A few months ago, my friend Michelle, from NY TNT, had a brilliant campaign, Sponsor-A-Mile. This season, I’m recycling that idea for my next TNT season. I’ve only been promoting this campaign and i’ve already filled up half the slots – a half marathon of sponsors, if you will. It’s really great because each of the sponsors follow up with an encouraging e-mail telling me of how much they have my back and love how I’m involved in the community.
What do you get if you donate $50 or more? Your name and/or business name and URL will be listed on my fundraising page, Running WIthout Music Facebook Group page, and on this blog’s redesigned front page. You will also get a Twitter update (to over 1,000 followers), a Facebook status update (to approximately 750), and a MySpace bulletin (to about 900). Since most of these broadcasts are going out to my close friends and family, expect to get several visits, because they trust that I don’t blast spam links, and most are curious who is sponsoring. I’ve been told from some friends that they like to see who has sponsored, and most have been something they show an interest in. It’s a win-win for a $50 donation, and if you look at it, it’s less than $10 a month in marketing, AND you’ve contributed to a good cause.
Themed parties are always fun. Here’s an idea for an interesting one for the holidays. Do the usual donation at the door, discounted if you dress up. You can host it at your own house or apartment, or at a bar or club, depending on your budget. What should you have inside the party? A DJ of course, playing some dance tunes of the 80s and 90s keeping the theme fun. Maybe you could get someone to sponsor or donate a photobooth, which seem to be a very successful goodie at weddings or small dances. Have a silent auction to help boost donations, or opportunity drawings of even more prizes. You could even have ANOTHER ugly sweater as a prize to make it interesting. At the end of the night, announce an Ugly Sweater winner for the night, with some grand prize. Be sure to market that prize when you start promoting your event, too. If you end up throwing one of these, let me know how it goes!
A few days ago, I posted about auctioning yourself off. Last night, after a few hours of researching for my Web Captain position, I came across a participant from TNT’s blog. Her name is Kim and is training for the Disney World Half Marathon in Orlando, Florida.
Kim is selling pieces of herself. Yes, it sounds a little weird, but she explains herself. If you donate $100, she will write your name on that body part. Think of it as a sponsorship. What body parts?
Right Arm
Left Arm
Right leg
Left leg
Right Breast
Left Breast (sold not exclusive)
Right check
Left check
Belly
Back
I think this is a very interesting idea, and I think it might work especially with some close friends and relatives. Would you like to donate? You can help her out here.
Just when you thought there’s no other options, there is always another option. Some of you may feel this at the end of your fundraising efforts, but look outside the box sometimes – ask alumni, go to forums, Facebook groups, MySpace groups, or just Google it.
Here’s one great fundraiser idea – to auction yourself off. No, silly, not in that way. To the right is a screenshot of Veronica Belmont’s (host of Qore on the Sony PlayStation network and Revision 3′s hit show, Tekzilla) auction to win a 30min personal chat with her, benefiting a non-profit organization called Child’s Play. The winning bidder was $777! Other online celebrities participating in auctions are Gary Vaynerchuk, host of WineLibrary TV, and Felicia Day of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog and creator of the guild. Participating charities include Child’s Play, Washington Women’s Employment & Education (WWEE), Wine for Wheels, Animal Haven, and Mr. Holland’s Opus.
Ok, this is just one idea, and I know not all of you are huge online celebrities. My friend Vanae of vanae.com auctioned off a dinner date for her Team In Training fundraiser and I believe the winning bidder was $750! She’s still an up and coming video blogger, and look what it got her. I think it’s all a matter of how you market it, and who you market it to. Of course, you’ll have to have safety in mind especially if you accept bids from total strangers online.
There’s plenty of things you can auction off besides a date, or an online chat. You can offer services like website consultation, marketing, web design, or even babysitting. Get creative. I’ve also seen successful online (or actual) garage sale fundraisers selling old CDs, DVDs, clothes, and other items.
It’s a marathon of mini dates to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! My friends at the Westside TNT team are at it again with some fun and exciting fundraisers!
Who: L.A.’s most Eligible Bachelors and Bachelorettes
What: Speed Dating to find a cure for blood cancer
When: Sunday, 12/7 5pm-7pm
Where: Joe’s Tavern 8771 West Pico Blvd at Robertson
How it works:
26 of L.A.’s finest will be yours for an evening of titillating conversation in the hope’s finding you your Miss Right or Miss Right Now…For 2 hours bachelors will circle around the room stopping at each beauty’s table for a 2 minute mini date. At the end of the evening you will have the option of giving your email address out to Miss Right. If she also felt the sparks the moderator will send you her email address. You are then free to continue the love connection on top of the warm fuzzy feeling that you are helping cure cancer!
