Hi! I’m Denise Nolan and I’m a 42 year old mum of three. Running the London Marathon with #TeamVICTA will be my 4th marathon! I live in Massachusetts, just a few minutes from where I grew up.
Can you describe your fundraising events?
March Madness:
Every March (and into April) there’s a huge college basketball tournament called March Madness. Sports fans, and even those who never follow sports the entire rest of the year, love to fill out tournament brackets and see if they can predict the winning team. There’s points awarded for each win and you get extra points if you pick the underdog and they win! Using ESPN.com, I created a group for my VICTA fundraiser and posted on social media asking for people to join and donate $10 to VICTA for every bracket they entered. I asked local businesses for donations to be used as a prize for the winners. We have 46 people participating in the pool and ESPN does all the points calculations automatically so once it was all set up, there wasn’t much to be done on my end. We’re getting to the end of the tournament so the winner will be decided within the next week!
April’s Get Moving Challenge:
This challenge is designed to help motivate people to move their bodies and lead a healthy lifestyle. The challenge is to move your body for 30 minutes, for 25 days in April. Movement can be anything from yoga, a run, strength training, boxing, a walk, stretching, playing basketball, etc.! With only 25 days required to successfully complete the challenge, it gives everyone a few rest days and doesn’t strive for perfection. It makes it feel more achievable. I have a Facebook group set up where members of the challenge have to post their movement every day. It helps keep everyone accountable and motivates others to get moving too! To participate in the challenge, I asked for a $10 donation to VICTA. We have 49 women and men who accepted the challenge, all friends and family of mine. I got the word out about the challenge via social media. At the end of the month, everyone who successfully moved their bodies for 30 minutes for 25 days in April will get entered into a raffle to win a prize. The prize is a gift card to a local restaurant that was donated to me.
How much did you raise?
With both fundraisers I raised $950 which is about £740 pounds.
What surprised you?
I was surprised how many people I was able to get to participate in the fundraisers! And friends asked their friends to join too, expanding the network even more, which was amazing.
Would you do organise this type of event again?
Definitely! I did the Get Moving Challenge last year when I was fundraising to run the Boston Marathon and I had so many people ask me this year if I was going to do it again! The majority of people who did it last year, did it again this year.
What’s your advice for other team members?
In person events are great but people have busy schedules these days and it can be hard to get people to attend. Don’t be afraid to host online events! These two events that I hosted are things that people can participate in on their own time, when their schedule allows. So it allows people flexibility while also giving them the opportunity to support you and your cause.
Would you recommend it to others?
YES! It’s too late for a March Madness fundraiser (and would probably only be interesting for those in the US as it’s US colleges that compete) but a movement type challenge can be started anytime and modified however you like.
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