Big List

Listed below are some thoughts, ideas, and advice compiled from Cyclists and Crew who’ve successfully met [and exceeded!] the fundraising requirements for other HIV/AIDS cycling events.

If you haven’t already done so, please click here to read our fundraising guidelines and here for information on Getting Started with your fundraising!

You can find sample templates for fundraising letters, email messages, newsletters, and other materials by clicking here.

Personal Appeal

A personalized letter is the most basic tool of fundraising, and that's because it works. Whatever else you do, write a letter first! Send your letter to everyone you have an address for, and then look for more addresses and send even more letters. Ask everyone! Here are some tips on how to draft an effective fundraising letter:

• Educate yourself about HIV and AIDS and their impact in the community.
• Provide a brief summary of the event; that you’ll be cycling 360 miles in 4 days to raise funds for HIV and AIDS!
• Include a key statistic about AIDS and how it has impacted the community.
• Personalize your letter – and be honest. What are your reasons for doing this event, and why is it important to you?
• Mention that you'd like to offer your friends and family the opportunity to help you support people living with HIV and AIDS.
• Provide the URL for your fundraising page:
• Matching Gifts will double your donations, so ask your potential donors to consider if their company has a matching gift program.
• Mention that the event is mostly volunteer produced and committed to maximizing revenue for our beneficiaries.
• Offer your appreciation for being considered and provide the event URL so your potential donors can obtain more information: http://www.norcalaidschallenge.net.
• Remember that the best fundraising appeal is one that’s short and sweet, and states the need very clearly. It’s best to keep your appeal to one page.

After you’ve drafted your fundraising letter, ask a family member or friend to review it, and then get it ready to send. Here are a few guidelines to help you with this:

• Sign your letter!
• Although online donations are preferred and encouraged, some people prefer to mail in their donations. You may wish to include a donation form [available under “Donate” on the website] and a stamped and pre-addressed envelope to make it easy for those who do want to make an online donation.
• Use this address for pre-addressing envelopes:
  NorCal AIDS Challenge
  c/o Capital City AIDS Fund
  PO Box 160636
  Sacramento, CA 95816

After you’ve mailed your fundraising letters, be patient! It’s highly unlikely that you’ll meet your fundraising minimum after one mailing. Most people lead hectic lives and to be honest, sometimes your letter is not the most pressing issue of the hour. With a solid, consistent letter writing campaign you can be sure that you’ll never be far from their thoughts – or their checkbook! After a couple of weeks, be sure to follow-up with your potential sponsors with an email message or telephone call, and ask if they received your letter.

Your Online Fundraising Page

Along with your fundraising letter, your online fundraising page is the other basic tool available to you. It takes some of the worry and hard work out of fundraising by giving you the ability to raise funds online. Your personal fundraising URL will be in this format:

Here are some of the benefits of your online fundraising page:

• Online registration.
• Creation of a personal fundraising web page with a template message and your fundraising goal.
• Uploading/copying of email addresses from personal sources.
• Sending of e-mail messages to solicit donations.
• Tracking of fundraising progress including the names and addresses of donors.
• Receipt of encouraging comments from donors.
• Thank you e-mails that can be used as receipts for tax purposes are sent automatically.

In just five minutes, you can set up your fundraising web page, which you can then edit as much as you like including text changes and adding pics.

Your Neighborhood

There are countless opportunities to raise money within a few miles of your home. If you think about it, there are a lot of businesses you patronize: the coffee shop, the gym, the dry cleaner, the supermarket, the bakery, the video store, your doctor and dentist, the bar, the deli, the bicycle shop, and local restaurants. Why not ask them to help you with your fundraising effort?

• Just ask for money – like individuals, businesses can also be donors.
• Put a poster in the window, explaining what you're doing and how to help.
• Display a donation box and/or letters and donation forms on their counter.
• Ask the business to donate a portion of their proceeds on a given day.
• Offer to wear their name on your t-shirt in exchange for a donation.

Get Social

Making contact with as many people as possible is key to your fundraising success. Chances are, your friends and family will be more than happy to be a part of your fundraising campaign, but you'll probably need to go beyond your inner circle.

