April 13, 2018
Early June is a great time to be out and about in Chicagoland. The weather is perfect for “tagging” — a type of one-to-one fundraising where you give a tag (coupon/certificate) for free donuts when you receive a donation in your bucket. The need is high for bringing dollars in to The Army for the upcoming summer donation drought.
Although tagging is a great way for volunteers to get involved with fundraising, it’s a lot of work for not a lot of return. Recent years have raised between just $1,500-3,000 for the Tri-City corps.
Lt. Betsy Clark, of the Tri-City corps in the Metro Division wanted to find a way to make National Donut Day, the first Friday of June, more impactful. Her goal: to increase the total donation amount from this summer campaign while engaging the community.
After hearing about session mates’ donut eating fundraising contest in Michigan City, Michigan, Lt. Clark decided the idea might work at home in St. Charles.
Here's how it worked:
Get local celebrities to participate in the donut eating contest. The community will “vote” with their donations for who they think will eat the most donuts.
Lt. Clark and her team wanted the entire fundraising experience to be online only so donors wouldn’t have to be there in person to give.
Lt. Clark shared, “We set up a website with MobileCause where you can see all the participants and read why they’re doing it.” There was even a local “wonder dog” in the participant list.
The participants were encouraged to post links to their personal social media accounts or send texts or emails encouraging the community to “Vote for me!”
An area grocery store, who hosted the event and donated the donuts, promoted it on their Facebook page which resulted in more people signing up to be a contestant. There were 14 contestants, including a young boy named Oliver, who raised over $200 on his own.
The day of the event, provided audience members one last chance to give, via the mini kettles placed in front of each participant.
Total contest earnings were $4,600! Combined with donations from tagging efforts—2017’s Donut Day for the Tri City Corps was over $6,000.
In case you’re wondering what it takes to win? 8 large donuts in 5 minutes.