Walkathons remain effective fundraising options for nonprofits because of the numerous opportunities that accompany the events. These are beside the primary objective of raising funds. They include short-term and long-term benefits and opportunities for the organization and the donors and sponsors.
The extended benefits to the sponsors and donor make walkathons rate highly in the fundraising world.
Some of these are highlighted below.
Community awareness
Walkathons involve rigorous activism at the grassroots level, and this is useful for creating awareness about the cause that the organization is undertaking. Creating awareness not only opens up the problem to those who were not aware, but it also provides an opportunity for those with skills or resources relevant to the cause to contribute towards the solution at their opportune time. Besides, if the cause involves human lives directly, it provides an opportunity for the people who may be suffering in silence to come forward and receive the much-deserved solution. This reveals the real prevalence of the issue in the society and hence creates the urgency among the public.
New membership
Nonprofits utilize the turnout for the walkathon and the awareness/publicity created as an opportunity to register new members and sponsors to the organization. New membership increases an organization’s network locally, something any nonprofit would be pleased to have because it expands the reach of the cause and extends the continuity of the organization.
Publicity
The planning activity and the rigorous campaign for the event give the organization publicity through various ways. The marketing gimmicks employed, including the use of fliers, banners, branded t-shirts, caps, hand bands, billboards, social media or electronic media help to push the name of the organization to the public. Therefore, in addition to creating awareness about the cause, the teams behind the cause also get noticed by the public depending on the extent of marketing or impact of the event.
Inclusivity in participation
A typical fundraiser held at night in a hotel consisting only of guests locks out a large demographic from participating. However, a walkathon attracts participation from different demographics and representative of the community in various fronts including; age, social status, race, religion, carrier/profession, and also physical ability.
These events, therefore, have family friendly activities and the community involvement provides the participants with a personal level of satisfaction besides the fun and other personal benefits to their physical and health.
ROI
The return on investments for a properly planned and executed walkathon provides the greatest incentive for this approach to fundraising. The cost savings come from the community participation which sometimes provides labor and resources free of charge. Consequently, sponsors who partner with these events cover most of the expenses like advertising and other overhead costs. A huge chunk of the collected funds, therefore, get applied directly to the cause and not the event.
Excellent, reach out, coordination and planning have a great impact on the execution and success of your walkathon.