"Being mindfully aware is the hardest yet simplest thing I've ever been introduced to, but I love each time I'm exposed to it because I feel like I learn something new each time." - Matt
Our Pay it Forward Pledge program asks all of our participants to make a pledge to try to help "pay it forward" to the next participant through their own grassroots fundraising efforts before/after their trek. We ask participants to make a pledge goal of raising $1200, which is less than half of what it costs each person on average. We help participants set up a personalized fundraising website and brain storm possible ideas. We've learned that the longer a person waits to pay it forward, the harder it is to do, the more life gets in the way, and the greater the possibility that the pledge won't be completed. This is why we highly recommend that pledge fundraising begins before the trek even starts, and is completed no later than 3 months following a trek. Please note that while we ask our participants to make a pledge try to help pay it forward on behalf of a future participant, it is just a pledge and not a binding contractual agreement that holds any form of material consequence. We understand that some people, due to different life circumstances, are simply unable to fulfill it, either in part or in full. And that is OK. We get it. We just ask that people try their best (just as someone else did before them), whatever that looks like. We support participants and help them creatively brainstorm different ways to fulfill their pledge, and while we may check in early on to see how it's going, we do stop asking, and realize that it's not in the cards. Maybe it will be sometime in the future. Maybe not. Since the fulfilled pledge helps cover about half of the cost of one person, it is an incredibly helpful way for our organization to sustain what it does. In addition to helping pay for part of a participant's experience, the pledge also helps us get the word out about TNT to others who would have never heard about us before.
Learn more about the Pay it Forward Pledge from our Co-Founder and Executive Director
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 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 among 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.
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 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 among 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.