Frequently Asked Questions

Just register for the event, and then ask your family and friends for donations to support you as you compete in the fundraising event.

Some events, teams, and participants set fundraising goals. These goals are suggestions and fun challenges, not requirements. The time it takes to achieve your fundraising goal depends on both the goal, and the size of the donations you receive.

When you register, we may provide you with access to a personal fundraising website. If you choose to use the website to track your progress and share your passion, you choose how much time you want to spend on it. The website is intended to make fundraising easier and less time consuming.

When you register you may be given the option to join as an individual or part of a team. If you join as a team member, you friends or family but do not know the team name, search for them on the event registration website. Event websites are customized, therefore the wording and placement of the search may vary. Look for a search bar with a label similar to Find a team or Find a constituent.

You may select to form a team or be a team captain on your registration form.

No. You can participate as an individual without team affiliation.

If you want to register all of your family members with the same email address, you can register each person with a unique User Name but enter the same password and email address for each member.

To easily keep track of each user name, you can use a base word and add 01, 02, 03, and so on (for example, smith01, smith02, and smith03) to the base word; or, you could use your names (for example, PatSmith, TerrySmith, and FranSmith).

It may be a good idea to form a team with yourself as the Team Captain and then create your Team Web page with your family photo and story.

After you register yourself, you must log out to register the next family member. You cannot register another person under your User Name and Password combination. To register the next person, open the fundraising page again (with the link on the site or from your email) and repeat the registration process you followed for yourself. On the Contact Information page, you can simply enter the First and Last Name of each family member and the same email address (if other name and address fields are not marked required), enter the unique User Name for the family member, and then enter the same password you used for yourself. On the Billing Information page, you can change the name and information to match your Billing Information.

When you register, we may provide you with access to a personal fundraising website. If you choose to use the website to track your progress and share your passion, you choose how much time you want to spend on it. The website may include an email feature with preconfigured messages that you can personalize.

You may choose to make your personal fundraising website searchable from the event website. People can use the participant or team search function on the event registration website. Event websites are customized, therefore the wording and placement of the search may vary. Look for a search bar with a label similar to Find a team or Find a constituent.

Most organizations allow you to compete in honor of someone or their memory. If this option is available, the information will display on the registration page.

An additional gift is an amount you choose to donate in addition to a registration fee or purchase price. Studies show that fundraisers who make their own donations tend to get higher donations from others and raise more total funds than fundraisers who do not donate. Some donors may choose to support a cause by purchasing our merchandise, but also choose to add an additional contribution to the purchase amount.

Record them as offline gifts using the link on the My Progress page, and make sure the event’s coordinator receives them.

Some websites allow you to enter credit-card payments for gifts. To see if you can, select Enter Offline Gifts on the My Progress page, and review the Payment Type options.

When you register you may be given the option to join as an individual or part of a team. If you join as a team member, you may select a specific team or choose to be assigned to one. If you want to join a team with friends or family but do not know the team name, search for them on the event registration website. Event websites are customized, therefore the wording and placement of the search may vary. Look for a search bar with a label similar to Find a team or Find a constituent.

You can send email from the Team Progress page. The team captain can send messages that display on the team members' personal fundraising pages.

You may select to form a team or be a team captain on your registration form.

Recruit team members, keep them informed of events, and so on. You can also customize a Team Page.

If the organization has linked this event with the previous one and you participated in that event, you may be able to see who was on your team last year and easily sent recruitment email to them.

If you are using the personal fundraising website provided to you upon registration, you may use the email feature in that website. Typically, for convenience, several types of prewritten messages are available for you to use as templates with or without changing or adding additional text. The Address Book collects the email addresses of contacts (including donors and people you enter yourself) and tracks the activity of your email on the Followup page so you know who has donated as a result of email and who you might like to remind about making donations.

No. Your emails will contain the name you provided with your registration information. You can edit the From field to make your email even more personal.

When you register, we may provide you with access to a personal fundraising website. If you choose to use the website to track your progress and share your passion, you choose how much time you want to spend on it. The website may include an email feature with preconfigured messages that you can personalize.

Certainly. We just provide some sample messages and ideas to help you get started. You can even save messages that you create and use them as templates.

It keeps all the email addresses of people who you will be appealing to for support in the fundraising event in one place so can simply select the appropriate address when creating an email. You can manually enter contacts or you can import your address book that you are using in an email application on your personal computer (such as Microsoft Outlook or Yahoo Mail). See the instructions under Participant Center.

If the organization has linked this event with the previous one and you participated in that event, you may be able to access your Address Book from the previous event.

Only you. Your Address Book is personal and is for you to use within the context of this fundraising event. Other than sending an automatic Thank You message to a donor who makes a donation, we (the organization and Blackbaud) do not use the information to solicit your contacts.

It is a website that can be a creative expression of your commitment to our shared mission and passion. Typically, a Personal Page contains your name, the fundraising thermometer status indicator, and a scrolling Gift Honor Roll that shows the donations made on your behalf. You can edit it to add photos, a video, and text. Some organizations allow you to move and change the status indicators as well as create personal blogs for ongoing communication with others.

If the organization has linked this event with the previous one and you participated in that event, you may be able to access your Personal Page from the previous event.

A compelling website will attract and engage people who visit your site, and help convince them to give a donation.

Unless you have marked your page Private, anyone can find it by searching for you in the event website Find a constituent search.

In your personal fundraising page, select Profile and Event Options. Set the Privacy Options to Private.

Open the My Progress page in your personal fundraising website to see who has donated, how much they donated, and your total progress. You may also see badges awarded to you for completing challenges and reaching milestones.

Yes, you can update it in your personal fundraising website.

By displaying the My Progress page in the Participant Center. You will also see the amount of each donation. For details, see Viewing Your Fundraising Progress from the My Progress Page.

Open the My Progress page in your personal fundraising website to see who has donated, how much they donated, and your total progress. You may also see badges awarded to you for completing challenges and reaching milestones.

In your personal fundraising website, under Contacts is a list that includes the number of Unthanked Donors. Open your Email page and select Unthanked Donors to open the list.

Under Personal Donations is a list of donors. Donors that have been thanked will have a check mark. Donors who do not have a check mark need to be thanked.

If you are a team member then your personal fundraising website will have a link to the team fundraising site. Select the link to view the team page.