To benefit Capital Candlelighters

Fundraise, Fundraise, Fundraise!

• Grand Prize for individual who raises the most pledges: ACER Aspire 10.5" Netbook computer with 160GB hard drive and 8 hour battery life



• Second Prize (2nd place individual fundraiser): Mino HD video Flipcam 2.0 with HDMI cable (120 minutes of spectacular high-def video!)

  
  



• Third Prize (3rd place individual fundraiser):
  8GB iPod Touch (carry your music, movies, games and wireless internet access anywhere!)

Some Ideas:

• Wedding Registry Fundraising-When You Just Don't Need Another Fondue Pot

  The summer months are often synonymous with weddings and online fundraising is an excellent way to diversify your wedding registry. Think of it as a way to reduce the carbon footprint of your wedding by doing something good for the world. Use your wedding to raise money and awareness for your favorite cause! Or, encourage your betrothed friends to set up their own online fundraising page.

• Add your fundraising page address to you Face book profile

  Rally your Face book community for support by putting a link to your www.active.com fundraising page on your wall, and on your friend's walls, as well as sending them an invitation to visit your page. Now everyone can see what you are doing for charity. You can even ask your friends to add your page to their profile.

• Change your email signature at work

  After your name and title etc, add a line at the bottom including the address of your active.com fundraising page and why you're raising money. This is an easy way to raise awareness of your event and ensure every email you send has the potential to prompt a donation. It's also a great way to 'softly' ask for donations from co-workers you may not feel comfortable approaching otherwise.

• Blog about it

  If you already have a blog, great, you're ahead of the curve. Update it regularly with your training milestones and keep communicating why you're running the marathon. It will help people keep up with what's going on, and keep you on track.

  If you haven't entered the blogosphere, it's easy to get started. Any of the big blog sites will do, such as blogger.com. For a more running focused blog, you can get started easily at realbuzz.com If you're more the 140 character type, Tweet your success. Be sure to include links to your Fundraising Page in each post!

• Do the speed work first, build endurance later

  Start with your close friends and family. They're your core group of supporters, after all. Be sure to communicate why you're doing this. Maybe you're particularly passionate about the cause you're running for, going for a specific time. Whatever your reason, tell people! Put your story on your fundraising page and email the link to your friends and family. Even if they don't make a donation, having their support will make reaching your goals that much easier. At the least, you've now made your goals public, which is the best way to make sure you reach them.

  Hopefully this group will also be some of the most generous donors you'll have. It's always intimidating to see zero donations, so make sure that before reaching further out in your network, your close friends and family have made some good donations to your page. Before you know it, you should be well on your way to your goal. Check out some runners off to a great start