Make a Donation

Modified on 01 September

How to Donate to Race/Fundraiser


RunSignup’s Donations and Fundraising platform allow participants to easily make donations towards events, create fundraisers, and track their progress towards their team’s donation goal either during the registration process, or after they have already registered.



Some races offer runners the option to donate to a race directly, to a Fundraiser (A group of Donations), or a Fundraising Team (A group of Fundraisers and Donations). A race may or may not have all of these features enabled. 


Here are the steps to make Donations:

  1. Navigate to the Race Page.
  2. Click the Donate button, or select Donate > Donate from the left-hand sidebar.
  3. While not required, you are able to select a Fundraiser or Fundraising Team to apply your donation towards to help them reach their goals.
  4. Either select from the given list of Donation Levels, or type in your own amount into the Any Amount box.
  5. Select who your Donation should be on behalf of.
  6. Select if you would like to send a message to the race or fundraiser.
  7. Enter in payment information and confirm your donation.

Make a Donation


Some races will use RunSignup’s donation and fundraising platform in conjunction with their race. If donations are not enabled by a race, then you will not see any of the options that are highlighted in this tutorial. Regardless of whether a race is or is not using RunSignup’s donation feature, to learn more about a particular race’s donation program, please contact them directly, by going to the race page, scrolling down to the Race Contact Info section, and filling out the Questions form.


You can make a donation either during the registration process, or separate from the registration process. In either case, log into RunSignup before donating, if you would like to have your donation history attached to an account that you have access to.


If you do not yet have an account, then you can create one, as is explained in How to Create an Account.


During Registration


Sometimes you may want to make a donation during the registration process. To do so just begin registering as you normally would by clicking the SignUp button and proceeding through the steps provided.  You will be presented with the donation page, as explained below, once you fill out your participant information.


Select Donation Level


To make a simple donation that is not towards a Fundraiser, all you will need to do is select what level donation you would like to make. These levels are set and named by the race director for this event. If one of these levels is not the amount that you would like to donate, you are also able to donate a custom amount by using the “Any Amount” section.


Who is this Donation on Behalf of?


Once you have selected the amount that you would like to donate you will need to choose who your donation will be on behalf of. The default is to be on behalf of yourself, but you can also change this to Anonymous, or Other if you would like to donate on someone else’s behalf.


Note: this feature does not apply your donation to a different fundraiser if you enter a fundraiser name into the other field, it will not apply your donation to that team. To learn how to correctly apply your donation to a fundraiser, see the section below.


Add a Personal Message to the Race


Next you can decide if you would like to send a personal message to the race by selecting Yes from the “Message to Race/Fundraiser” section, and typing out your message in the text box that appears below:


Once you have filled out all of this information you can move on to the payment section by clicking the blue Continue button at the bottom of the page.


Note: Upon completion of your payment you will receive an email confirmation of your donation, which can be used for charitable tax deductions.


Outside of Registration


You may also want to make a donation to a cause or event without registering for it. You may not be able to make it to the race that day, but want to make a charitable donation, or you may have already registered for the race but now want to donate.


To begin making a donation go to the race’s SignUp page and click the orange “Donate” button at the top of their page.


You can also select the Donate tab on the left-hand sidebar to begin this process.


Select a Donation Level


To make a simple donation that is not towards a Fundraiser, all you will need to do is select what level donation you would like to make. These levels are set and named by the race director for this event. 


If one of these levels is not the amount that you would like to donate, you are also able to donate a custom amount by using the “Any Amount” section.


Once you have filled out all of this information you can move on to the payment section by clicking the blue Continue button at the bottom of the page.


Upon completion of your payment you will receive an email confirmation of your donation, which can be used for charitable tax deductions.


Note: this feature does not apply your donation to a different fundraiser if you enter a fundraiser name into the other field, it will not apply your donation to that team.


Donate to a Fundraiser/Fundraising Team


During the process of donating you you may be presented with the option to donate to a: 

  1. Fundraiser
  2. Team Fundraiser


A Fundraiser is a collection of donations that will be pooled together for a specific charity or charities. Some fundraisers will be setup to include a fundraising goal which you can track on it’s fundraising page. You will have the opportunity to create or join a fundraiser during the registration process, after the registration process, or without registering for the race at all.


A Fundraising Team is a collection of fundraisers that will be pooled together for a specific charity or charities. This allows multiple fundraisers to track their donations together in one fundraising page. As with individual fundraisers, some will be set up to include a goal for the team, and, some will include a scrolling list of donors.


If the race does allow you to donate to a fundraiser or fundraising team, then you can do so by selecting either “Fundraiser” or “Team Fundraiser”, searching for a specific fundraiser or team, and then selecting it from the list below.


Important: While donations made directly to a "Fundraiser" will be attributed to a "Team Fundraiser" if applicable, donations made directly to a "Team Fundraiser" will not be attributed to any "Fundraiser" that is part of that team.


Viewing and Editing your Existing Donations


RunSignup will keep track of all donations made by you in the “My Donations” section of your Profile. If you do not see your Donation listed with your current account, you may need to claim your account as explained in "How To Claim an Account".


Viewing a Prior Donation


If you were logged into your account at the time of making your donation, then you can view your donation by going to your “Profile”, scrolling down, and opening up the section for “My Donations”.


Editing a Prior Donation


If you have accidentally selected and saved the wrong fundraiser or team fundraiser to donate to, then please contact the race directly to request an edit. You can do this by going to the race page, scrolling down to the Race Contact Info section, and filling out the Questions form. Please be sure to let them know the name and the email address that the donation was made under, and which fundraiser you would like it applied to.


To make edits to the “On Behalf of” field, or to apply your donation to a fundraiser (or a different fundraiser), then please contact the race directly with this request, by going to the “Race Page”, scrolling down to the “Race Contact Info” section, and filling out the “Questions” form. Please make sure to let them know the name that your donation is under, as well as the amount, and the edits that you are requesting.