Hearts seem to be everywhere during the month of February—you can hardly walk through a store without seeing dozens of them on decorations, cards, chocolates, and more. But this month also has a more serious association with hearts than just Valentine’s. February is American Heart Month, an effort organized by the American Heart Association (AHA) to raise awareness about heart disease.
Heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women in the United States, accounting for one in every four deaths. The AHA is one of the foremost national organizations dedicated to educating the public and encouraging lifestyle changes that can help prevent this deadly disease. In recognition of all of the good work that the AHA is doing, Verilogue, along with many of our sister companies, decided last year to raise money for the AHA’s Heart Walk, a major fundraising event for the organization.
As a co-captain of Verilogue’s 2016 Heart Walk team, I helped lead our company’s fundraising efforts. While I had (and have) a passion for promoting heart health, I didn’t have much fundraising experience to draw from. However, with the help of a few great co-captains and some creativity, we were able to reach aggressive fundraising goals for the office. I wanted to share a few ideas that worked well for us, for everyone out there who wants to raise money for a good cause but might be feeling as lost as I was last February.
VERILOGUE’S TOP 3 FUNDRAISING STRATEGIES
1. National Wear Red Day
National Wear Red Day is an easy way to kick off American Heart Month and help promote awareness. And all you have to do is wear red! Last year, we asked everyone in the office to wear red and encouraged those who didn’t wear red to donate $5 to the cause.
2. Philanthropic Pub Crawl
Our Philanthropic Pub Crawl involved four local pubs that agreed to donate a portion of their proceeds while our group was in the pub. We also had buckets on our tables for friends (and strangers!) to donate. The heart-shaped balloons especially helped attract attention!
3. Dollars for Dares
Dollars for Dares was the most popular idea that we had, and the most entertaining one, too. We convinced various members of senior management to promise that they would do silly and mildly embarrassing things—sing karaoke, dye their hair red, draw hearts on their face, etc.—for each fundraising milestone that the office reached. Donations spiked after our company president good-naturedly agreed to wear a red dress to work.
These ideas helped us reach our goals and were a fun way to bring everyone at Verilogue together to promote heart health. Hopefully they will help you do the same!
Do you have any great fundraising tips? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
Lauren Walter is a Senior Analyst of Linguistic Insights and Analytics at Verilogue. She holds a B.S. in Linguistics and a B.A. in Japanese Studies from Truman State University.
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