• Throw a party! Invite lots of people, and let them know on the invitation that they are coming to a party to learn about your efforts and your involvement in the Challenge. Ask them bring their check books, and that you will need their help. After your guests arrive, let them mingle for a while, then make a presentation about the event and why it’s so important to you and the community.
• Or, host an event - a film screening, a boat cruise, or a band night in a local bar.
• Ask your friends to ask their friends for donations.

Set Incremental Goals

Some people are intimidated by the thought of raising $1,800. It’s much easier when you split this amount up into something smaller. Here’s a way you can approach raising $600 in only six days!

• Sponsor yourself for $20.
• Ask five family members to sponsor you by contributing $20 each.
• Ask five friends to contribute $20 each.
• Ask five co-workers to contribute $20 each.
• Ask your boss to sponsor you by contributing $80.
• Ask four businesses you frequent to donate $50 each.

Once you’ve raised a few hundred dollars, the remainder seems much more manageable!

Your Workplace

Your place of work is another opportunity to reach more people, and they're often a captive audience. Please be sure to check with your management before you solicit donations during work, or use company resources to do so.

• Ask your management or public relations department for support. Your company might be happy to donate to your Challenge fundraising goal.
• Does your company has a matching gift program? If so, you may be able to double your donations!
• Send an email message to the entire company with a donation form attached.
• Set up a small display; a downloadable poster is available under “Contact” at the website. You can also hang your jersey in a prominent place.
• Host a lunchtime meeting and do a presentation about the Challenge for your co-workers.

Special Circumstances

Special circumstances throughout the year can provide an ideal opportunity for a donation. Here are some examples:

• During February, March, and April, mention that a donation is a great way to use tax refunds.
• Is their a birthday or holiday coming up? Ask for donations in lieu of presents.
• Schedule a Super Bowl party! Sell betting squares with 50% of the money going into the pot and 50% towards your fundraising goal.
• You could also schedule a Golden Globes or Oscar party! Put together a sheet of all the nominees for all categories and get everyone to select who they think will win. You can do this as a party, or even as an office pool.

Go Paperless

The internet and e-mail have significantly affected the fundraising world. Use them to your advantage!

• Let people know that they can make secure online donations at your personal fundraising page:
• Add a brief template message about donating to your e-mail signature.
• Build a website where people can learn about your commitment and donate money. AOL and other service providers offer easy-to-build web pages.
• Ask your friends who have personal websites to consider featuring your fundraising effort.
• Ask the webmasters for companies, clubs, churches, and other organizations to consider adding the link for your personal fundraising page to their websites.

Use Your Talents

Use your creativity, whatever it may be. Everyone has the ability to do something well; sell your product or skill to benefit your fundraising campaign. A few ideas: cookies or pies, lapel pins, knitted caps, poems, canned goods, short stories, tax preparation, photography, baby-sitting, car washing, drawings, language tutoring, personal training, t-shirts, designated driving, dog-walking, errand-running, or gardening.

Other Ideas

The following is a list of other ways for you to meet and exceed your fundraising minimum. These are in no particular order, but have proven effective for other fundraisers in the past. Who knows? You may be stimulated to think of something not even on the list!

• Big Corporate Sponsorship. Identify one or several large companies or local businesses and contact them directly. Your passion, commitment, and enthusiasm to make a difference in the lives others will encourage them to support you. Who knows? They may be willing to sponsor you completely. You can offer to wear their logo on a shirt and help advertise for them.
• Ask The Right Way! If you ask for $25.00 you'll get $25.00. Don't! Ask your supporters to give as much as they can. You’ll be surprised at the generosity of others!
  
