Participant’s Fundraising Guide & Checklist

Checklist for Success

Starting your fundraising campaign is fun and it’s most enjoyable when you have a proven effective set of steps to follow. Here, we’ve provided a simplified checklist to highlight the basic and most effective ways to put you on a track to hit and exceed your fundraising goals.

• Register to participate using the Join Button on the website - 
• Click on the “Fundraising Tips” page on your personal page and choose one or more of these ideas.
• Update your personal fundraising page - add your own photos and story.
• Make the first donation yourself.
• Use social media sites to direct people to donate to your page.
• Use the “Send Invitations” link on your personal fundraising page to create a note to send to friends and family asking for donations.
• Involve your family, friends, co-workers, church, school, and neighbors in your fundraising efforts.
• Ask your donors to ask their employers if they will match their gift – be sure to ask your employer, too.

Registering For The Event

Go to the fundraising website and click the JOIN button to participate.  If you know of a team you want to join, go to the team’s page first then click the JOIN button.

Do you already have an account on our website?  If you receive an email from us then you have an account.  Use your email address to log in - if you forgot or don’t have a password set, you can ask the system to send you one by clicking on the “I don’t know my password” link.

If you don’t have an account, click on the “Register” button, provide your basic contact information and set up a password to login to the site.

Now that you are logged in with your account, you need to register for the event.  You can register for yourself and your family all at once on the registration page.  Simply select the appropriate registration categories for all those you are registering.

You will also be asked to provide basic information for those you are registering if they are not already in our system, and if there is a registration fee, that will need to be paid online also.

OK, now you are registered and you are ready to set up your fundraising page!

Setting Up Your Fundraising Page

If have registered for more than one person, you will get a list of your registered persons at the top of each page:

This list allows you to edit or add each person’s profile for the fundraiser.  Each person can also log in to the fundraiser themselves to set up their own pages.

The first decision you will need to make is whether you will be part of a team or fundraising alone.  

Starting a Team

If you wish to be part of a team, you may choose to set up a new team or join an existing team.

Next, you will need to provide some team  information:

In addition to the basic team information, you can upload photos and set up a welcome message for others that join your team.  Note that you can also return to the team page later and upload additional photos and make further changes.

Lastly, you can also specify whether your team is “private” - only those you personally invite can join - or whether it is open for anyone to join in.

Once you have completed setting up your team, you will need to continue on to set up your personal fundraising page.

Setting Up Your Fundraising Personal Page

Your personal page is where everyone will go to check out your fundraising presence and your donors will go to donate.  It is very effective to make this page your own with your goals, a brief story about why you are raising funds and some images that reflect you and your belief in this cause.

In this setup area, you can also edit the thank-you letter text that will be included in emails sent to those who donate via your page.

Lastly, you can elect to be excluded from the directory which will hide your page from search results and make you invisible to anyone who does not have your personal page address.  Some people elect to hide their page until they have had time to complete setting it up the way they want it.  You can then go to “Profile Settings” on the “Participant Tools” menu on your page at any time to modify information on your page.

Adding Updates

Periodically, you may wish to add updates to your fundraiser so your friends and those following your progress may see how things are going.