you’ll have no control over who donates first. For all you know, your first few donations might be from people who give you $5 or $10 prompting subsequent donors to donate equally small amounts and making it hard for you to ever reach your fundraising goal.

To summarize, mass emails are definitely the wrong way to spread the word because you’re pleas are either going to be ignored or you are going to leave your fundraising campaign up to chance.

The Right Way. The right way to promote your fundraising page, is to use what I oh-so-modestly call “Ethan’s Super-Awesome Strategic Fundraising Model”. In short, what you’re going to want to do is to categorize your potential donors into different groups and then contact them over a period of weeks starting with your Big Guns (i.e. those likely to donate the largest amounts) first.

STEP ONE: Subdividing Your Contact List

The first step in creating a strategic fundraising campaign is to break down your potential donors into three different groups.

Group One: Your Base

The first group is your base. Your base consists of parents, grandparents, spouses, aunts and uncles, godparents and siblings. These are your BIG GUNS — the people you know will donate to your campaign and are likely to be the most generous with their contributions.

Group Two: Your Semi-Awesomes (more awesome than 99% of the rest of the world, but a little less awesome than your base)

This second group consists of friends, extended family, family friends, and co-workers. A good number of these people will donate to your campaign as well, but they might not be quite as generous as your base and it might take a few requests before they all donate.

Group Three: Your Stretch Group

Your third group of potential donors is your “stretch” group. This group consists of facebook friends, friends of friends and other acquaintances. These people probably won’t donate the first or even second time you ask them, but with a little persistence you can probably win over a good number of these fine folks as well.

STEP TWO: Contacting Your Subgroups

After you’ve broken down potential donors into three groups, the next step is to begin contacting your base. Since you probably speak to most of these people on a regular basis, it’s best to call them first and ask them to contribute to your fundraising effort before you send them an email. By calling them first, they’ll be quicker to donate once they actually get your email request.

What’s nice about handpicking your first few donors is if they all give you nice big fatty $100 or $200 donations, subsequent donors will follow their lead and donate similar amounts, or at least amounts somewhat close to that range.

Once you’ve raised a good bit of money from your base (which could take anywhere from a few days to about a week) you should begin contacting your Semi-Awesomes. You can call these people on the phone if you are close with them and have the time. If you don’t have time to call, sending them personal emails requesting that they donate should be sufficient.

Continue emailing individuals and/or sub-groups of people (e.g. college buddies, high school buddies, co-workers) on your list. After about half of your semi-awesomes have donated. You can begin to email your “stretch group” of Facebook friends and acquaintances. Again, keep going down the list and don’t stop until you’ve contacted everyone you know.

STEP THREE: Rinse and Repeat

Once you’ve contacted everyone once, it’s time to rinse and repeat. Even close friends and family “forget” to donate right away so you’ll have to keep reminding them, often three, four, five or even six times before they donate. But don’t get too frustrated. Persistence always pays off and if your friends and family like you even a little bit, they’ll almost certainly come through for you in the clutch!

Persistence

Okay, so quick review. In the first two sections we discussed the importance of personalization and promotion. The last thing you need to remember on your path to becoming a fundraiser rock star extraordinaire is that persistence pays off. It’s rare that people donate immediately after your first email or phone request. Don’t get discouraged and don’t take it personally. Sometimes it takes people the second, third, fourth, fifth or even sixth request before they donate. However, if you are raising money for a good cause and you are proud of what you are doing, your friends and family will be more than happy to support you. They’ll all come around eventually. Sometimes they just don’t get around to it right away and it takes a little nudging on your part to get them there.

So you must be wondering, how the heck am I going to send my amigos three, four, five, or even six emails without getting on their nerves. Well, the best way to send multiple emails to your friends and family over a short period without getting on their nerves is to offer them updates and new information about your fundraising efforts instead of just asking repeatedly for donations. That’s why it’s really important to keep your fundraising page updated with new photos, videos, blog entries and notes on your event calendar.

For example, let’s say you are running a marathon to raise money for AIDS research. Every time you reach a significant training or fundraising milestone you have a new reason to email your donor list. Tell them very briefly in the email about your accomplishment and encourage them to check out your fundraising page for the updated photos and blog entries. Your friends and family will like to hear about your progress and the emails will serve as a gentle reminder to all those who haven’t donated yet.

Remember, you’re raising money for a good cause. Always be proud of what you are doing, and never be shy about sending out multiple emails. Eventually, everyone comes around and donates to your cuase. People just need reminders.

Okay, that’s it. Those are the three Ps for successful fundraising. Personalization, Promotion, Persistence. Make them your mantra and you’ll have no problem reaching your fundraising goals. Of course, if you ever have any more questions about fundraising tactics or strategies, feel free to email me (ethan@giveforward.org) or even give me a ring on my cell phone (949) 400-0132. I’m always happy to help.