  Also, it never hurts to learn a few key fundraising phrases: “Please, support my efforts." –or- "I can take a check." –or- "I'll help you fill out this form now.” –or- "That's alright, if you don't have a check, you can write down your credit card number." -or- "Thank you! Your donation matters."
• Donation Forms. Always keep donation forms and event pamphlets with you! Some at work, at home, in your vehicle, and a few your purse, backpack, or briefcase. You’ll always be ready to give a donation form and event pamphlet to anyone who needs them.
• Create A Newsletter. This can be electronic or hardcopy, and is an excellent way to provide an update on your training and fundraising efforts, and remind those who have forgotten to make a donation. It also gets the people in your life more involved in what you’re doing. When they hear about your efforts, you'll find they will be giving you moral support, and everyone will feel a sense of mutual ownership. All too often, people ask for money but don't hear anything after the check is written. This is guaranteed to get you the money that is outstanding!
  
  A few newsletter suggestions: insert a picture of yourself training, include the URL for the event website and your personal fundraising page, provide some of your training highlights, discuss your fundraising goal and how much you've raised so far, and thank those who have already made a donation.
  Create A Raffle. This is an excellent way to create excitement, and your outreach of potential donors is enormous. You can sell the raffle tickets to your friends and co-workers, and have your family and friends sell them, too!
  
  A few raffle suggestions: solicit raffle items from everyone you know [these can be products, entertainment, or services], determine the amount you want to charge per ticket, print the tickets, sell them, and set a date for the drawing!
• Business Cards. Print some inexpensive cards with your name and address, event name and date, and personal fundraising page URL on them and give them to people you meet.
• Garage Sale. All of us have “stuff” that’s been lying around or in storage for a very long time. Why not get a group of friends together, have them bring over everything they no longer have use for, and have a garage sale? All proceeds help you reach your fundraising goal, and at the same time you clean out the clutter in your life.
• Bake Sale. Cookies, pies, and cakes… host a bake sale! You can even have it in conjunction with your garage sale. It's a fact that people will buy more stuff on an empty stomach!
• Extra "Change In My Pocket" Box. Create these little boxes for your friends and family and have them place it on their kitchen counter or bedroom dresser. At the end of the day, they can drop that spare change in the box. Before the pledge deadline, you can gather the boxes!
• Office Fundraising Challenge. Speak with everyone in your office and get them to challenge each other to raise the highest amount. Give the "winner" a prize… movie passes? A gift certificate for dinner or a local shop?
• Answering Machine Message. Anyone who calls you will know what you’re doing and that you need their support!
• Return Address Labels. Print return address labels for your outgoing mail. Print something like, "I'm participating in the NorCal AIDS Challenge. Will you please sponsor me?” Depending on the amount of space, you could even include the URL for your personal fundraising page.
• Choices. Give your donors some choices! Perhaps they can donate a certain amount for each day you’ll be en route, every mile you’ll be cycling [360], or every pedal stroke [~108,000 for someone cycling ~20 m.p.h or ~216,000 for someone cycling ~10 m.p.h.]. A dollar per mile or penny per pedal stroke adds up to a lot of money!
• Internet Chat Rooms. Post a message in your profile or bio when you’re visiting an internet chat room. You'll be amazed at how many people you don't even know who will be willing to help you!
• Ask your local waiter/waitress to donate a portion of their tips for one day. If you ask nicely enough, maybe they’ll convince their co-workers to do the same! You can also do a celebrity waiter night… local celebrities, elected officials, and radio personalities could volunteer as wait staff and donate their tips.
• Ask your local bartender to donate a portion of their tips for one day. This is pretty much the same as for waiters and waitresses. Ask them to donate tips from one night. You can create a sign for the bartender to place on the bar stating that, "All tips collected tonight will go directly to 'Your Name’ who's riding 360 miles in 4 days to raise money for people living with HIV/AIDS." Patrons may be willing to dig a little deeper in their pockets to support your effort!
  
