Creating a Successful Fundraising Campaign

At the beginning of 2021, my spouse decided to start a fundraising campaign for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research. The goal was to raise a minimum of $10,000 over 1 year.

I am pleased to report that her goal was not only reached, but surpassed. At the end of the year, she raised over $11,000. What did she learn about creating successful fundraising campaigns?

Draw attention

First, it was important to create a fundraising campaign that was unique to draw the attention of participants, donors, and the news media. 2021 Miles in 2021 was the name of the campaign.

The challenge was for each of the participants to use whatever means possible such as cycling, walking, swimming, kayaking, and/or running 2021 miles in 2021.

If a participant wanted to set a different goal, that was allowed. This challenge had the added advantage of communicating the importance of movement to those with Parkinson’s.

Have support and resources

The campaign was endorsed by the Michael J. Fox Foundation and included as one of its Team Fox events. The Foundation provided resources such as brochures, stickers, banners, access to Team Fox staff, a team website with interactive tools to track donations, and communicate with donors and team members.

Having the support of the MJF Foundation provided legitimacy to the campaign and gave it national exposure. As an incentive to donors, 100 percent of the funds raised went to support research programs to find a cure for Parkinson's disease.

Contact local news

To generate awareness, local news media were contacted and a Facebook group page was created. The result was several appearances on both TV and radio which provided the opportunity to announce the campaign and to raise awareness of Parkinson’s disease.

A total of 47 people joined the team, many of whom accepted the challenge of 2021 miles in a year.

Encourage your team

Each month, the participants received an update from my spouse on how many miles each member of the team had recorded that month as well as the progress made by the team in meeting the fundraising goal.

Team members were encouraged to continue working towards meeting the goals and extraordinary accomplishments by individuals were recognized and applauded.

As stated earlier, the campaign exceeded its goal of $10,000 by raising $11,430. More importantly, it raised awareness of Parkinson’s and the work being done by the MJF Foundation.