Fundraising Through Competition

If it's one thing I've learned in my 10 years of fundraising for the Walk to End Alzheimer's, it is that some good old-fashioned competition does the trick almost every time. It could be competition between events or competition among participants. I'll give you a few examples!

Rivalry sales

I only have experience with Philadelphia, specifically, but this city loves its sports teams.

Over the last few years, the Philadelphia Walk to End Alzheimer's has used that competitive spirit to launch rival fundraisers, such as one with Atlanta for baseball or New York for football.

Using a site called Bonfire, which makes and ships the merchandise for us, we design a shirt or sweatshirt inspired by our beloved sports teams, depending on the fundraiser. Then, we challenge that city's local Walk to End Alzheimer's event to run a fundraiser concurrently. The walk that sells the greatest number of items wins bragging rights.

As of the end of 2021, Philadelphia challenged New York City walks to such a fundraiser, marketing competing crew neck sweatshirts inspired by the Eagles and the Giants, respectively. The sales ran through December 22 and began on November 15, a timeframe chosen to cover meet-ups among the competing sports teams, on November 28 and December 26.

It takes some coordination but can be super fun, as we also trade jibes on each other's Facebook pages to increase the competitive spirit. Each walk also keeps the proceeds from the fundraiser and donates them back to their respective events. In one such fundraiser where Philadelphia challenged Atlanta, each event was able to donate more than 1,000 dollars to their walks.

Choose the winner

A new idea for me this year, I launched a fundraiser for NFL and college winner's pools. Participants choose the winners of matchups each week with a 10 dollar buy-in. The participant who guesses the greatest number of wins each week receives the pot, less a portion for donation to the Alzheimer's Association.

With group texts and a Facebook group, participants can interact, talk a little smack, discuss the pros and cons of picks, and generally enjoy a little competition alongside their football each week.

So far this year, I've raised about 800 dollars, and there is still some time left to go in the seasons.

Strive to be No. 1

Internally, the Alzheimer's Association has a list of the top 30 walks in the country, with them taking place in more than 600 neighborhoods. Each walk competes among the others to raise the greatest amount of money annually. The clock resets each year to create a new opportunity for competition.

At the time, the Philadelphia walk sits at No. 2, and boy, is that motivating to get us to that No. 1 slot. As we consistently come up with one more fundraiser, one more unique idea, and one more way to fund research and find a cure to end Alzheimer's, I relish the competition and knowing what we're doing makes a difference.