Are you ready to raise more money?

Take a look at some of the commonly asked questions around fitness tracking and Strava integration so you can see if leveraging this free engagement tactic should be used for your next event.

What is Strava?

Strava turns every iPhone and Android into a sophisticated running and cycling computer (and they work with GPS watches and head units, too). Individuals can start Strava before an activity to track and analyze their favorite performance stats. Even better, Strava is compatible with a continually growing list of popular devices like Fitbit, Garmin, and Peloton. If using one of these devices, individuals can export or record their activities via the device or popular tools like MapMyRun and then bring the information into Strava.

How does Strava work with a personal fundraising page?

Individuals can either connect their Strava account with their personal page or manually add distance tracking to show activities. Whether they use the automatic updates via Strava or manually add distance tracking, one thing is certain: Participants who track their activities raise more than those who don’t. Our latest research shows that fundraising pages that include the individual’s fitness activities, are more likely to receive a donation and they also raise 14% more than no fitness tracking.

Why do they raise more when tracking fitness?

We believe this happens because:

1. The more activity you do, the more you can share to social media. The more you share to social media, they more exposure you get. The more exposure you get, the more donations you receive.

2. The fundraiser is clearly showing an investment and the page updates dynamically with these changes. When a visitor sees the page for the first time, they feel even more compelled to support because the individual is literally working for it. On average, a user will provide about 28 updates per page, once Strava is connected, which is both inspiring and compelling.

3. Typically, advocates are not expert fundraisers. They are great champions for your cause but sometimes, crafting the ask may not come naturally. Sharing fitness activities opens the door to a whole new world of asking. It can feel a lot less intimidating to say “I just hit a PR on my training run for ABC Charity. It feels incredible to know my runs are making a difference. Will you support me by making a donation tonight? I shaved off 2 minutes, so how about $20?”

How are other organizations promoting fitness tracking?

Depending on the types of campaigning you are conduct, your application may vary. Here are some of our recommendations for introducing fitness tracking to your supporters:

• When hosting a virtual or hybrid run, walk, ride/cycle or swim event, ask your participants to create a personal page and track their training exercises as well as race day performance.

• Come up with a catchy incentive. Let’s say you are trying to host a fundraising event to raise $10,000. Offer Do-it-Yourself fundraising to support your efforts but include a hook. For example, you could try to get 100 fundraisers to raise $100 or walk 100 minutes. Leverage a matching gift to motivate everyone. See if their participation can be demonstrated and celebrated in social shares, miles logged, dollars raised, and anything else you can think of.

• Local race cancelled due to COVID-19? Reach out to your constituents with an invitation to create a personal page, track their activities, and fundraise on your behalf since they won’t be able to participate in the actual race.

• Host a local walk. Find a holiday that aligns with your mission (we have a free downloadable calendar of ideas here) and ask people to walk in celebration or in memory. You can send T-shirts or yard signs to those who raise a certain amount. They can track their walk on event day!

Do you have any examples of fitness tracking?

Of course! We love showing you how your peers are using the features to inspire and excite you to try too. Here are some of our favorites:

See how Joe tracked his routes and used video to improve the page visitor’s experience, all while running 10k a day for 365 days. Quite an impressive example of personal motivation to combine something you love (running and family) with a cause you care about. Take a look at his compelling story of how this mission is connected with his own family’s experience. It’s a perfect example of how your supporters can take an idea and (literally) run with it!

Friends of the Wissahickon worked with the professional design services team here at Blackbaud to achieve a fully branded hybrid event. This allowed them to customize the event website, fundraising pages and donor thank you page.

They wanted to encourage their supporters to continue to connect with nature during the pandemic and decided on a hybrid approach to their annual All Trails Challenge. Their virtual event website helped their regular fundraisers through this new format with a 4-step sign-up guide and clear instructions on how to log their hikes to their fundraising page. Once they were up and hiking, they could return to the event website to see how they ranked on the leaderboards by either their distance or fundraising efforts. Top fundraisers were also featured in a showcase of their profile pictures. If you want to learn more about these add-on design packages, please chat with our Sales Team.

The next really great example shows how our Strava integration can help you create a simple virtual event, is from the Natural History Museum and their incredible Virtual Race for Nature. Last August, they challenged their supporters to walk, run or cycle their way around their local community in the shape of something inspired by the natural world.

This was a really fun and exciting way to do a virtual challenge, whilst really benefiting from the Strava integration they had available on their account. Their fundraisers also got to take part in a challenge that was different from your everyday virtual experience by having this fun spin of encouraging their supporters to get creative with their routes to try and make their routes look like a certain animal.

How should we promote this to people on the website?

I love this example from the Homeboy 130 Challenge. They used visuals to break the participant instructions up as well as encouraged fundraisers to make the first donation themselves. You can also send an email to all your registrants after they signed up, providing fitness-tracking specific information.

Is there anything we can provide to help supporters know how to connect Strava or manually enter their fitness?

Individuals will be prompted to track fitness without you having to ask, but should you choose to provide instruction (which we recommend, especially if it’s a run, walk, or ride), you can find it here. If you want to take those instructions and drop them in a Word document to email, go for it! Don’t forget to check the Fundraiser Report in JustGiving- it includes columns on fitness tracking! You can reach out to those who are tracking and send an email or encouragement or call those who are not tracking and walk them through it.

So now is my turn to ask you a question... How are you planning to incorporate fitness tracking into your programs?