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| Jackie Pietka, the top camper fundraiser at the Walk this year |
It was another wildly successful Walk, Roll or Stroll for
Mt. Hood Kiwanis Camp. Started in 2008, this event has been a fun and effective
opportunity for MHKC campers, supporters and the community to come together and
raise vital funds for this camp for children and adults with disabilities.
MHKC was looking for ways to increase the number of
participants and the amount of money raised for the event. And so they decided
to go to their most vital resource for all things enthusiastic about camp: Mt.
Hood Kiwanis Camp campers.
People give to people.
This year they instituted a camp ambassadors program, where
campers committed to register for the walk and raise money. Then as an
ambassador they would talk to other campers about joining them.
The ambassadors and their families were invited to an
early-June kick-off party where pizza and brainstorming were the order of the
day. Ambassadors were given a bright orange t-shirt with “Ask me how to join my
team” across it. And then they were given the tools and support they needed to
sign up walkers.
Those campers wore those shirts all summer. And by
empowering them and making them leaders in the campaign to recruit fellow
walker fundraisers, MHKC reaped the benefits of their peer-to-peer engagement.
The campers had fun (always an MHKC priority!) and got really engaged in the
fundraising aspect of the event. They tapped their networks of family,
neighbors, church and friends precisely because other people at camp were doing
it too.
This program yielded the most money raised at a Walk, Roll or
Stroll yet. Walks are a great way to energize an army of fundraisers for your
organization, who go out and tap their networks—people you might not otherwise
touch—for support. They’re already excited about what you do, give them the
tools to go and spread the word.
