"Doing the Ironman for Charity"??

gonnzo

[I posted this a couple of weeks ago in the Fund Racing group but got little response, so trying again here to expand the discussion]

Hi all,

I finally decided to do this big Ironman things and I figured I'd use it as an opportunity to help raise money for a charitable service in our area that has helped my kids tremendously - the Masonic Learning Centers for Children.  They teach dyslexic children to read using a special method developed just for dyslexics.  No charge and no ties to the Masons required (or even asked).

The problem is, I have vitually no idea what it means to do this.  Questions like these come to mind:

• How do I collect money?
• Can I take credit cards, checks, and or cash?
• What are the rules (IRS)?
• Can any of it be used to pay expenses for advertising/awareness, training, or race day costs? (got this idea from Team in Training)
• How do I get tax forms/receipts to donors?
• and so on...

And I'm sure I don't even know the questions I should really be asking.

Can anyone give me a few pointers how to get started down this road?  Maybe there's a thread here or other external source that would be good.  I've done searches, but no luck as yet.  Brad pointed me to Kintera and I will check them out.  Any other ideas?

Thanks everyone!

-Brian

PS - the logo for this charity is a big teddy bear (the reward for the kids that finish the program), so to raise awareness during training and on race day I'll no doubt be trying to look my manliest with a giant teddy bear plastered to my chest

 

danap

Hi Brian--
I would recommend getting in touch with the organization and tell them your plan. They will likely be thrilled that you want to work hard to raise $$$ and will help you figure out all the logistics!!!

Good luck!!
Dana

Al Truscott

Brian - Check out Janus Charity Challenge. They have been supporting just this acitivity at Ironman races in the US for a decade. they provide a turn-key system to make all this work for you. And for support, PM Jim Yanoschik here at EN. He is (literally) the Janus World Champion fund-raiser.

Nemo Brauch

Unfortunately Janus and WTC parted ways earlier this year. There was quite an uproar when it happened. Hopefully WTC will hook up with someone else to provide this service in the future.

In the mean time, there are other similar sites which give you a way to publicize your fundraising efforts online and also allow you to accept donations online via credit card. These folks do charge an administrative fee (around 7.5% of the amount donated) but when you consider something like 5% of that goes to the Credit Card company, it's not too bad.

http://www.firstgiving.com/Statements/about_us/howitworks.asp

You will need to talk to your charity and get their 501c letter and Fed Tax ID to set it up so that the donations can be tax deductable.

You can also ask folks to write checks directly to the Charity and mail them to you. You then act as the collection point, track how much you have raised, and can add that to your totals before forwarding the check to the Charity.

Cash dontations are a bit tougher to track and thus harder for the donator to use as a tax deduction. Work with your charity on this- they usually have a means for providing a written receipt for cash donations over a certain amount (in my case, anything over $25 was given a receipt).

You can also raise funds in lots of other ways besides just asking for $$ from friends/family. Think about offering some sort of service and charging a donation (car wash or in my case, dog wash). Again, your charity may have some ideas for you. Building a good relationship with the charity is a big key to getting their help in the fundraising efforts.

Atif Malik

Thanks for posting this . It will make me stop procrastinating and actually start working on this. I am planning on doing IM lake placid for charity. The absence of the the Janus structure makes it a bit more work for the person who is doing .
Couple of things I have had to do so far
1. Contact the charity get the 501c letter. This way anyone I get money from gets to make it tax deductible.
2. Since I didn't want to be the collection point for money, I setup with https://www.justgive.org/ , they take 3% out of the donated money to cover credit card fees.
Some of the people I contacted said they will send me a cheque/cash , so I will still have to deal with that. I didn't want to discourage that in case it turned people from donating, I would just prefer they use the online mechanism .

@nemo thanks for the suggestions on providing a service for donation

Matt Samojeden

Nemo, I had also followed the story that Janus and WTC had parted. Just yesterday I was up on the WTC site and noticed Janus is still listed as a sponsor.

Brian – this is the link to the Janus program up on the WTC page.

 

 http://www.januscharitychallenge.com/site/c.egLOIYOGKtF/b.591467/k.CC30/Home.htm

 

In the past, Janus could get one ito many sold  out races.  I'm not sure if they can still do this.

  

Best of luck!

EDIT - well I just read a bit farther on the Janus page and found this

- we are disappointed to announce that our sponsorship with Ironman will not be continuing in 2011.  While we had hoped to continue this amazing program, we were not able to structure an ongoing partnership with Ironman that would be mutually beneficial to both organizations.

So to the still appear to be a sponsor but in a more limited capacity.

gonnzo

Thanks for the info everyone!

I have been in touch with the charity for several months now, and it appears they may be beyond their understanding when it comes to some of these ideas, particularly the web page / credit card mechanisms. They said they could get me a simple paper pledge sheet and receipts to hand out, but haven't had anything else to say yet. I've been trying to figure out how to help.

@Al and Matt - thanks for the Janus info. I will try to find out what they still might be able to do even with the WTF falling out.

@Nemo - thanks for the firstgiving reference, and for the particulars of how you handle check and cash donations. I love the ideas beyond begging and guilting friends and coworkers into donating. Are there any rules we should know about alternative methods? I know other things kick in if you get into raffles and the like - not that I'm looking to try that.

