Participation Still Declining at Charity Athletic Fundraising Events, Study Says

Participation fell for charity walks, runs, and rides last year, according to a new report by fundraising-software company Blackbaud.

The drops in participation might be due to shifts in donor behavior regarding “peer-to-peer” events, in which supporters raise money on behalf of nonprofits.

In recent years, many new, offbeat events — like head-shaving days — have cropped up, creating competition for more traditional walks and runs.

Do-it-yourself campaigns, in which donors create ideas for fundraising events that are entirely their own, have also likely cut into mainstream peer-to-peer events’ revenue. “We’re seeing a shift away from runs, walks, and rides toward DIY fundraising,” said Robyn Mendez, senior product manager for Blackbaud and a co-author of the report.

The study analyzed peer-to-peer participants’ online fundraising and registration revenue for 16,855 events; other event income, like from corporate sponsorships, was not included.

Average Amount Raised by New and Returning Participants

Source: Blackbaud

Among the findings:

Only walk events saw an increase in online revenue in 2016. Of traditional peer-to-peer events, walkathons bring in the biggest share of online peer-to-peer dollars, accounting for 44 percent of the last year’s digital revenue for the events.

Though walks experienced a drop in participants, they still saw a 3 percent increase for walkers’ online fundraising in 2016 — the only type of event that had an uptick in such revenue.

Here’s a breakdown of online peer-to-peer fundraising by event type:

Repeat event participants raised more money than new ones. That’s because past participants are familiar with the organization, the event, and how to raise money for it. “Once you’ve gone through one year, you know what to expect a second year, so the learning curve is not as steep” Ms. Mendez says.

Donor retention for most events was down. Keeping participants coming back, however, has been a struggle, with retention dropping last year for endurance events, like long walks and marathons (a decline of 2 percent), 5K races (down 4.9 percent), and walks (down 0.4 percent). Cycling events’ retention inched up 1.3 percent.

Teaching supporters how to raise money makes a difference. The report found that for all types of events, participants who update their donor pages and send more emails tend to raise more money — suggesting that nonprofits should encourage those activities.

Nonprofits should provide instructions for supporters on how to raise money for events — including producing fundraising checklists and sample language for emails and social-media appeals. Organizations should remind donors to send solicitations. As Ms. Mendez puts its it: “The thought is to make it as easy as possible for the person interested in fundraising to do so.”

Soure: Blackbaud

*Includes multiple-day or single-day long distance walks, hikes, or races, such as marathons.