For the first time in the history of one of Australia’s most famous community fun runs, the City2Surf, participants were encouraged to fundraise online, and everybody was a winner. Paul Wenck reports.
For the first time in the history of one of Australia’s most famous community fun runs, the City2Surf, participants were encouraged to fundraise online, and everybody was a winner. Paul Wenck reports.
The fundamental premise of The Sun-Herald City2Surf has always been about the community taking on the challenge of a 14km run from the heart of Sydney’s CBD to the sands of Bondi Beach.
In the past, many charities and community groups have piggy backed on the event to “unofficially” raise funds for their causes.
This year however, The Sun-Herald decided to not only sanction incidental fundraising, but to actively encourage the 64,713 entrants to fundraise through the internet.
Everyday Hero was engaged to provide the online tools to enable race entrants to solicit support for their favourite charities. Entrants were able to easily create their own online fundraising pages and then seek support from friends and family by sending out specially designed emails with links back to their “Hero” pages, where donations could be made via credit card.
More than $1 million was raised – a huge amount in the inaugural year – with 2,557 separate “Hero” pages created and over 18,000 donations made to 157 charities. Four of these – The Sydney Children’s Hospital at Randwick, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Barnardos and Father Chris Riley’s Youth Off The Streets – were official charity partners.
Based on 2007 figures and experiences overseas, the potential for The Sun-Herald City2Surf to become the nation’s biggest fundraising event is huge.
The London Marathon is a great example of the power of online fundraising for events. In the first year (2001) that online fundraising was encouraged, just $65,000 was raised by the event’s 30,000 runners. This has increased year on year so that in 2002 the amount raised was $480,000, in 2003 it was $2.9 million, 2004 it was $8.2 million, 2005 it was $16.8 million, and in 2006 it was $28.8 million.
The Sun-Herald has changed the face of event fundraising in Australia by enabling participants to nominate any cause they want to support, as opposed to a prescribed few.
Empowering people to support their cause of choice dramatically increases the amount of giving. It is worth noting that the top five individual fundraisers in the City2Surf were all supporting relatively small charities. Their combined efforts raised over $100,000, or 10% of the total funds raised in the race.
One Man’s Fundraising Story
When David Lloyd first decided to take on the challenge of completing the 2007 Sun-Herald City2Surf, he had no intention of also raising funds for a good cause. But when he saw that the event was providing online fundraising, he decided to support Clarke Road School, a NSW Department of Education and Training Special School where his son, Chris, is a pupil.
“Being able to support a cause so close to home, and which I feel so strongly about, made me much more determined about my fundraising,” said Lloyd.
“I found the process incredibly easy and efficient. I sent out one email at the beginning of my fundraising campaign asking for support, and then another a little bit later to nudge a few more people into action. I never imagined I would get such a response or raise anything like the amount I did.”
“Having originally set my target at $2,000, I had to increase it many times during the course of the process as the donations kept coming in.” In the final wash up Lloyd raised $12,400 from 86 donations, enough to purchase a new hoist for the school’s swimming pool.
Paul Wench is the marketing director of Everyday Hero
www.everydayhero.com.au
