Peer to Peer Fundraising Resources

If you're ready to start raising money just know that the best fundraisers don’t have to be the most exotic or complex to arrange. Think about what you like to do and have fun with it. You could….

  • Run or walk a race and get sponsored per mile for TNT
  • Ask your favorite bar to donate cover charge proceeds to TNT for an evening
  • Do a letter-writing campaign to friends and family and start with their support for YOU as a survivor- make it personal
  • Ask your work if they will do a corporate match for the money you raise - many companies support their employees this way
  • Get crafty & make cards, bake, paint, whatever you like to do and sell them to support!
  • Do something people will think you’re kinda crazy to do and therefore they want to support your efforts- climb a huge mountain, hike the Adirondack Trail, swear off coffee for a certain amount of time, hold a 24 hour dance-a-thon, etc. One alumni got people to sponsor her for a Polar Bear Plunge on New Year’s Day based on how many seconds she stayed in water at Coney Island in NY!
  • Who needs more Christmas/Hanukah/Birthday stuff that will just sit in the corner of your apartment? Ask friends and relatives to donate to True North Treks in honor of you instead!
  • Have a big party for your Cancerversary or Birthday! You’ve made it this far, why not celebrate it? Ask attendees to donate…often times stores/ bakeries will donate goods (like cookies) for fundraising events. Why not give away a Trader Joe’s gift basket to the biggest donor of the evening.
 
Once you have a great idea for a fundraising event, the next thing to do is set up a free fundraising webpage to to tell your story, promote your event, keep track of donations, include your own photos and videos, and more! All donations made on your site are secure as well. And, the webpage will already be connected to True North Treks, so you don’t have to worry about handling money, sending live checks, etc. Stay Classy takes care of all online donations and sends the money directly to TNT.


Our staff is also available for questions at any time to make it an easy and painless process. In addition to helping you with webpage questions, we will gladly send you brochures, fliers, and up-to-date information about TNT which you can bring to your doctor/ hospital/ social worker so other patients can learn about True North Treks. There may be a Survivorship Program at your treatment facility and they are always looking for more survivor resources.

A Few Final Thoughts & Suggestions: 


1. Your stories are personal, powerful, and unique. Nothing we write compares to first-hand accounts by our participants. We would love to have a video clip of you talking about your story as a cancer survivor and your experience with True North Treks. Be bold and share your experience with others. We will send you a list of questions if you want guidance on what to say, or just go for it.

2. Emphasize online donations in your fundraising strategy. 

3. Encourage your supporters to create their own fundraisers using our Stay Classy tools.  

4. Encourage donation amounts of $25, $50, and $100. 94% of all donations (both direct and to event fundraisers) are in increments of $100 or less. Furthermore, donations of $25, $50, and $100 are the most popular donations of $100 or less, and 99.72% of all donations are under $1,000.

5. Consider holding a fundraiser the last week of the year. December donations are highest, to event fundraisers and through direct donations. Furthermore, the highest donations come in the last six days of the calendar year. 

6. Turn donors who make donations to personal fundraising pages into repeat donors. 97.4% of all donors are unique donors, which means that they have only donated once. However, donors who donate two to five times donate, on average, $16 more per donation than the unique donors.

7. Encourage supporters to raise funds in honor of life cycle events. Donations to wedding, anniversary, and christening events are amongst the highest of all types of events. The average donation to a wedding is $89.95, a christening is $73.40 and for an anniversary is $72.97.

8. Ask your friends and family to donate over the weekend. Weekend donors give, on average about $54.50. Weekday donors give, on average, $50.