FUNDRAISING PLAYBOOK
Corporate Team's Guide
Corporate teams have the opportunity to build company spirit among staff members and to encourage teamwork within your organization for a great purpose. Corporate teams also bring value to your organization!
TEAMWORK: Whether your corporate team is large or small, participating in the 5K & Family Fun Day is a great way to build team spirit and a sense of camaraderie among employees. Employees are proud to say they work for companies that support important causes.
LOW COMPANY COSTS: Because funds are raised when team members ask their family, friends and neighbors for support, a large corporate donation isn’t required (but is always welcomed!)
PUBLIC AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS: Participating in a a nonprofit race sends a strong signal that you and your team members care about your community.
FAMILY-FRIENDLY: The ASCV 5K & Family Fun Day draws people together in a healthy activity for a worthy cause. It’s an event that your team members and their families can participate in.
With the current autism diagnosis rate in children being 1 in 36, your company has the great opportunity to come together as a team to support a cause that directly and indirectly impacts so many in our community. We thank you, and your team, for your support and commitment. Check out our tips below to help you in your recruiting and fundraising efforts!
Have questions or need support? Contact Adira Knopf, Director of Corporate Engagement, at adira.knopf@ascv.org.
Recruit Your Team
- Your main job as a team captain is to recruit team members to raise funds for ASCV’s mission.
- Think about all of the different divisions, departments and areas of the company you can recruit from.
- Assign a co-captain from each department, to help you recruit and rally team members.
- Ask the CEO or another high-level executive to draft an all-company message, challenging them to build their teams and register.
- Plan an internal kickoff to sign up racers and get them excited.
- Ask for time to talk about the 5K & Family Fun Day on department meeting agendas, and for any all-company meetings.
- Ask a few passionate team members to share their connection to autism.
Kick Off Your Fundraising
- Remember, the #1 reason people give is because somebody asked them to and the #1 reason people don’t donate is that nobody asked them to. Encourage your team members to ask friends, family and colleagues to donate to your company team.
- Create Excitement! Think about meaningful ways to recognize awesome fundraising, like the top individual fundraiser or top fundraising team. Think about company team t-shirts, a one-on-one mentoring session with a member of the executive team or even an extra day off!
- Seek out matching gifts. Does your company match donations? What about your team’s fundraising?
- Ask your company’s vendors to support your team efforts! Compile a list of all company vendors and ask them to support your team’s fundraising efforts.
- Talk to local businesses about sponsoring your team with a donation. Offer them space on a team t-shirt in exchange for their generosity.
MORE FUNDRAISING IDEAS
STEPS CHALLENGE! Ask friends, family or different departments to “sponsor” your team by making a dollar amount donation for each step your team takes on event day.
SPREAD THE SUPPORT! Find a creative way to invite your vendors or clients to support your efforts. Your team can make a fun video to send out explaining why your company supports the Autism Society of Central VA and why vendors and clients should too!
RECRUIT LEADERSHIP! Do you want to watch your BOSS sing karaoke? Dress up in a pink wig? Do some other crazy thing? Ask leadership to loan their influence to a good cause by taking on dares in return for team fundraising.
INCENTIVIZE DONATIONS! Make your team a community – anyone that donates to the team receives a little something in return (i.e. a branded bracelet, a virtual graphic, something to hang in their window that says “I am a supporter”).
FRIENDLY COMPETITION! Send weekly team emails with team member fundraising rankings to celebrate top fundraisers (check out our Team Captain’s Corner for easy to use email/text templates!).
EMAIL/CALL BLITZ! Host a 30-minute email/phone blitz on the week of or day of your event. Have each team member devote 30 minutes to send last minute donation requests, follow up and send thank yous.