  See if the bar would even be your official Sponsor, you could wear a shirt with their name on it, promoting their establishment, and giving them a good opportunity to do something good for the community. Perhaps you can even convince them to sponsor a team of riders. If they don't want to sponsor a whole team, maybe they can pay everyone's registration fee!
• Fundraising Dinner At Your Local Favorite Restaurant. Ask your favorite local restaurant to host a fundraising dinner for you. They supply the food and you supply the pamphlets and donation forms!
• Happy Hour Party. Invite all your friends [and their friends] and get them to sign a jersey or t-shirt that you'll be wearing as you ride out of Discovery Park. Charge $10.00 per signature!
• Theme Party/Dinner. Host a theme party for 10 [or more] of your friends and ask for a donation of $50.00 per person. Spend no more than $20.00 per person on the food and you'll have $300.00 [or more] in donations by the end of the night.
• Donated Movie Tickets. Ask your local movie house to donate several movie tickets. Sell them and put the money toward your pledges.
• Donated Theater Tickets. Ask a local theater to donate a couple tickets to one of their plays or musicals and auction them off.
• Valentine's Day Donation. It's always nice to receive something nice from your sweetheart, but it might be even nicer if that something was a check made out to the Challenge and placed in a card addressed to you.
• Delegate. Give 10 of your friends 10 donation forms each and ask them to help raise money for you. You could even offer an incentive for the winner!
• Creative Friends. Find a local artist or ask a creative friend if they would donate a piece of art or some jewelry that you could auction off.
• House Warming Party. Are you moving anytime soon? If so, ask your friends to make a donation instead of purchasing a gift for your new place.
• Color Donation Forms. These can be very eye-catching. Send them in colored envelopes, too. These will stand out among all the other mail received by your family and friends.
• Signing your Correspondence. Get in the habit of signing your note cards and letters with your name followed by your personal fundraising page URL. You'll be surprised at how many people will ask you what that means.
• Travel Agency. Do you always make your travel plans through the same agency? Ask them to donate a travel voucher. You can auction it off at one of your parties.
• Doctor / Therapist / Veterinarian / Insurance Agent. Ask him/her to make a check out for you instead of the other way around!
• Dentist. You shouldn’t have to pull teeth to get him/her to help you out a little!
• Chiropractor. They've cracked your back, now ask them to crack open their checkbook and make a pledge.
• Yoga Instructor. You've bent over backwards for them, now it's their turn to do the same for you!
• Radio Station. Call your favorite radio station and ask them to make an announcement on the air. They may even interview you. You can request donations to be made via your online personal fundraising page, or you can listeners to print the donation form on the event website and mail it in.
• Gym. Ask your gym to place a Donation Jar at the front desk! Leave a stack of pamphlets and donation forms at the counter, too.
• Spinning Class. Have some pamphlets and donation forms with you, and ask your spinning instructor to make an announcement in class.
• Hair Salon. Ask your barber or hairdresser to donate $2.00 for every haircut they complete over one weekend.
• Picnics. National Holiday Picnics are a great place to raise some money!
• Mow-A-Thon. Get your children, grand children, or nieces and nephews involved in this weekend activity. Check ahead of time with all your neighbors and ask them if you can mow their lawn and do other yard work for $50.00.
• Neighbors. Send a letter with an event pamphlet to all your neighbors on your block or in your building. State what you're training for and ask them to make a donation.
• Free Rent! Ask your landlord to donate a portion of one-month's rent to the cause!
• Garden or Historical Tour. Check with a local garden or historical society to see if they would sponsor a tour of homes or gardens in your area. Promote the event in local newspapers.
• Newsletter. Does your company distribute a newsletter? Does your company have interoffice e-mail? Take advantage of these! It's a perfect way to get the word out.
• House Sit. Are your friends going out of town for awhile? Maybe they need you to stay in their place in their absence!
• Neighborhood Chores. Are you a handy person? A lot of your neighbors would probably rather pay you than someone else. Place signs around your neighborhood advertising your services; e.g watering gardens, cleaning roof gutters, sweeping the driveway, fixing an easy plumbing problem, or painting a room.
• Karaoke Night. Who cares if you can't carry a tune. Spend an evening at a karaoke bar and sing your heart out! Have the announcer tell the crowd that you're singing for pledges!
