Walk-a-thon – Nonprofit Catalog Copy

Walk-a-thon fundraisers are a great way to promote supporter engagement and boost morale. They provide a fun way for individuals to stay active, build community, and support their school or organization. 

Walk-a-thons are popular school, nonprofit, and sports team fundraisers because they allow a large group of individuals to come together and walk to support their favorite cause. Host a walk-a-thon fundraiser to promote healthy lifestyles and raise money for your organization at the same time. 

What is a walk-a-thon?

If you’ve ever participated in a fun run, then you might be familiar with a walk-a-thon. A walk-a-thon fundraiser is a fundraising event where participants walk a designated route. Participants collect pledges from friends and family, attend the event, then collect donations for their organization based on how far they walked. 

Ahead of the event, donors pledge to donate a certain amount of money for each mile or specified unit of distance that the participant walks. During the event, each participant tracks their walking distance, and afterwards, your organization earns donations based on the distance that they recorded. 

How to organize a walk-a-thon

With the right tools and resources, planning your event can be stress free and easy! Follow these simple steps to host your next walk-a-thon fundraiser: 

1. Gather participants for the walk-a-thon

Once you’ve decided to host a walk-a-thon, the first step is to choose a date and location to host the event. Then, to gather interested participants from your community of supporters, use these tips:

  • Market your fundraiser across multiple communication platforms.
  • Use a fundraising platform so each participant can set up their own campaign page and send it to their friends and families.

Set a deadline for registering to participate, but make sure you give supporters enough time to decide and encourage their friends to join.

2. Participants collect pledges

Using your fundraising platform, participants will start sharing their individual campaign pages to collect pledges. Be sure to provide your participants with support and advice about how to ask for donations and the best places to share their campaign pages. With an intuitive fundraising platform, you can easily keep a record of pledges for each participant.

3. Host your walk-a-thon event and raise money

On the day of the event, make sure to arrive ahead of time so you can properly set up before the attendees start showing up. Once the walk-a-thon kicks off, join the fun! Don’t forget to communicate with your participants and volunteers and thank them for their support. 

Now that you have all the information, you’re ready to host a walk-a-thon! 

Additional Resources