Wes Milligan does not have a direct connection to Alzheimer’s disease. Yet the 40- year-old corporate communications manager has become one of the Walk to End Alzheimer’s top 100 fundraisers. Last year he raised more than $20,000 for the Alzheimer’s Association, and he plans to raise $200,000 in the next decade.
His connection is based on happenstance. In 2004 Milligan, then a journalist, wrote an article about the disease and was moved by the people he met. “The stories were heart-wrenching: a father forgetting his daughter, a grandmother not knowing her granddaughter,” he says. “I decided to champion Alzheimer’s.”
Milligan is one of a growing number of people who are choosing to support the Alzheimer’s Association. In 2018 more than 526,000 people participated in more than 630 walks. And while many other fundraising walks have faltered over the last decade, donations to the Walk to End Alzheimer’s have more than doubled since 2008 to $96.9 million.
“We are very proud of our walk growth,” says Donna McCullough, the chief development officer at the Alzheimer’s Association. “We see the walk as not just a vehicle to raise money, but also as an incredible opportunity to engage more people in the fight against Alzheimer’s.”
Less Lucrative
Fundraising walks, which have become an invaluable source of donations for many organizations, are not as lucrative as they once were, says David Hessekiel, president of the Peer-to-Peer Professional Forum. Revenue from the top 10 peer-to-peer events fell from $1.76 billion in 2008 to $1.39 billion last year according to the organization. The largest such event, the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, saw revenues fall 58 percent over the decade.
“Competition in this area is very different than it was 10 years ago,” says Colleen Legge, principal consultant with Charity Dynamics, an event consultant.
Online sites like GlobalGiving, GoFundMe, Kickstarter, and social media platforms make it easier for individuals to ask for funding for all kinds of causes — medical bills, funding a new company, or small donations for political candidates. And events like a 5K walk may feel old-fashioned in an era of endurance events, such as “Tough Mudders,” and ice-bucket challenges. Many have not been updated, says Hessekiel.
For many participants, the walking has taken precedence over the fundraising. According to a 2017 study from fundraising-software firm Blackbaud, just 13 percent of walk participants raised 84 percent of donations.
In some cases, just raising awareness through a walk is an important goal, says Matt Glass, partner and chief creative officer of Eventage, an event-planning company. “But if you look at the breast-cancer space, everyone is pretty aware of breast cancer these days,” he says. “They need to raise money.”
Here are a few of the ways that the Alzheimer’s Association and its volunteer fundraisers have bucked trends and managed to raise much more from fundraising walks.
Make It Easy for Volunteers to Fundraise. Milligan did not start out as a star fundraiser. In his first walk, he raised only $520. But that got him recognized as a member of its “Champions Club,” which inspired him.
He started wearing his Alzheimer’s T-shirt everywhere he went (something the organization encourages). “It was my super-hero outfit,” he says. It would lead to conversations with co-workers and strangers about the disease and how it had affected them. Some of those conversations turned into donations.
Milligan says several of the tools in the association’s online Participant Center have made a big difference. For example, he uses an Alzheimer’s Association signature, which indicates how much he has raised, on all his personal emails, so every communication is a reminder about his goal. The group’s email and social media templates have saved time and boosted his fundraising, as has creating a link from his walk page to a Facebook fundraiser. “The association made it so easy,” he says.
Promote Your Work. The nonprofit made its walk an organizational priority, says McCullough. It is the group’s single biggest source of donations, but it is also an opportunity to educate people about its programs and work.
The organization’s 78 chapters are the primary point of contact for many people. Its Western Carolina chapter, based in Charlotte, N.C., runs 69 support groups across 49 counties and a 24-hour-a-day help line. Katherine Lambert, the chapter’s CEO, says it’s a priority to promote these services at each of the chapter’s 14 walks. During her five years at the organization, revenue from the walk has almost doubled.
Support and Empower Volunteers. Local chapters are integral to the success of the walks. Milligan, who has moved often, visits his local Alzheimer’s Association chapter whenever he settles in a new city. There he finds interesting people driven by a mission that he feels strongly about, and people that are open to his ideas.
McCullough says that the chapter structure helps the group produce so many successful walks. The national staff, which has deep experience planning the walks, works closely with the chapter staff and volunteers to ensure consistency and room for local touches. Volunteer committees always have staff support. “These events wouldn’t happen without the chapter staff and volunteers,” says McCullough.
Consistently Highlight Your Mission. Though the walks can vary in size ― Lambert’s 14 walks range from 200 participants to 3,000 ― they all have similar elements, including a promise-garden ceremony. Participants choose a flower-shaped pinwheel in different colors; each color represents the holder’s relationship to the disease. They can write a personal message on the flower and carry it with them.
Give Your Best Volunteer Fundraisers Leadership Opportunities. The promise-garden ceremony is an opportunity to energize supporters, and Milligan was invited to lead the ceremony at the organization’s national summit in San Antonio this past year. “It was so rewarding to do that,” he says.
Take Advantage of Sponsorship Opportunities. Including elements that allow for sponsorship opportunities can bring in more revenue. While there are some national and multichapter walk sponsors, most are generated at the local level by volunteers with staff support, says Lambert. The bulk of the sponsorship revenue is generated from teams and participants, and as those numbers have grown, so has the revenue for her chapter and the national organization.
Looking Beyond Walks
In 2012 the Alzheimer’s Association began its Longest Day event. On the longest day of the year, the organization encourages its supporters to “outshine the darkness of Alzheimer’s” by doing anything they want on their own to raise money. Some climb mountains or play bridge or bake or do karaoke. McCullough says that it attracts people that would not normally participate in a walk.
The event is small ― it raised $7.8 million in 2018. But it is growing quickly with revenues up $2.2 million over 2017.
And in 2020 the association is launching a cycling event. Cycling has been one of the few bright spots in peer-to-peer fundraising. Because the events cost more to stage — there are more logistics to manage, such as longer routes and the need for bicycle mechanics — they also have higher minimum-fundraising requirements. The 2017 Blackbaud study found that participants in cycling events raise more money and bring in more and larger gifts than those participating in other events.
The Alzheimer’s Association plans to apply the funds from the cycling event directly to research. “We believe there are other people who want to engage with the association, and this will be another way to do it,” says McCullough.
Regardless of the type of event, the organization wants to continue engaging and motivating fundraisers like Milligan. For him, his commitment to raising money for the organization has become deeply important.
“If I am having a bad day, I go and fundraise for the Alzheimer’s Association,” he says. “It is something that gives me satisfaction, knowing that I am helping a family or caregiver.”
