Ideas
Power Your Steps
Together, we are stronger. We’re calling on our entire Walk MS community to raise $30 million this year to take a collective step toward a world free of MS. You got this! Below are some easy, fun ideas to kick-start your fundraising.
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Get Online
Dive into your Fundraising Center
- Set a goal and aim high! As a bonus, this gets you 10 Walk MS Rewards points.
- Make a self-donation to kickstart your fundraising and show others that you’re leading the way. Plus, your first self-donation earns you 15 Walk MS Rewards points.
- Personalize your page by sharing your story for why you Walk MS. You can even create a custom URL!
- Add Fundraising Milestones to inspire your donors to give a little bit extra to reach your next milestone. Add extra competitive milestones to show donors how their support is making an impact. For example, a “halfway to my goal” milestone. Another could be if you raised $200 last year, adding a "Help me reach my last year’s best” milestone at $200.
- Thank Your Donors Click on the Donations tab to customize a thank you message for each donor and track who's been thanked.
- Add your fundraising center link to your emails. Link your Fundraising Center to all outgoing emails with our custom email signatures.
- Set up Donor Incentives. Set any kind of prize as an incentive to donate – we once had one participant bake a cheesecake for anyone who donated $100 through incentives! It doesn’t have to cost anything – you can post a fun video of you dancing in honor of the donor. You can even add photos to the incentive to make it more enticing. Incentives show up on your fundraising page right beneath your thermometer as an option for donors. To set them up through your Fundraising Center dashboard.
- Create a QR Code of your Fundraising Center. QR codes are an easy way for people to access a link. There are many ways to make a QR Code — in Google Chrome on a desktop, right click anywhere on the page and click “Create QR Code for this page.” You can also use a free QR code generator online. Save the image file and print it to put anywhere, or save it to your phone for others to quickly scan to make a donation. Bonus: When making a donation on a mobile device, there are multiple payment options such as Venmo, PayPal, Apple Pay and more.
- Harness the Power of Social Media
- Share your story, videos and photos across your social. You can also tag donors to thank them and ask for new donations.
- Launch a Linked Facebook Fundraiser from your Fundraising Center and get 15 Walk MS Rewards points! Learn how to use Facebook to power your fundraising.
- Download the Walk MS App
The Walk MS app is a powerful tool to help you raise funds and awareness for a world free of MS. There are useful features — like mobile check deposit — to help you go the extra mile in your fundraising and connect with your community.
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Get Creative
- Birthday, Anniversary or other Celebration Fundraising
Host a dinner party or wine tasting – either in person or online! Invite donors to bring/share their favorite dish or wine. - Game Night
Get people to donate to participate in a fun board game night! - Garage Sale
See what you can sell and donate the proceeds. You can also gather donated items from others. You can also host a sale through a livestream or video call, or email or text pictures of the items for sale. - Partner With a Local Retailer or Restaurant
Ask your local Walk MS staff for special Walk MS pin-up sneakers that people can purchase to donate! Or place a change/donation jar at the register. - Make Team T-shirts
Create and order team T-shirts from our national vendor to receive a $1 donation to your team for every shirt you order! You can also sell sponsorships and showcase them on your T-shirt. - Matching Gifts
Many companies offer matching gifts, which double or even triple donations with no extra effort on your end.
- Birthday, Anniversary or other Celebration Fundraising
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Get Moving
Track Your Steps
Set a certain amount of miles or fundraising goal you’d like to achieve by a specific date. Track your steps on the app then share the goal with your friends and encourage them to donate to your fundraiser (e.g. $1 = 1 mile)! Download the app today!
- Walk-a-thon
Host a walk-a-thon – it can be for any length of time. Get your team involved as you rotate shifts around the clock. Donors can pledge money for every hour.
Fundraise More With the App
Do everything you do in your dashboard, plus deposit checks, text, post to social and email from your phone’s address book – all from the palm of your hand.