• Donut Sale. Sell donuts and coffee at your school or place of employment. You can also sell boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts for a profit.
• Car Wash. Get a service stations’ permission to use their parking lot and get lots of friends and family to help out.
• Concert. Get a friend’s band to perform a benefit concert. Invite all your friends. Charge admission. You can split the proceeds with the musicians, or they may allow you to keep all of it for your fundraising!
• Street Jam Session. If you’re brave enough to play your instrument on the street, set up your case beside you and put up a sign for donations.
• Talented Friends. Do you have a piano bar in your neighborhood and a talented piano-playing friend? Ask the owner to let you bring some friends in one night for a cocktail and piano night. Charge anyone who attends and let them know that it's a fundraising event for the Challenge!
• ebay.com. Remember the garage sale idea? You could do something similar, but list all the stuff on Ebay.com to be auctioned off.
• Company Vacation Days. Ask your boss or human resources director if they can swap one of your vacation days for a day's pay.
• Buy A Part. Put up a big poster of a bicycle and let people at work or elsewhere buy parts [e.g. $20 for tires or $50 for pedals] and put their names of the part they sponsored.
• Casual Day. Convince your employer to allow a “Casual Day” where people pay a certain amount of cash to wear their favorite pair of jeans.
• In Memory Of… If you're riding in memory of a loved one, include a picture of you with your loved one in your pledge letter and other materials.
• Television Show Finale Party. Gather a group of friends to tune in to watch a big season or series finale. Of course, charge admission at the door and put the dollars raised toward your fundraising goal.
• Work Department Contest. Don’t limit yourself to the department where you work. Let home, district, and sister offices know your commitment. Be sure to get permission before using company resources such as email or fax machines. Hold a contest to see which department can raise the most in pledges.
• Fashion Or Talent Show. Get a theatre or night club to donate use of a stage and sell tickets to benefit your ride.
• Shave Your Head. Offer to shave your head if you raise a certain dollar amount.
• Century On A Stationary Bicycle. Contact your local gym or bicycle shop that would let you do this to raise money. Solicit pledges and do a hundred miles for fun.
• T Shirts. Dream up a funky design or image pertaining to the Challenge. Get a local t-shirt printing shop to donate as much as they can, and then sell the t-shirts to family and friends above the cost for profit.
• Plant Sale. Buy packets of seeds and plant them in little pots. Sell them at your garage sale.
• Game Night. Get out those board games and start playing! Think of a way for teams to contribute to your fundraising goal.
• Host A Poker Game. Call your card-playing friends and invite them over for poker night.
• Bowling Nights. Plan a fun night of bowling at your local lanes. Ask the owner to waive the cost of bowling, and you can collect that money for the Challenge.
• Used Book Sale. Everyone has books that have been sitting on shelves or in the attic in boxes or in the basement collecting dust. Ask your friends, family and neighbors to donate whatever they've got and set up a weekend book sale in your front yard. Put up some posters and signs or/and wear your Challenge t-shirt so people will know where the money is going. Once they know, they may even give you more money!
• Local Stores. Ask a local store manager what the hot selling item is these days and THEN ask them if they'd be willing to donate a percentage of the sales from that particular item to you.
• Curse Jar. Place a “Curse Jar” in your office. Whenever someone says a bad word, they have to open up their wallet and put a dollar in the jar.
• Company Grants. Check to see if your company offers grants to employees who volunteer their time for charitable causes. If so, you can volunteer your time with one of our beneficiaries and get paid grant money for the work. Any of our beneficiaries would be happy to provide you with a letter confirming that you’ve volunteered!
• Church Bulletin. Place an advertisement in your church bulletin letting the congregation know what you're doing! Don’t forget to include the URL for your personal fundraising page.
• Red Ribbon Distribution. Create small red ribbons to bring awareness to our fight against HIV/AIDS. Sell them to your friends, family members, neighbors, and others.
• Are you a Teacher? Get your students to help you fundraise. Young people are incredibly creative and cute, too! Have them put together those red ribbons for you!
• Teddy Bear Sale. Purchase some small teddy bears [you may be able to receive a quantity discount]. Attach a small AIDS ribbon and sell them for a profit to your friends, co-workers, and the general public. Your profit will be what you can put toward your fundraising goal.