@Atif - glad I could be a positive influence I will check into justgive.org also. I like their low overhead rate.

All - do you know of any site anywhere that lays out the methods and rules for fund raising activities like this? If not, would this be a good topic for a wiki article here?

Thanks again. I'll try to post back as I learn more.

ironmtngrl

I am also thinking about raising funds for charity for IMUSA. I would really like to sell raffle tickets. Does anyone know of the particular challenges of doing raffles. I personally don't like asking for donations, but selling raffle tickets where folks get a chance to win something. I'm sponsored by a local bike shop which I think I could get to donate some prizes. Are raffle ticket purchases tax-deductible? I think I would also setup a donation site for those who do want to donate.

Jim Yanoschik

I put this down in Microsoft Word and copied it over.  Maybe someone tha thas access to the Wiki can post it over there.

Charity Fundraising 101

   If you want to combine your passion for triathlon and helping out a non-profit, here is a quick start guide on how to get started. A lot of non-profits already have a ready-made, fill-in the blanks program like Team in Training, Challenged Athletes etc. What that means is that when you sign up you may be required to raise a minimum dollar donation. They will have all the forms for solicitation letters, tracking forms, website design etc. to help you raise money for the charity. The Janus Charity Challenge (JCC) was involved in Ironman for the past 10 years but they could not come to an agreement with the WTC-owners of the Ironman brand.

    So if you want to raise money for a non-profit, the first thing is to contact the non-profit and see what resources they have available to help you. Most will be glad to work with you and you will find it very rewarding. Non-profits must apply to the IRS and will receive a 501 (c)(3) number that will identify them as a legal non-profit. You will want to keep that number available because your donors can then write off their donations off their taxes. A big selling point for any business.

    Then you must come up with “your story” for fundraising. It is kind of like the “One Thing” in the 4 Keys Talk. Why are you raising money for this particular non-profit? You want this solicitation to tug at the emotional strings of the people you are asking to donate. For example, a personal story of how cancer affected someone close to you and now you are raising money so that no one will ever go through chemotherapy alone again. The more personal and more emotional will elicit a greater response.

     Once you come up with your story, then the most important thing to do is ASK!!! Ask everyone to help. Humans want to help each other especially if they are ASKED. In your solicitation letter, Power point presentation, email, or phone call you will ask for money. If they cannot contribute, then ask them for their prayers or the names of someone else that you may contact. You will be amazed at the power of asking. Ask for a list of past donors to your charity that you may reconnect with for a contribution for this year. Form a Mastermind group to help you fundraise. Give presentations to the local service clubs like the Rotary, Kiwanas, Lions etc. You might be able to get a “canned” presentation from your non-profit showing in pictures and music what they are trying to accomplish. If you non-profit does not have a presentation, make one for them that they can use in the future. If you are not computer literate, contact the local high school or colleges for their graphic arts department for help. A lot of school require volunteer work for graduation.

    Then you have to go out and ASK. Everyone that you will come into contact will ask themselves, “What’s in it for me?” Attempt to think about this question before you approach someone. If you to a business owner for a donation, tell him what he can expect to receive in return. Advertising because you are going to do a press release in the local paper telling about your cause and who donated already. The donation will be tax deductible. Maybe you can work with your non-profit to send out a Letter of Appreciation to all the donors. As you can see, there are really no limitation to your imagination when it come to solicitation. 

    A couple other hints. Always ask for the moon. If you want someone to donate $100, then ask for $250 FIRST. When they hesitate, ask if they could contribute $100. Ask them to sponsor every mile or if they like to make a flat donation. Send an email out to your family and close friends saying “What would you pay to see me really suffer? And in the process would you like to help raise money for XYZ non-profit?”. 

    After your race, send every donor a nice thank you note with details and pictures of how your race went. Follow up with your non–profit to make sure all the pledges were turned into them. Consider making a Powerpoint presentation to present to a post race gathering of all the sponsors at the non-profit. Then if you are ever to do another fundraising event you have a presentation all ready to go.

 

Al Truscott

Up on the wiki here. Credit to Jim!

Nemo Brauch

Awesome stuff Jim!

gonnzo

Fantastic!  Thanks for pulling this together, Jim!

murphy.m.j

Just wanted to let you know what I am going to be doing; "my" 501( c) is a US veteran family, where the father died in the service in Iraq.

UrbanTriGear people, Preston is the owner, ran a stationary bike marathon, George Hood ran a stationary bike for 222 hours 22 minutes (no i did not make this up) over 1 week with only 5 minutes rest every 1 hour.  I wanted to do the IM WI 11 for the family to help alittle in the many financial problems this family is having.

Anyway Preston is getting a web site ready, I will be applying for the EN $250, my wife works for a company that might donate $250, alot of my fellow workers at the State of Illinois - DCFS want to donate.  So I will also have little cards to pass-out to all; on the car is the web site of where to donate. I will also be using myathlete tracking system to help people like they are racing with me.

Hopefully this will come together soon, i am very ansy at getting this all done, for the family and to see those donations start to go to this very worthy family.