“CauseVox increased the amount of donations people were receiving online and made it much easier for participants to receive donations.”
~ Christina Taylor, Executive Director of Friends of Van Cortlandt Park
About Friends of Van Cortlandt Park (FVCP)
Van Cortlandt Park is New York City’s fourth largest park. Playing fields and playgrounds are scattered about the park’s edges, surrounding a richly forested heartland fed by Tibbets Brook. The park is home to the country’s first public golf course, the oldest house in the Bronx, and the borough’s largest freshwater lake.
Friends of Van Cortlandt Park is a nonprofit that generates thousands of hours of volunteer support for park maintenance, trains thousands of young people in environmental stewardship, and offers community programs to promote getting outdoors and environmental conservation.
About the 3rd Annual Hike-a-Thon
This year was the Friends of Van Cortlandt Park’s 3rd Annual Hike-a-Thon. The purpose of this event was two-fold: to raise funding towards the implementation of a newly created Trails Plan and to introduce NYC residents to the vast hiking opportunities in Van Cortlandt Park.
CauseVox Impact
At last year’s Hike-a-Thon, FVCP raised just under $9,000 and only a few hundred were online donations. Last year, individuals could make donations via PayPal, but no one could set up their own fundraising pages.
CauseVox increased the amount of donations participants were receiving online and made it much easier for participants to receive donations. This year, FVCP raised over $13,000 from the event, a 44% increase from the previous year.
Fundraising Techniques
- Hike-a-Thon Participants: Participants were asked to solicit pledges in person using a donation form and/or online using CauseVox. Participants were provided with tip sheets on how to solicit pledges. They had to raise a certain amount to receive a t-shirt ($30), a goody bag ($60 for a child, $120 for adults) and prizes (top fundraisers only).
- Other Individuals: People who couldn’t participate were asked to send in donations or make a donation on the CauseVox page.
- Business Sponsorships: Seven local businesses donated a total of $1,300. To encourage businesses to donate, FVCP recognized them on their website, newsletter, and with signage at the event.
- Online Auction: Local and national businesses were asked to donate items sold during an online auction.
Trail in Van Cortlandt Park, NYC
Key metrics of the campaign include (rounded figures):
- Total number of fundraising pages: 33
- Fundraising pages that raised $10 or more: 19
- Highest amount raised on fundraising page: $930
- Average funds raised per page: $165
- Average online donation size: $34
- Total number of online donations: 158
- Facebook “Likes” on the campaign site: 31
Why CauseVox?
“We figured CauseVox would make it more appealing for participants to ask their friends and families to make donations. When we compared CauseVox with other tools it was the easiest and had lower fees than the others. The free trial period was definitely an incentive too.”
~ Christina Taylor, Executive Director of Friends of Van Cortlandt Park
Lessons Learned
- CauseVox made a significant difference in the amount of pledges our participants were able to secure. Participants that used CauseVox received pledges and secured much more funding than those that raised funds through pledge forms.
- Sample emails, Facebook posts, and Tweets could be useful to help participants fundraise and promote their page.
- Some people might not feel comfortable soliciting pledges online. It is important to provide an offline way for participants to get involved.
