Charity Athletic Events Decline in Revenue for 4th Straight Year

Traditional charity runs and walks continue to bring in large amounts of money — but not as much as they once did. In 2016, overall revenue for the 30 largest events dropped for the fourth straight year, according to a new study.

These largest peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns, in which volunteers ask their friends, relatives, and others to support a cause, raised more than $1.53 billion in 2016, a 2.8 percent decrease from 2015, according to the Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Thirty, which surveys the 30 largest such campaigns in the United States. Going back to 2012, the decline is even larger — with revenues down about 8 percent from the $1.71 billion raised that year.

“This format doesn’t have as much mass appeal to new generations as it has in the past,” says David Hessekiel, president of the Peer-to-Peer Professional Forum, which produces the report. Still, some groups that reorganized their major campaigns are seeing growth.

“This is an industry in flux,” Mr. Hessekiel says.

Online fundraising tools have helped fuel an explosion in the number of peer-to-peer programs and have led to so-called do-it-yourself campaigns, in which charities provide a platform and encourage supporters to stage their own fundraising events. Such programs, which tend to require fewer charity resources and staff members, are helping smaller charities try out peer-to-peer fundraising. Only a couple have made it into the top 30 list: St. Baldrick’s, which raises money through men’s head-shaving events to cure children’s cancer, and Movember, whose mustache-growing fundraising campaigns support men’s health programs.

“It’s hard for organizations to be setting the table but not sure who’s going to come, how much they’ll order, what they’ll do,” says Mr. Hessekiel. “It’s a period of experimentation and a very different mind-set” from the legacy events.”

Decreases Among Big Players

In 2016, the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life program raised $279 million, more than any other peer-to-peer program. But compared with the previous year, revenue dropped $29 million. Nichole Pfeiffer Hicks, managing director of Relay’s youth and campus strategy, says some of the decline is due to organizational restructuring, and some events evolved into other types of fundraising campaigns that are not counted in income from peer-to-peer programs.

The March of Dimes March for Babies and Susan G. Komen’s Race for the Cure Series also saw decreases of more than $10 million each in 2016. But combined, those programs still brought in more than $160.6 million.

Bright Spots

Despite the overall decline, some programs are growing.

Fundraising through the American Heart Association’s Heart Walk, which started in 1980, increased 5 percent to $123.1 million.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s Cycle for Survival stationary biking event saw revenue increase by 20 percent to $30 million, giving it the largest percentage gain in the top 30. Other stationary-bike events are growing, too.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night Walk, meanwhile, saw fundraising vault 12 percent to $68.5 million. With the more than $7.3 million increase, Light the Night had the largest spike in dollars raised through a peer-to-peer event in 2016. The organization has revived the program by refocusing its message more on impact and by training its chapters throughout the country on common expectations like the time and resources required to put on the events.

Light the Night has lessons for other charities, too, Mr. Hessekiel says. “If you sharpen your communications, you can do a lot to reinvigorate your program,” even if it comes in the form of a traditional charity walk.

Correction: A previous version of the chart accompanying this article gave only the former name of the diabetes charity JDRF.

Top 10 Peer-to-Peer Programs by Total Revenue in 2016