• Coin Drive. Everyone saves change, and some people have jars and jars of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. You can do a coin drive at work or your favorite restaurant or bar, or you can do it through a bowling team, social organization, or professional association.
• Other Parents. If your children play in soccer or other athletic leagues, distribute your donation forms along with an event pamphlet to the other parents.
• Ride Along. Ask a potential donor to ride along on one of your training rides. They may be more willing to donate once they fully understand what you've committed to doing!
• Reminder. In case you didn't receive an answer the first time you asked ... ask again! Your potential donor may need a little coaxing.
• Book Marks. Create an inspirational or/and artistic bookmark, and sell them to your friends and family.
• Universities and Colleges. Contact your local schools and ask if you can put an advertisement in their school newsletter asking for donations. Some of the organizations may even invite you to make a short presentation.
• Bicycle Companies. Contact a couple of the big bicycle companies, or check around locally for some of the smaller ones that specialize in making frames or components. Tell them what you're training for and ask them if they would like to sponsor you for the entire amount! You may even get some cool riding gear, too.
• Computer Screen Savers. Create a Challenge screen saver [logos are available from our webmaster], and send it to everyone in your company. A gentle reminder is a good reminder!
• Mechanic. You've given them lots of money to work on your car. Now, it's time for them to give a little back to you!
• Share the Experience. Of all the fundraising suggestions, this one is the most powerful. Why are you doing this event? What is your personal experience with HIV/AIDS? Tell your story! The more you talk about your upcoming adventure, and your reasons for doing it, the more others will share in your excitement and commitment, and want to support you.
• Children's Party. Organize a party for all the children you know, and get volunteers to wear costumes and put together some games. The kids will be having fun as their parents are writing checks!
• Wine and Cheese Party. Host a party at a local restaurant and ask the owner to donate the wine and cheese. Or, if you or a friend know something about wine and cheese, host a party at your house!
• Temporary Tattoos. Swap a temporary tattoo for a donation.
• Names Project - AIDS Memorial Quilt. Contact your local chapter for the AIDS Memorial Quilt, and see if they would be willing to display some panels at your fundraising party. http://www.aidsquilt.org/
• Do you have a favorite magazine? Contact the editor and ask them to be your sponsor. If you've subscribed to a particular magazine for a long time they may be willing to give something back to you. Click here for a paragraph describing the Challenge.
• Fraternities and Sororities. Contact the national chapter of your college Fraternity or Sorority and ask them to make a donation. Click here for a paragraph describing the Challenge.
• Alumni Organizations. Call your own college or university and ask them to place an advertisement in the alumni newsletter asking for donations. Click here for a paragraph describing the Challenge.
• Adopt A School. Visit a local school, speak with the principle, and let them know what your doing. Ask your local school to become your partner and sponsor. You can provide AIDS information and education for the students, and in return involve them in bake sales, car washes, and other fundraising activities.

Corporate Fundraising

During the course of your fundraising, you may meet someone who wants to provide sponsorship at the event level. Sponsorships are key to the production and profitability of this event, so we don’t want to let one get away!

Please refer anyone interested in event sponsorship to contact Janet Soule or Tracie Stafford of Exceptional Events at 916.525.2566. You can also click here to see our sponsorship levels, all of which provide excellent visibility for any business or organization.

Thank You

We can't say it enough, and neither should you!

Your donors will appreciate a sincere thank you, and they'll remember your effort when you ask them to support you in the future. You express your appreciation via a telephone call, email message, or in conversation. However, nothing means more than a handwritten note delivered to the donor. Along with the card, you can enclose a picture of you from the event or a memento of some kind.

You can also print out address labels or hand write address labels with the names and addresses of all your donors. Bring these with you along with some stamps when you leave Sacramento for the Challenge. Send your donors a postcard from the starting point and thank them for their part in helping you get there. Or, send them a postcard from somewhere along the route or the end, and tell them how they made it possible!

Good Luck and Congratulations on accepting the Challenge!

- Chief Seattle -