Online Fundraising Signing up, managing your team and monitoring your team s progress is easy to do online. At marchforbabies.org you ll find everything you need to help your team succeed. In a case study of walkers raising funds online versus wraparoundfocused fundraising, the online focus raised $12,500 (50 walkers @ $250 online average) and the wraparound raised $3,065 (sale of bean bag bears and cutouts, bake sales, raffle tickets, etc.). Raising funds online is the best strategy. E-mail your friends, family and colleagues and begin raising funds online.
Sign up your team Go to marchforbabies.org. If you have an account from last year, log on with the same username and password. Forgot either one? Enter your e-mail address, and we ll send you your information. New this year? Click start a team or join a team and follow prompts. Team captain dashboard Online administrators can use the dashboard to manage teams. Check with your chapter representative if you have this role. A team captain is not always the administrator. Personalize your team page Add a picture of the team or your team/company ambassador and include a message. Tell the story of your ambassador or another reason why your team is participating. Making a personal connection to the mission increases participation.
Spread the word Create an easy-to-remember URL for your team page by clicking on edit page on your dashboard. Click edit address and scroll down to enter your company or team name under team vanity URL. Copy the link and include on your flyers, posters and in e-mails to make it easy for people to sign up or make their donation. Communicate, communicate, communicate From your team dashboard, import and manage e-mail lists and send e-mails to the team. Send invites to your kick-off, announcements and updates on your team s progress. We keep track of current and past team members so you can easily e-mail them team updates and recruitment messages. Help the team raise money Having your team members register and raise money online makes your job easier and helps improve results. Here are things you can do from the dashboard to help your team succeed. Set a goal and post it. Teams raise more money when a goal is promoted. Ask vendors and associates to donate to the team online. Ask people who can t or don t want to walk to support the team with a donation. You have access to real-time progress reports. Share how many people have joined, how much has been raised, who the top fundraisers are, etc. Raise money with your Facebook friends Use our Facebook application to communicate with your March for Babies account and fundraise in real-time with your online friends. Promote you company s involvement with March for Babies on your company s Facebook page and encourage your employees to promote their involvement by including the link to their marchforbabies.org fundraising page on their Facebook page. OFT help For help, contact ofthelp@marchofdimes.com or call (888) 274-3711 for live help.
Materials Available at marchforbabies.org are materials to help you execute a successful campaign. Click on the company teams tab to find sample messages, posters, banners and badges. Use them to spread the word and motivate your team members. The following items are available online in the Team Captain Tool Kit. Team goal poster Put this poster up where everyone can see it. Use a marker to fill in your team goal and track your progress. Be sure to update often and keep management in the loop. Spotlight poster Print out, fill in and put up. Highlight your top fundraisers or people who did something special for the team. This is a great thank-you and motivator to others to step up their game. Hang the spotlight poster next to your team goal poster or tape it to the door or cubicle of the team member you re highlighting. I m a March for Babies walker poster Fill in the space provided with your personal fundraising URL, and then hang this poster upon your office door or cubicle. Use it as a way to announce that you are fundraising for March for Babies. Team tracking poster Print out, fill in and put up. Use this poster to track how many captains and walkers are on your team. Mark what their goals are and track their progress as they reach those goals. Hold a contest to see which captain can raise the most money and recruit the most walkers.
Sample E-mail Messages Send out these e-mail messages to introduce yourself as team captain and encourage registration and fundraising. Ask your March of Dimes representative for state statistics. E-mail to recruit walkers Our company is supporting the March of Dimes by participating in March for Babies. Each year, more than half a million babies are born prematurely, and more than 120,000 babies are born with serious birth defects. Right here in (state), (number) are born too soon. That is why (company) is walking together for stronger, healthier babies. We have a lofty goal: $(amount). But I know we can pull this off. We need (number) walkers on the team. Can we count you in? Signing up and raising money online for March for Babies is easy. Visit marchforbabies.org/(your team s name) and click join this team to get started. Our event takes place on (date) at (location). I know we ll have a great time. But first, there s work to be done. Let s show everyone how much (company) cares about babies! I m your team captain, so please contact me with any questions. E-mail to encourage fundraising Thank you for joining the team. I know you will make (company) and the babies in our community proud. Too many of them start life in newborn intensive care after they were born too soon or very sick. We can change that. Have you set up your fundraising page yet? This is fundraising made easy! You can import your mailing list and send out e-mails asking for support. And you can download fun widgets and badges to use in your e-mail signature or on your Facebook page. We have (number) weeks to go to March for Babies, and there s a lot of work to be done. We already raised $(amount) towards our $(amount) goal. If you have any questions, please contact me at.
E-mail to announce bank day How is your fundraising going? Remember, those dollars mean a lot to the families of babies born too soon or sick. And they will help give new babies a chance to get a healthy start. If you ve received any cash or check donations, mark your calendar! We re having a collection day on (date) between (time) and (time). Just stop by (location). I ve just checked, and as a team, we re now up to $(amount)! Our top fundraiser is (name), who raised $(amount) so far. Congratulations! If you have questions, or need anything else, please contact me at. E-mail with event details We re just a week away from March for Babies. Don t forget to mark your calendar: (date), (location). We re meeting at (time) for a group photo and to start the walk together. I ve attached the directions to the event. And, yes, that s my cell phone number at the top just in case you need to get a hold of me. I also wanted to give you an update. Right now, we re still $(amount) short of our goal of $(amount). So, send out those last-minute e-mails! Remember, every dollar you raise helps the March of Dimes give hope to the families of sick babies. Thank-you e-mail You raised money, you walked, and you showed just how much (company) cares about babies. We had a great time at March for Babies day and now have some great pictures to show for it. I ve attached my favorite team shot. I m happy to say we reached our goal! We raised $(amount) by walking together for stronger, healthier babies. I m proud of each and every one of you. Thank you so much! Let s do this again, only bigger, in 2012!