I begin to wonder what IS the tipping point in which people will decide to donate or not. $1 (Erin’s The Dollar Project) is a good number because people pretty much give dollars away at parking meters, drop loose change in their cars and couches, and more. $2.62 (Jamie) took that idea to another level, and put a marathon theme to it (a marathon is 26.2 miles. get it?). My friend Channing took it to another level and brought it up to $5. What is $5 nowadays? It won’t even get your 2 gallons of gas, nor a bottle of beer (except Happy Hour) at a bar. She keeps it to a very affordable amount, and if everyone she tells donates, she will get to her goal pretty quickly.
There’s many factors to many people’s donation decisions such as personal connection to the cause, personal connection to the participant, external factors such as their own financial situation, and sometimes just by the way someone campaigns their marketing. This is where the themed campaigns work best. I mean, you could be in competition with the runner next to you, and by personal experience, a majority of people will not have a thought out campaign other than having a story of why they run, and who it’s for. Sometimes it IS that extra bit of creativity that will get someone to donate to you.
I’m always looking for new and interesting ways to fundraise for the Team. Jamie, a mentee of one of my friends still in Team in Training has an interesting twist in her marketing. She’s asking each person to donate $2.62, which is a mere $0.10 a mile. Remember back in elementary school when you would ask your parents and family to sponsor a lap? It’s pretty much the same concept. It’s like the Sponsor A Mile campaign from my friend Michelle, mixed with the affordability of the Dollar Project by Erin.
Everyone loves themed-out parties. Last Sunday I went to my friend’s fundraiser at South in Santa Monica. It was called the Logo T-Shirt Party & Sunday Funday. Here were the details of the party:
Put on your hottest/funniest Logo T-shirt and come celebrate Sunday Funday with us!!! For $5 admission you receive DRINK SPECIALS!!! $3 Beer / $5 Well Drinks!!! Pay only $5 for Beer Pong or to enter our Flip Cup tournament!!! We will also have a silent auction – AMAZING PRIZES!!! YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS!!!
And finally, our LOGO T-SHIRT CONTEST – GRAND PRIZE TO BEST LOGO T-SHIRT!!! Football Fans – don’t worry, the big game will be on ALL of the TV’s for your viewing pleasure! After football game- KARAOKE for all of you SINGERS out there!!!
Sunday has never looked so good! All profits and proceeds go toward The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera (I know, I know… bad me), and I also got there late. I still donated $5 to the cause, but there still seemed to be a lot going on . My friends were still playing beer pong, people were singing Karaoke, and I could see the winning prizes from the silent auction on some tables. I enjoyed the drink specials, as well as seeing some of the funny t-shirts people had on. My favorite was on my friend – “I Need a Stiff One.” Go ahead and interpret that yourself.
Last night, I was honored to be a judge of my friends’ TNT Fundraiser at Joe’s Tavern in Los Angeles, CA. It was called “The Battle of the Unsigned Bands“, which was also promoted by a local radio station Indie 103.1. Four well respected LA bands performed in hopes to win the grand prize of a two-page spread in Obscene Entertainment Magazine.
The bands were (in order of appearance, with links to their MySpace Music Profiles):
Each band had such unique styles and sounds, from elements of punk, hip-hop, rock, and ska. It was difficult to judge, but it was overall very fun. I was able to meet some of the bands afterwards, and it was awesome to put on such an entertaining show for free, to help out the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. There was also a silent auction going on at the same time, which included Autographed UCLA Football by Coach Rick Neuheisel, DVDs, iPod Shuffle, Fox Lot Tours, Reebok.
Themed parties are always fun. Here’s an idea for an interesting one for the holidays. Do the usual donation at the door, discounted if you dress up. You can host it at your own house or apartment, or at a bar or club, depending on your budget. What should you have inside the party? A DJ of course, playing some dance tunes of the 80s and 90s keeping the theme fun. Maybe you could get someone to sponsor or donate a photobooth, which seem to be a very successful goodie at weddings or small dances. Have a silent auction to help boost donations, or opportunity drawings of even more prizes. You could even have ANOTHER ugly sweater as a prize to make it interesting. At the end of the night, announce an Ugly Sweater winner for the night, with some grand prize. Be sure to market that prize when you start promoting your event, too. If you end up throwing one of these, let me know how it goes!
Kim is selling pieces of herself. Yes, it sounds a little weird, but she explains herself. If you donate $100, she will write your name on that body part. Think of it as a sponsorship. What body parts?
It’s a marathon of mini dates to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! My friends at the Westside TNT team are at it again with some fun and exciting fundraisers!
I’m always looking for new and interesting ways to fundraise for the Team. Jamie, a mentee of one of my friends still in Team in Training has an interesting twist in her marketing. She’s asking each person to donate $2.62, which is a mere $0.10 a mile. Remember back in elementary school when you would ask your parents and family to sponsor a lap? It’s pretty much the same concept. It’s like the 
